HEALTH - The African Mirror

Jun

02

2026

HIV in South Africa: why rolling out a groundbreaking new shot will miss a critical group of men

HEALTH

THE first shipment of Lenacapavir, a long-acting injectable that prevents HIV with two shots a year, arrived in South Africa from the United States in early April 2026. Clinical trials showed close to 100% efficacy. The rollout, expected to begin in June 2026, prioritises adolescent girls and young women, pregnant and breastfeeding women, transgender people, sex workers, men who have sex with men, and people who inject drugs. These are the right populations to start with. But one group repeatedly slips through the cracks: adult, employed men in mobile, male-dominated industries, who move between work sites and home, between long-term…

May

30

2026

By OYEWALE TOMORI

Why Africa – and the world – remain dangerously unprepared for the next pandemic

HEALTH

AS the news spread about the outbreak of Ebola in mid-May 2026, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a report about pandemics. The title was: A World on the Edge: Priorities for a Pandemic-Resilient Future. The document was prepared by the WHO’s Global Preparedness Monitoring Board. It sets out why the world isn’t better prepared for pandemics, a decade after Ebola exposed dangerous gaps. And six years after COVID-19 turned those gaps into a global catastrophe. It adds that investment in pandemic preparedness has not kept pace with the rising risk of pandemics. The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board is an…

May

26

2026

By JIA B. KANGBAI

Ebola outbreak in the DRC: four reasons it will be hard to contain

HEALTH

BY the second week of the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, it was already clear that containing the spread of the haemorrhagic disease was proving to be difficult. On 17 May 2026, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. This is its highest level of global health alert. It is mostly reserved for an extraordinary disease outbreak or event that is a public health risk to many countries through international spread and hence requires global coordinated efforts. According to the WHO, as of 19 May 2026, the DRC had…

May

20

2026

By WOLFGANG PREISER; CARLA MAVIAN; CHERYL BAXTER; RICHARD LESSELLS, and TULIO DE OLIVEIRA

Hantavirus in Africa: why climate change, rats and weak surveillance are worrying scientists

HEALTH

HANTAVIRUSES are not new. They have circulated for decades in rodent populations, particularly in rats and mice. Humans can become infected if they are bitten or scratched by a rodent or by inhaling aerosolised particles. These are tiny bits of rodent urine, faeces or saliva floating through the air that are contaminated by the virus. There are many different hantaviruses, but only one can spread from person to person: the Andes hantavirus from South America. This is the strain that recently killed several cruise ship passengers. Infections between humans can be prevented by closely observing people who were exposed and…

May

19

2026

By KEVIN J.A. THOMAS

Ebola survivors struggle to return to normal lives: what I found out in Sierra Leone and Liberia

HEALTH

DURING the Ebola epidemic of 2014 to 2016, Musu, a resident of Monrovia, Liberia, contracted the Ebola virus along with her husband, five sons, and daughter. A few weeks later, six members of her family died. Musu and her youngest son survived. Since then, their lives have not been the same. Her husband was the family’s sole breadwinner. Now a widow and a single parent, Musu struggles to make ends meet. As she put it, “There is no one here to help besides God. No boyfriend. No father. I am the father, the mother, the uncle, and the brother. At…

May

18

2026

By DAVID COMAS and LAURA VILÀ VALLS

In Sudan, a migrant community reveals a resistance to malaria: the genetic study helping shape medicine

HEALTH

SUDAN lies at the crossroads of Africa and the Middle East. It has played a key role in human demographic movements, reflected in the diversity of its cultures and languages. Although much of the country is arid, the Nile River has long acted as a corridor for trade, facilitating human migration through the region for thousands of years. This makes Sudan a valuable place to study human genetic diversity and evolutionary history, which has important implications for understanding population-specific adaptation and health. The Copts are a population that migrated from Egypt in the 7th century and mixed with populations in…

May

16

2026

By The African Mirror

Better‑designed homes could cut three major child diseases by up to 44% – Tanzania trial

HEALTH

MALARIA, diarrhoea, and pneumonia are preventable childhood diseases that are major causes of death in young children. They’re transmitted largely in and around the home, where children spend most of their time. For example, around 80% of malaria transmission in Africa occurs when people are bitten by malarial mosquitoes indoors at night. Diarrhoea results usually from food and water that’s been contaminated by faeces. It can also be spread through poor hygiene. Pneumonia is spread through overcrowding and poor ventilation, and is exacerbated by indoor air pollution. We are an international group of specialists from different fields, including architecture, communications,…

May

12

2026

By PULENG SEGALO and JACOB OWUSU SARFO

Is all my struggle going to be wasted?’ Ghana study explores how mothers feel about early births

HEALTH

ABOUT 10% of births – that’s about 15 million babies – are born prematurely worldwide each year, making preterm births a major global health concern. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines preterm birth as delivery before 37 completed weeks of gestation. Estimates suggest that the preterm figure is much higher in low-income countries. Preterm births are a danger to the infant’s survival and long-term health. And according to the WHO, the level of socioeconomic development in the country where a preterm baby is born often plays a crucial role in their survival. In high-income countries, over 90% of extremely preterm…

May

06

2026

By BAMBA GAYE

The bias in medical research: Africa carries a huge disease burden but is missing from clinical trials

HEALTH

MODERN medicine prides itself on being a universal science, built on evidence from clinical trials. But there’s a bias in medical research. While Africa accounts for roughly 25% of the global disease burden and 19% of the global population, the continent’s people are largely invisible in some clinical trials. The scale of the erasure is revealed in a landmark study of 2,472 randomised controlled trials globally published between 2019 and 2024. I led this team of researchers, who scrutinised the world’s most influential medical publications to quantify African representation. They included the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, the…

Apr

25

2026

By WALE FATADE

Ending malaria in Africa: 5 essential reads on gains and challenges

HEALTH

MALARIA, a life-threatening disease spread to humans by some types of mosquitoes, is preventable and curable. The World Malaria Report 2025 shows that in 2024, there were an estimated 282 million malaria cases and 610,000 malaria deaths in 80 countries. Africa carries a disproportionately high share of the global malaria burden. In 2024, Africa accounted for 95% of malaria cases (265 million) and 95% (579,000) of malaria deaths. Children under five accounted for about 75% of all malaria deaths in the region. Over half of all deaths in Africa occurred in three countries: Nigeria (31.9%), the Democratic Republic of Congo…