South Africa’s heart health crisis claims 225 lives daily. Researchers call for routine blood pressure screening, integrated chronic care and policies that make prevention affordable.

At its heart, universal health coverage (UHC) is about people getting the health services they need, when they need them, without suffering financial hardship. Turning that promise into reality, however, is complex.

The Genomics Platform of the SAMRC and the African BioGenome Project (AfricaBP), in collaboration with scientists from across Africa, have published a paper titled “Chromosome-level genome assembly of Helichrysum odoratissimum, a medicinal plant from Southern Africa” in the Scientific Data Journal.

The 16th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, Safety 2026, kicked off at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, with global and South African leaders endorsing a whole-of-society and whole-of-government response to prevent violence, injuries, and other avoidable harms.

As the leading cause of death, cardiovascular disease (CVD) poses a major burden on health care systems worldwide, accounting for approximately one-third of deaths in 2017 alone. Research shows that up to 80% of CVD mortality occur in low-middle income countries (LMIC)s, where the availability and cost of medical imaging remain fragmented. Despite this, existing diagnostic tools are impractical, due to the technical expertise needed to operate them, their enormous size in relation to other medical equipment and related maintenance cost.