Africa
Zimbabwe fires 211 striking doctors
211 junior and middle level doctors at Zimbabwe state hospitals who had been striking for two months to press for higher pay have been fired following disciplinary hearings, says an IoL report. Last month, a Zimbabwean court has ordered doctors on...Lesotho and Namibia hit by disease outbreaks
South Africa’s neighbours, Lesotho and Namibia, have been hit by disease outbreaks, says a Cape Times report. Lesotho has reported measles in the Qacha’s Nek district, while a protracted outbreak of hepatitis E in Namibia continues to be...Zimbabwean ministers spar over starving hospital patients
Reports of Zimbabwe patients starving while in hospital came to light in parliament after Defence Minister Oppah Muchinguri asked Labour and Social Welfare Minister Sekesai Nzenza what her ministry was doing to address the critical issue. “My...Zimbabwe achieves betterTB treatment coverage than SA
Zimbabwe is among the countries with high tuberculosis (TB) burdens that achieved treatment coverage levels of more than 80%, in 2018, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reveals in its latest Global TB Report. IoL reports that in the same...Zambia's first local polio case since 1995, from vaccine
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says Zambia has reported its first local case of polio since 1995, in a 2-year-old boy paralysed by a virus derived from the vaccine. According to a US News report, the WHO said the case was detected on the...DRC's Ebola epidemic contained in a 'smaller geographical area'
Efforts to halt an Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo have made "significant progress", with the virus now contained to a far smaller and mainly rural area, News24 reports the World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced. "We have...Harvard scrambles to distance itself from honour to Zimbabwe's first lady
The Global Health Catalyst (GHC) group has “clarified” its honouring of Zimbabwe’s first lady Auxillia Mnangagwa hours after several US diplomats wrote to ask it to rescind the honour. A Daily Maverick report says at the same time, Harvard...Zimbabwean doctors protest ZHDA president's abduction
A group of Zimbabwean doctors marched at the country's biggest hospital Sunday, demanding the release of one of their leaders who they say was abducted after calling for a pay strike, says an IoL report. Several government critics, including a...Burundi starts Ebola vaccinations for health workers — WHO
The Burundian Ministry of Public Health and AIDS Control has kicked off the vaccination campaign for front-line staff against the Ebola virus disease. The campaign started at the Gatumba entry point at the border with the Democratic Republic of...Two Ebola treatment trials show promise of a cure
A trial of four experimental Ebola treatments carried out in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been stopped early after two of them showed strong signs of being able to save patients’ lives, says a Science Mag report. The preliminary...Congo doctors arrested for murder of WHO medic
Three Congolese doctors have been arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo over the killing of a World Health Organisation (WHO) medic, BBC News reports a military prosecutor has said. Cameroonian doctor Richard Mouzoko was shot dead in April at...More Ebola cases in eastern DRC 'cross-roads' city
Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo are racing to contain an Ebola epidemic, after a gold miner with a large family contaminated several people in the east’s main city of Goma before dying of the haemorrhagic fever. The DRC government...
Concern over contraceptive solutions for women at high risk of HIV
August 7th, 2019 Over the past three days, the World Health Organisation guideline development group has been meeting to discuss its recommendations for the use of contraceptive methods by women at high risk of contracting HIV. A Daily Maverick report says that in...Lesotho opens 'lowest cost in world' cannabis processing plant
Lesotho, long home to an illicit cannabis farming industry, is poised to become one of the world's biggest producers of medicinal cannabis oil with the opening of a British-owned processing plant, reports The Daily Telegraph. The company's...DRC Ebola epidemic declared a global emergency – at last
The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been declared a global emergency, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) calling for international support to stop its spread, according to a New Scientist report. It says this...