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World experts call for urgent response, saying Ebola was preventable
Global health leaders, including a number of leading South African health professionals, have signed an open letter to governments in which they urge “an...
Race to find Ebola vaccine accelerates
As the Ebola virus continues to spread, and to claim lives, three new vaccines are being developed to tackle this latest, rare species, while...
Responders struggle to contain Ebola as outbreak surges
The military governor of the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ituri province, the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak, has likened the struggle to contain the...
Ebola outbreak opens old wounds about African healthcare
To some Africans, the claim last week that the continent’s largest health agency had already bungled its response scratched a familiar wound, reports The...
Demand for new HIV jab outstrips supply in African rollout
Demand for the twice-yearly HIV prevention injection lenacapavir is outpacing supply in parts of Africa, with distribution covering a fraction of estimated need and...
SA’s Ebola risk ‘low’ as rare virus strain rips through Congo
As the number of Ebola deaths rises to more than 130 in the Eastern Congo, and despite the WHO having declared a global emergency...
Zambia wants US health deal uncoupled from minerals access
The proposed critical minerals agreement contained in the Washington health deal with Zambia has been rejected by the African county, with its government clarifying...
Africa CDC launches group to guide genomics governance, innovation
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), recently launched the African Strategic Advisory Group on Genomics (ASAG), which aims to independent...
Hantavirus in Africa – why scientists are worried
Hantaviruses – which have circulated for decades in rodent populations, particularly in rats and mice, and can infect humans who may be bitten or...
Malaria mortality slashed in African children after vaccine
WHO’s approval of the RTS,S/AS01 (Mosquirix) malaria vaccine in 2021 was a milestone in global public health, representing not only the first vaccine approved...
Action urged for sickle cell disease in Nigeria, across Africa
The growing burden of sickle cell disease in Nigeria – and across sub-Saharan Africa – has prompted calls by health professionals and researchers for...
Southern Africa inches ahead in war against drug-resistant malaria
As malaria cases nudge their way upwards on the continent, and while the cunning parasite evolves to evade detection and conquer drugs used to...
Mystery illness in Burundi kills five
At least five people have died in Burundi, and another three dozen become ill from unexplained causes, reports CIDRAP News.
The case-fatality rate of 14%...
Africa, Europe sign €100m in pacts to boost health systems
Three agreements have been signed between the African Union and the European Commission to reinforce and strengthen Africa’s health systems, reports Health Policy Watch.
The...
Nigerian doctors demand justice after attacks
The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has demanded justice for a doctor and a nurse who were assaulted at the Kwara State University...
One in three young girls in Africa untested for HIV
HIV remains one of the biggest public health challenges in sub-Saharan Africa, a region which accounts for about two-thirds of 40m people with HIV globally....
Africa needs to reassess fight against malaria
As progress on malaria stalls, the case for local research in Africa is stronger than ever, write Edwine Barasa of the KEMRI-Wellcome Research Programme...
Africa’s health worker brain drain tracks colonial patterns
Africa has a challenge to retain the health staff it needs – with the WHO estimating a global shortfall of 11m health workers by...
Supplier still selling expired medicines to Malawi state facilities
Despite a recommendation to revoke its licence, one of Malawi’s largest pharmaceutical suppliers that was shut down for supplying state hospitals with faulty antibiotics...
Genetic risk factors threaten kidney disease crisis for Africa
With kidney disease rising across the continent, there’s an overwhelming need for African health systems to boost investment in early disease detection, for pharmaceutical...
Kenyan president slams healthcare scheme critics
President William Ruto has dismissed criticism of the government’s Social Health Authority (SHA), saying opponents lack the capacity to understand or interpret the scale...
Low CD4 count linked to cervical cancer risk – Swiss-SA study
A team of scientists, led by the University of Bern, Switzerland, and in collaboration with the Universities of Cape Town and Stellenbosch, has found...
Africa’s deadly legacy – one stillbirth every 30 seconds
A major report has revealed that a baby is stillborn every 30 seconds in Africa, exposing major cracks in the continent’s healthcare systems. Most...
Tpoxx no longer advised for mpox: EMA
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is recommending that the antiviral drug tecovirimat (Tpoxx) no longer be used for treating mpox, after studies found it...
Half of all badly injured patients don’t reach medical care – UK-Stellenbosch study
Many seriously injured patients in Global South countries fail to reach medical care within the lifesaving “golden hour”, with ambulances often associated with these...
Expert urges caution on Africa-US health agreements
The United States has been signing bilateral health deals with African countries, with pacts worth $19.8bn having been negotiated and inked by the end...
Zambia stands firm against US bullying over health support
The US State Department is threatening to withhold lifesaving health support to Zambia as a negotiating tactic to force that country’s government to sign...
Africa summit flags fungal diseases as public health priority
A landmark summit held in Addis Ababa this month – Africa’s first event dedicated to fungal diseases – concluded with a multi-stakeholder commitment to...
Doctors arrested amid escalating tensions at Nairobi Hospital
One of Kenya’s leading private medical institutions, The Nairobi Hospital, is facing a deepening governance crisis after sudden arrests at the weekend of senior...
SA leading the charge for made-in-Africa anti-HIV jab
South Africa’s National Aids Council (Sanac) has asked local drug companies to submit applications by 7 April to make generic versions of the anti-HIV...
Madagascar reports first mpox death
Madagascar has reported its first death – a three-year-old girl – from mpox since the disease was detected in the country last December, according to...
Breakthrough sickle cell gene therapy a distant hope in Africa
As Uganda rolls out mandatory nationwide screening of newborns for sickle cell disease, a gene therapy celebrated in the United States and Europe remains...
Kenyan health, hospital officials charged in multimillion-dollar fraud probe
Charges against a number of directors from various Kenyan hospitals as well as several government officials all linked to Social Health Authority (SHA) fraud –...
Africa-wide psychosis research network launched
Psychotic disorders remain under-researched and under-resourced across Africa, despite evidence that between 1% and 4.4% of people on the continent may experience psychosis during...
Zimbabwe rejects $350m US health deal
A proposed $350m health funding agreement with the United States has been rejected by Zimbabwe after President Emmerson Mnangagwa described the deal as compromising...
Traditional medicinal plants at frontline for men’s health – SA study
Men’s sexual and reproductive health may be awkward to talk about, but there’s a need to do so. For example, about one-sixth of all...
Indigenous African foods might help fight diabetes – SA study
African indigenous food groups present an exciting area to explore when it comes to taste and nutrition, and may even offer potential as nutritional...
Lesotho’s flying doctors won't let their wings be clipped
An intrepid band of airborne health workers is bringing essential medical care to isolated communities in the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, where villagers go...
US threatens Gavi over vaccines ingredient
The US Government has threatened to withdraw all future funding unless Gavi, the vaccine alliance, removes the ingredient thimerosal from its vaccines. This comes...
Kenya’s NHI loses billions to fraud
Kenya’s Health Cabinet has revealed that the government lost Sh11bn through fraudulent and irregular medical claims under the new Social Health Authority (SHA) system,...