It’s been a busy week for Health24. Perhaps you struggled to keep up with all the health news because there was just too much going on.  

But don’t worry; we’ve got you covered with a summary of everything you need to know. 

Pick of the week

Undoubtedly the biggest news of the week was Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s announcement and release of the Medical Schemes Amendment Bill and the National Health Insurance Bill. Both bills propose sweeping changes to the healthcare system, such as getting rid of co-payments by patients. 

Medical schemes: More money in members’ pockets – for now

Major changes to the Medical Schemes Act mean could mean scheme members could get more cover for less money – but for how long? Columnist Susan Erasmus takes a closer look. 

Personal triumph

Meet the anorexia survivor who lived on water and gum

An eating disorder sufferer has managed to double her weight after she’d been living on nothing but sparkling water and chewing gum – which, she says, left her feeling like she was dead.

Read her personal story to get insight into living with anorexia. 

More local news

The corruption behind Gauteng Health crisis revealed

Civil society organisations partnered and released explosive details of a Special Investigation Unit report on massive corruption within the Gauteng Health Department.

WHO makes history

Two announcements from the World Health Organization (WHO) made headlines this week. The first was that gaming disorder is now an official mental disorder and the second is that transgender people are no longer considered mentally ill. 

Being transgender is not a mental disorder, WHO decides

In a historic decision, the WHO decided to no longer classify transgender people as mentally ill. 

The organisation’s 11th International Classification of Diseases (ICD) catalogue appeared early this week and “gender incongruence” (the term they use for people whose gender identity is different from the gender they were assigned at birth) has been moved out of the mental disorders chapter and into the sexual health chapter.

Compulsive video-game playing now classed as mental health disorder

The WHO says compulsively playing of video games now qualifies as a new mental health condition – a move that some critics warn may risk stigmatising young players.

In its latest revision to an international disease classification manual, the UN health agency said on Monday that classifying “Gaming Disorder” as a separate condition will “serve a public health purpose for countries to be better prepared to identify this issue”.

And finally…

7 ways to keep your liver healthy

Your liver plays an important role in keeping your body functioning – in fact, it performs more than 500 functions that involve processing everything you eat and drink. It’s also the largest organ in your body and weighs around 1.4kg.

You need to keep your liver healthy and functioning because without it, you cannot live. We look at seven ways to keep your liver happy.