health

More than three million people are facing starvation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), says David Beasley the head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), who is appealing for aid to avert a humanitarian crisis in Kasai province.

In an interview with the BBC Beasley further warned that hundreds of thousands of children could die in the coming months if urgent aid was not delivered.

A sewage leak may have contaminated tap water in the North Riding area, Johannesburg Water has warned in a statement.

Residents in the area surrounding Boundary and Aureole streets, as well as Spionskop Street, have been advised to take precautionary measures until further notice.

However, Johannesburg Water added that there is no need for panic.

A list of 10 illegally practising or unregistered medical practitioners issuing bogus medical certificates for people to get off work in the Western Cape has been released by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).

The aim is to create awareness among employers, employees and the public.

Spokesperson Priscilla Sekhonyana says the HPCSA has in its possession 28 fake medical certificates reported to the Cape Town office, GroundUp reported.

South Africa is one of nine countries which have been warned by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to be on high alert for the "black death" plague.

The other eight countries at risk include the Comoros, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, France's La Réunion, the Seychelles, and Tanzania.

An update on the outbreak, released in a WHO report, states that South Africa’s travel and trade links with Madagascar, where the outbreak has already killed 124 people and infected 1 133, has put it at risk.

Only 0.2% of South Africans are registered as organ donors while over 4 000 people are in dire need of organ transplants.

South African Donor Foundation spokesperson Joost Vermeulen says kidneys are in high demand and dialysis only provides renal kidney failure patients with a short term solution.

He says: "Currently there are over 4 500 people in need of a life saving transplant. However that does not give us the true story, because in South Africa thousands of people are turned away who need renal dialysis.