South Africa is facing a profound shift in its health crisis, with diabetes now emerging as the country's leading reported cause of death, overtaking long-standing infectious disease threats such as tuberculosis (TB) and HIV in the latest official mortality statistics. According to the latest available Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) Mortality and Causes of Death report for 2023, diabetes accounts for 35,354 deaths, or 10.4% of all deaths recorded in the dataset. Now HEALA, the Healthy Living Alliance says the figures represent a warning that South Africa can no longer treat non-communicable diseases as a secondary health concern. Jon Gericke spoke to Nomfundo Mbuli, Programmes manager at HEALA