It was hailed as a revolution in private investment in healthcare in Africa but almost a decade after it was opened, Lesotho’s only specialist hospital takes up almost a third of the country’s entire health budget. Now, we may finally know why. 12 May 2020 by Pascalinah Kabi The once-heralded [...]
16 May 2022 by Pascalinah Kabi Bertha Foundation Fellow A leading mining company in Lesotho, Letšeng Diamonds Mine, has admitted in confidential reports that its operations are polluting water systems that poor, rural communities rely on daily. But the company denies this in public. The Patising and Maloraneng communities live near [...]
30 July 2021 by Pascalinah Kabi Lesotho traditional healer Mohaneng Lekhooana harvests medicinal plants in his home town. Credit: Pascalinah Kabi Shivering and moaning, 36-year-old ’Mantoa Kobeli can barely sit unassisted on a plastic chair in a “consulting room”, a shack run by a traditional healer, Monaheng Lekhooana. A burning [...]
A male-led campaign in Lesotho seeks to break the patriarchal norms that say childhood vaccination is a woman’s job – and is seeding a potentially lifesaving shift. 21 February 2023 by Pascalinah Kabi Lesotho male mobilisers pose for a picture along with Mantsopa Institute staff at the refresher course in January 2023. [...]
Disease stalks villages, as Lesotho sells water to South Africa 1 April 2021 by Pascalinah Kabi, Sechaba Mokhethi Photos by Sechaba Mokhethi Data visualizations by Yuxi Wang Lindiwe Hloaele aged 21, in the middle of her journey home to Thabaneng village, mounting a rocky slope with 25 litres of water on [...]
As part of a 2008 public-private partnership agreement, the Lesotho government contributed almost R840-million to the hospital project. The Development Bank of Southern Africa paid another R1.4-million in the form of a loan to Tšepong (Pty) Limited, a company comprised of Netcare and largely local partners, according to a 2013 report [...]
Seven years after it ended, Lesotho has relaunched its HPV vaccination program. Pupils at the Masianokeng High School. Credit: Monyane Khau ’Manthati Tšeloa, a Food and Nutrition teacher at Masianokeng High School in Maseru, lost her friend to cervical cancer six years ago. “The most important thing is to prevent [...]