poor

Work has begun to ensure that South Africa’s National Health Insurance scheme kicks in by 2012, so that quality, affordable healthcare becomes a reality for all.
• South Africa in hospital spending spree

South Africa is now looking into alternative and innovative building materials to address backlogs in social housing delivery, and also to improve the quality of its products.

As part of South Africa’s revamped approach to healthcare, the country is set to spend more on upgrading its five largest public hospitals than it did on building stadiums for the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

The scope of Malawi's health assistants is being broadened to help treat child malnutrition and compensate for a lack of medical skills in the country.
• Nigeria winning war against polio

The 60-second film Gumboots, directed by Cape Town-based Bauke Brouwer, has become the first South African production to make the shortlist of the Filminute international film festival.

The hefty residents of the Addo Elephant National Park in the Eastern Cape can now move about more freely after a length of fence was removed between two sections of the park.

It happens to everyone who encounters animals in the African bushveld, from the most experienced game ranger to the first-timer “on safari”.

Scientists from Stellenbosch University in the Western Cape have developed and patented an inexpensive and effective filtering device that could provide safe drinking water to millions of people. This innovation can considerably reduce the prevalence of water-borne illnesses such as cholera and other diarrhoeal diseases.
• Courts to protect SA's water

South African scientist Zubair Jinnah's discovery of 100-million-year-old fossils of a small mammal-like crocodile that lived during the time of the supercontinent Gondwana has been described in the prestigious journal Nature.
• SA unearths new human ancestor

With Diego Forlan pulling the strings and producing a superb individual performance, Uruguay severely dented South Africa's hopes of reaching the second round of the 2010 Fifa World Cup by beating Bafana Bafana 3-0 in a chilly Pretoria on Wednesday night.