HEALTH - The African Mirror

Sep

29

2021

South Africa, Oxfam call for fairer trade rules in response to pandemic

COVID-19

SOUTH Africa's president and the head of Oxfam heaped pressure on World Trade Organization members and manufacturers to allow fairer access to COVID-19 vaccines on Tuesday, including through a waiver on intellectual property rights. At a WTO public event on trade and COVID-19 also attended by German vaccine maker BioNTech, Cyril Ramaphosa said a waiver on patents was needed to save millions of lives during the pandemic. "This is not the time just to be uni-dimensionally focused on profit. This is the time to save lives," Ramaphosa said. The WTO began discussions on a waiver to intellectual property rules for…

Dec

13

2020

By The African Mirror

COVID-19 exposes weaknesses in Kenya’s healthcare system. And what can be done

COVID-19

THERE are reports that Kenya’s hospital beds are filling up because of a surge in COVID-19 patients. This highlights concerns since the start of the pandemic, that the health systems of many African countries would quickly become overwhelmed. Moina Spooner from The Conversation Africa asked Professors Abdu Mohiddin and Marleen Temmerman to explain what must be done. ABDU MOHIDDIN, Assistant Professor, Aga Khan University MARLEEN TEMMERMAN, Director of the Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health and Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (OB/GYN), Aga Khan University What are the major deficiencies in Kenya’s healthcare system? Kenya’s…

Sep

29

2021

By The African Mirror

WHO plans to eliminate bacterial meningitis epidemics by 2030

HEALTH

THE World Health Organization (WHO) is aiming to eliminate the most deadly form of meningitis by 2030 through increased awareness and access to treatments, global plans launched by the UN-agency to combat the inflammatory disease showed. Meningitis is a dangerous inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. While it is typically caused by bacterial and viral infections, bacterial meningitis kills more people than any other form of the disease. The "Global Roadmap to Defeat Meningitis by 2030" was launched by a coalition of partners at a virtual event in Geneva to focus on preventing infections and improving…

Sep

28

2021

By The African Mirror

COVID-19 pandemic cut life expectancy by most since World War Two –study

COVID-19

VICTOR JACK THE COVID-19 pandemic reduced life expectancy in 2020 by the largest amount since World War Two, according to a study published by Oxford University, with the life expectancy of American men dropping by more than two years. Life expectancy fell by more than six months compared with 2019 in 22 of the 29 countries analysed in the study, which spanned Europe, the United States and Chile. There were reductions in life expectancy in 27 of the 29 countries overall. The university said most life expectancy reductions across different countries could be linked to official COVID-19 deaths. There have…

Dec

12

2020

By The African Mirror

One year on, Wuhan market at epicentre of virus outbreak remains barricaded, empty

COVID-19

CATE CADELL FOR over six years, 38-year-old Wuhan restaurant owner Lai Yun started most days the same way - with a trip to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, just ten minutes walk from his house. "I'd send the kids to school, have breakfast and then walk over to the market. It was very convenient," he said. That changed on Dec. 31, 2019, after four cases of a mystery pneumonia were linked to the market and it was shuttered overnight. By the end of the month, the city had begun a gruelling 76-day lockdown that came with just hours notice and…

Sep

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Global vaccines project to revamp rules after Britain got more than Botswana

COVID-19

FRANCESCO GUARASCIO IN March, as wealthy Britain led the world in vaccination rates and almost half its people had received a shot, the organisation meant to ensure fair global access to COVID-19 vaccines allotted the country over half a million doses from its supplies. By contrast Botswana, which hadn't even started its vaccination drive, was assigned 20,000 doses from the same batch of millions of Pfizer mRNA vaccines, according to publicly available documents detailing COVAX's allocations. Other poorer nations, with fledgling vaccination drives at best, also received fewer shots than Britain. Rwanda and Togo were each allotted about 100,000 doses,…

Dec

12

2020

By The African Mirror

WHO expects decisions on Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca vaccines in weeks

COVID-19

THE World Health Organization expects to make decisions on whether to give emergency use approval to COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca in the coming weeks, its chief scientist has said. Soumya Swaminathan said the global health body could decide on Pfizer's vaccine candidate in the next "couple of weeks", and later said it could also review Moderna's and AstraZeneca's candidates in a few weeks. WHO approval could allow a vaccine to be deployed in some countries where national medical regulators have not yet been able to evaluate it. Swaminathan said at least 10 companies had expressed an interest…

Dec

12

2020

By The African Mirror

Egypt receives first batch of Sinopharm coronavirus vaccines

COVID-19

EGYPT has received its first shipment of vaccines developed by China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) and will get more deliveries soon, health officials have disclosed. The shipment arrived at Cairo airport from the United Arab Emirates, which has been carrying out phase III clinical trials of the vaccine. The UAE health ministry said this week that the Sinopharm vaccine had 86% efficacy, citing an interim analysis of the late-stage clinical trials. The vaccine has already been used on about 1 million people in China in an emergency programme. In Egypt the vaccine, taken in two doses 21 days apart, will…

Dec

11

2020

By The African Mirror

Nigeria may be on verge of second wave of COVID-19 infections warns health minister

COVID-19

FELIX ONUAH NIGERIA may be on the verge of a second wave of COVID-19 infections amid rising number of confirmed cases in Africa's most populous country over the last few weeks, the health minister has announced. Osagie Ehanire, speaking at a televised news conference in the capital Abuja, said 1,843 cases were recorded last week compared with 1,235 two weeks before that, and 1,126 the week before that. "We may just be on the verge of a second wave of this pandemic," he said. His comments came a day after South Africa said it had officially entered a second wave.…

Dec

11

2020

By The African Mirror

Africa disease control head calls on rich nations to share excess COVID-19 shots

COVID-19

OMAR MOHAMMED COUNTRIES that have ordered more COVID-19 vaccines than they need should consider distributing excess doses to Africa, the head of the continent's disease control body has said. As African countries begin to feel the effects of a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said it was unlikely to secure enough vaccine shots. Many African states are relying on COVAX, a global COVID-19 vaccine allocation plan co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO), which is working to lower prices and discourage hoarding. "Some countries have got…