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Heat in sub-Saharan Africa tied to miscarriage risk – UKZN study
A study by University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) scientists has found evidence linking maternal heat exposure – during the month before conception – with miscarriage,...
Typhoid vaccine protects for up to four years – Malawi study
Randomised controlled trials among children in Asia and Africa have revealed a high short-term efficacy of typhoid conjugate vaccines, however, few studies have analysed...
AMR burden weighs heavily on Africa – global study
The rapid acceleration of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major concern for the future of global health and modern healthcare, and a particularly urgent...
Lack of basic care hastens colorectal cancer deaths in Africa – global analysis
Despite the disease being potentially curable, most people with colorectal cancer in sub-Saharan Africa receive no treatment, or only inadequate treatment, and yet, the...
AMR in Africa spikes with inappropriate antibiotic use
Africa has the highest global burden of antimicrobial-resistant infections, with 114.8 deaths per 100 000 people, with inappropriate use of antibiotics one of the...
Progress for traditional medicine in disease-fighting arsenal
Researchers are edging closer to using traditional medicines in the fight against disease, in line with the Department of Health's goal to register these...
SA bone-healing research offers hope for malignant cancer
The Wits Bone Research Laboratory is the the only unit of its kind to show that a bone-forming protein can block growth of human...
Rooibos shows potential in fight against Alzheimer’s
Scientists say that preliminary studies with South African rooibos extracts have shown the tisane might help reduce the risk and onset of neurodegenerative diseases...
Gene found in Africans increases Parkinson’s risk, global study finds
An international study of 198 000 people has suggested that a gene variant, found almost exclusively in the genomes of people of African ancestry...
Cardiologists call for help, local research, for Africa’s CVD burden
There’s been an alarming rise in cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Africa, with 50% to 88% of deaths in at least...
Step forward as first study maps out Africa’s superbug threat
Africa has the world’s highest death rate from antimicrobial resistant infections – reported at 27 deaths per 100 000 – the health burden of...
Experts call for comprehensive, large-scale response to slash Africa's cancer burden
Cancer mortality rates in sub-Saharan Africa – one of the top three causes of premature deaths in most countries in the region – are...
Silent epidemic of deadly fungal infections in Africa
Although it might seem far-fetched, and like the stuff of which science-fiction movies are made, fungi can, and do, infect human brains, with fungal...
More focus on lipid profiles urged for KZN’s many diabetics – SA study
A recent study has highlighted KwaZulu-Natal as having a particularly high burden of diabetic patients, with the authors recommending that healthcare providers in the...
SA study quest to better understand and treat diseases
A two-year study, using the health and genetic records of 100 000 consenting patients from a Durban hospital, is expected to improve understanding of...
Immunisations drop as Africa's faith in vaccines plunges
The World Health Organisation and Unicef have reported the largest sustained drop in routine childhood immunisations in three decades, with 6m fewer children in...
Hope for cheaper, effective meningitis jab after African trial success
Researchers are optimistic about a more affordable multivalent meningococcal vaccine becoming a future option after a randomised trial in the African meningitis belt showed...
Six HIV vaccine research projects underway globally
Community engagement is not a “good-to-do but a must-do”, according to the International Aids Vaccine Initiative’s community engagement manager Zandile Ciko, speaking at a...
African study finds solution to reduce for childbirth-related haemorrhaging
A novel approach – known as E-motive – may help reduce mortality caused by childbirth-related bleeding, according to results of a study carried out...
Africa to produce new malaria vaccine?
Hopes are high that the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine – recently approved by Ghana and Nigeria – will be manufactured on the continent in the...
Africa could become epicentre of precision medicine, says scientist
In the future, a few drops of your blood, saliva or tears could give you early warning of impending cancer, heart attacks or other...
Women’s surgery risks higher in Africa – collaborative study
There is an urgent need to improve to improve healthcare and surgical care for women in Africa, says researchers, after their study found that...
Africa makes inroads in stamping out neglected, tropical diseases
African countries have been making steady progress in eliminating tropical diseases, with Togo leading the way in wiping out four such neglected diseases, notes...
Deadly risks in delaying treatment of bacterial infection after snake bite – Namibian study
Delayed treatment of a rare bacterial infection after a bite from an African spitting cobra could lead to death, say scientists, after examining the...
High rates of sepsis-associated acute kidney injury in SA ICU wards
A local study has found sepsis-associated acute kidney (SA-AKI) injuries to be common in South African hospitals, with scientists saying more research was needed...
Africa's challenge with malaria eradication
Malaria remains one of the most devastating parasitic diseases affecting humans. In 2020 there were around 241m cases and 672 000 malaria-related deaths, a...
Link between traditional beer and oesophageal cancer – SA study
Researchers at Walter Sisulu University have found a link between the high oesophageal cancer rates in the province and the consumption of umqombothi (traditional...
Common kidney blood test unsuitable for diagnoses in Africans – large cohort study
Kidney prevalence may be much higher in Africa than previously thought as a commonly used blood test which measures how well a person’s kidneys...
New combo HIV drug treatment for children approved in SA
The SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has given the nod to a new sweet-tasting combination drug specially designed for infants and children with...
Cancer deaths doubling, could soar to 1m in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030
Cancer researchers estimate that annual cancer deaths in sub-Saharan Africa could reach 1m by 2030, almost double those from 2020.
The research, published in The...
Inexpensive intervention reduces birth complications – Botswana study
A six-year study of nearly 100,000 women in Botswana showed that inexpensive daily diet supplementation of iron, folic acid and vitamin supplementation in pregnancy...
Fosfomycin for babies with neonatal sepsis and AMR – Kenya trial
Fosfomycin offers potential as an affordable antibiotic regimen with a simple dosing schedule for neonatal sepsis, under conditions of rising antimicrobial resistance (AMR), found...
Sugar-free gum in pregnancy associated with lower preterm birth rates – Malawi study
Women who chewed sugar-free gum daily in early pregnancy had a significantly lower risk of preterm birth at a cost of approximately $700 to...
Men in who paid for sex more likely to live with HIV – Sub-Saharan Africa survey
Twenty years’ worth of surveys suggest that nearly one in 10 sexually active men in 35 countries in sub-Saharan Africa have been clients of...
Penicillin reduces progression of rheumatic heart disease in children — Uganda study
A regular, affordable antibiotic treatment significantly reduced the risk of underlying rheumatic heart disease progression in children and adolescents, according to a randomised, controlled...
Access barriers delay autism treatment for 2 years — KZN Children’s Hospital
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in KwaZulu-Natal face significant barriers in accessing healthcare and special schools a two-year delay between identifying the symptoms...
Afrigen’s Cape Town bid to reverse engineer Moderna’s vaccine
In a pair of Cape Town warehouses converted into a maze of airlocked sterile rooms, young scientists are assembling and calibrating the equipment needed...
Stellenbosch study assesses SA’s acute shortage of nephrologists
While there has been an increase in the number of nephrologists in South Africa over the past 15 years, a substantial further increase is...
Tanzanian study: Laser more effective treatment than daily eye drops
Laser treatment has the potential to transform the management of glaucoma in Africa, and to prevent more people from going irreversibly blind, particularly in...
New variants: Africa needs to strengthen its COVID response
The findings of a study published in Science show that Africa cannot be left behind in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, lest the continent become a...