KATE KELLAND LEVELS of childhood immunisations against dangerous diseases such as measles, tetanus and diphtheria have dropped alarmingly during the COVID-19 pandemic, putting millions of children at risk, United Nations agencies said on Wednesday. "The avoidable suffering and death caused by children missing out on routine immunisations could be far greater than COVID-19 itself," World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a joint report with UNICEF. Three-quarters of the 82 countries that responded to a survey for the report said they had suffered coronavirus-related disruptions to their immunisation programmes as of May 2020. Most problems were linked…

COVID-19 has killed four Kenyan health workers and infected 450, the health ministry has said, as word emerged of a slew of cases in Kenya's biggest maternity hospital. "Health workers handling patients with confirmed or suspected cases of coronavirus disease face an increased risk of exposure to the virus," Rashid Aman, the chief administrative secretary at the ministry of health, told a news briefing. At least 41 of the staff at Pumwani maternity hospital in the capital Nairobi have been infected, said Patrick Amoth, the acting director general of health at the health ministry, adding that the cases were mild.…

THE Democratic Republic of Congo has given copper and cobalt mining companies a month to stop confining workers on site away from their families as part of COVID-19 restrictions and return to normal operations, the labour minister said in an open letter. Workers have been told by managers to either stay and work or lose their jobs, civil society organisations said last month, citing miners and union representatives and demanding an end to the approach. "All mining companies that have confined workers to the operating site are granted a one-month moratorium to return to normal operation," Labour Minister Nene Ilunga…

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER GWEDE Mantashe has become the first member of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's cabinet to test positive for COVID-19. The South African presidency has announced that Mantashe, the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, as well as his wife, Nolwandle, tested positive for COVID-19.  “This was the minister’s third round of tests to be conducted since the outbreak of this virus. Minister Mantashe and Mrs Mantashe are currently in isolation and the minister will work from home,” the presidency said in a statement, adding that he has directed all members of his private office to get tested. …

DEATHS from HIV, tuberculosis and malaria could surge in poor and middle-income countries as already weak health systems grapple with severe disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a predictive study published. Over the next five years, deaths from the three diseases could rise by as much as 10%, 20% and 36% respectively - putting the mortality impact on a scale similar to the direct impact of the coronavirus pandemic itself, the modelling study found. "In countries with a high malaria burden and large HIV and TB epidemics, even short-term disruptions could have devastating consequences for the millions of people…

KIM HARRISBERG Across Africa, governments keen to modernise booming cities often view poor people making a living sifting through rubbish or hawking on the streets as a hindrance. This has been an ongoing battle for South Africa's 90,000 informal waste reclaimers, who haul trolleys across the city to collect tins, plastic and paper from people's trash before separating, washing and selling the goods to buyback centres. Reclaimers recycle 80 to 90% of plastic and packaging in South Africa, saving authorities up to 750 million Rand ($40 million) in landfill costs, the Pretoria-based Council for Scientific and Industrial Research estimates.  Under…

GIULIA PARAVICINI LONG after the funding for his project was frozen, Bilal Endris has kept a lonely watch over cemeteries in Ethiopia's capital by slipping cash to gravediggers to alert his team to any sudden spikes in burials. In a nation where fewer than 2% of deaths are registered, an increase in burials may be one of the first signs that a killer disease is on the loose. The program was set up to monitor deaths related to HIV/AIDS a decade ago. Now doctor Bilal monitors for a spike in fatalities linked to COVID-19. He has yet to see one,…

THE death of Thomas Madikwe Manthata, popularly known as “Tom” on Friday 10 July 2020, marks the end of an era among South Africans who had wholly dedicated their lives to the struggle for liberation and the restoration of the dignity and humanity of the black people in South Africa. Tom died of complications to COVID-19. For some time Tom had endured poor health, and with deteriorating eyesight stemming from torture at the hands of the security police, he eventually lost his eyesight altogether. Tom was an exemplar of a dedicated soldier for peace with justice. Tom Manthata straddles many…

BILLONAIRE philanthropist Bill Gates called for COVID-19 drugs and an eventual vaccine to be made available to countries and people that need them most, not to the "highest bidder," saying relying on market forces would prolong the deadly pandemic. "If we just let drugs and vaccines go to the highest bidder, instead of to the people and the places where they are most needed, we'll have a longer, more unjust, deadlier pandemic," Gates, a founder of Microsoft, said in a video during a virtual COVID-19 conference organized by the International AIDS Society. "We need leaders to make these hard decisions…