The year 2022 finally saw the COVID pandemic petering out, largely through the less-lethal but still highly contagious Omicron variant. Significant strides were made in cancer and Alzheimer’s research, although not without controversy. Amid growing public healthcare challenges in South Africa, the NHI Bill advanced closer to reality.
As Omicron displayed greatly reduced severity compared to prior strains, South African medical experts were some of the first to justify no longer being at ‘code red’. This brought an end to the cycles of lockdowns and travel restrictions characterised by the two previous years.
It even saw the lifting of some aspects of China’s ultra-strict ‘zero-COVID’ policy, with citizens paying online tribute to the memory of the heroic doctor who defied government censorship to warn the world. However, the pandemic’s true cost became apparent as the World Health Organization put global excess deaths for the pandemic at almost 15 million.
A number of key medical advances were made during the year for a variety of conditions. Studies showed that administering steroids after COVID hospitalisation with severe inflammation reduced mortality up to one year post-infection.
COVID was found to be linked to a spate of new-onset Type 1 diabetes, but this may just have been due to medical checkups as a result of developing COVID. The rheumatoid arthritis drug auranofin was found to relieve diabetes symptoms. And research suggested a possible way to deliver insulin and cancer drugs orally, by adding a ‘tag’ that lets them enter the bloodstream through the intestines.
The fields of cancer and Alzheimer’s research was rocked by findings of numerous red flags. This controversy did not stop real progress: the first new drug that had any real effectiveness against Alzheimer’s disease was confirmed in a historic trial. Fortunately, the flu jab also seems to protect against developing the disease. Indeed, serious infections appear to increase the risk of both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
In advanced ER-positive, HER-2 negative breast cancers, the new drug capivasertib halved the rate of progression.
It was also revealed that humans are paying through the nose for common medications compared to those that animals receive. Antimicrobial resistance also remains a growing problem, causing an estimated 1.2 million deaths in 2019.
A major South African Medical Research Council (SMARC) study told a familiar story: unsafe sex, interpersonal violence, obesity, hypertension, and alcohol consumption are the top risk factors for disease and death in South Africa.
Despite lessons learned in the COVID pandemic, South Africa saw the progression of systemic problems in healthcare such as a critical shortage of nurses. Dr Tim de Maayer’s open letter on appalling conditions at Rahima Moosa exposed deep-seated problems in Gauteng’s public healthcare system. This was followed by the shock resignation of top cancer surgeon Professor Carol-Ann Benn. The appointment of Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko as Gauteng Health MEC should hopefully change the province’s situation.
As for the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill, medical aids have aimed to reposition themselves in the new uncertain paradigm while the threat of a mass exodus of healthcare professionals from the country still hangs in the air. A slew of legal challenges now await the Bill, which still has no details on how it will be financed.
