A historical Chinese remedy guides research

Barnard led a large Groote Schuur Hospital team in the first human-to-human heart transplant.

The patient was given the heart of Denise Darvall, who had died after a road accident.

Nurses, surgeons, anesthetists, technicians and laboratory staff were needed for the procedure.

The surgery was performed in South Africa’s segregated medical system; its wider social context belongs in the history.

In animal tests, qinghao sample 191 inhibited malaria parasites in rodents with striking effectiveness.

The 4 October finding was preclinical; later research was required before artemisinin could be used in patients.

Tu described this exact observation date in her Nobel biographical account, crediting the wider Project 523 effort.

Its resolution launched the Expanded Programme on Immunization to extend routine childhood protection.

The programme sought to widen access to vaccines against major childhood diseases.

The resolution called for stronger national programmes, supplies and trained health workers.