HEALTH - The African Mirror

Feb

02

2021

Entrepreneur’s bold plan to overcome shortage of health services in Diepsloot

HEALTH

TANYA McCLEAN IT was when her own child fell ill at school that Agnes Pholose had a brainwave that was to become her business - a business which can mean the difference between life or death for a little one. And importantly, it also highlights the need for more efficient health services in townships. Pholose is the owner of Tshepohope Consulting based in Diepsloot, Johannesburg and offers a transport service, where she arranges to transport preschool and creche-going children to the clinic should they fall ill while at school and the parent/s are unable to take the child themselves. "My…

Feb

02

2021

By The African Mirror

Innovation — and research — are key to killing off neglected tropical diseases in Africa

HEALTH

AS a young medical doctor over 30 years ago, I had an experience no doctor wants to have. One of my patients, a young boy, died in my arms as we rushed him to the referral hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, to receive treatment. MONIQUE WASUNNA, Researcher, Kenya Medical Research Institute He had visceral leishmaniasis, a disease also known as kala-azar, which is transmitted by female sandflies. He had been brought 250 km from his village in Baringo because at that time the treatment was only available at our clinical trial site hospital in Nairobi. But we were too late. Visceral…

Feb

03

2021

By The African Mirror

Many old people in Ghana need daily care. How the government can help

HEALTH

THE world’s population is growing older – and that includes African countries, although they remain primarily youthful. Of all the countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana has among the highest proportion of people over the age of 60, namely 7.2%. CATI COE, Professor of Anthropology, Rutgers University This age group expanded from 200,000 to 1.6 million between 1960 and 2010 in Ghana. At the same time, the prevalence of health problems has grown. In a large-scale survey of Ghanaians over the age of 50, 33% reported hypertension, 14% arthritis, 7% diabetes, 6% a cardiovascular condition and 4.9% treatment for stroke. Disability…

Feb

01

2021

By The African Mirror

Algeria, Russia discusses vaccine production

COVID-19

Algeria has held discussions with Russia about the possibility of producing Moscow's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine. Talks to manufacture the vaccine in Algeria took place during a meeting between Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad and Russian ambassador Igor Beliaev, the prime minister's office said. "The two parties agreed to initiate contacts between the competent services of the two countries with the aim of establishing a bilateral cooperation...," it said in a statement. Algeria started its vaccination campaign on Saturday, a day after receiving 50,000 doses of Sputnik V. A shipment of the AstraZeneca vaccine is due to arrive on Monday. Algeria…

Feb

01

2021

By The African Mirror

Ghana aims to get 17.6 mln doses of COVID-19 vaccine by June

COVID-19

GHANA plans to procure 17.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine by the end of June with the first doses arriving in March, President Nana Akufo-Addo said on Sunday. Like other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana is battling a second wave of the novel coronavirus. Its daily infection rate is rising and is close to record levels, data compiled by Reuters shows. So far it has recorded over 63,000 cases and 416 deaths. "Our aim is to vaccinate the entire population, with an initial target of twenty million people," Akufo-Addo said in a speech to the West African nation of around…

Feb

01

2021

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe has $100 million to buy vaccines

COVID-19

ZIMBABWE has set aside $100 million to acquire COVID-19 vaccines but the government is still waiting for its scientists to recommend which type to buy, a state-owned newspaper has reported. President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government, which is grappling with an economic crisis and acute shortages of foreign exchange, has been criticised for being too slow to announce its vaccination plans. George Guvamatanga, the ministry of finance secretary, told the Sunday Mail that the government would use funds from a 2020 budget surplus and reallocate some of this year's budget to buy the vaccines. Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said in November that…

Feb

05

2021

By The African Mirror

Sixteen African nations show interest in AU vaccine plan

COVID-19

GEORGE OBULUTSA and OMAR MOHAMMED SIXTEEN African countries have shown interest in securing COVID-19 vaccines under an African Union (AU) plan, and allocations could be announced in the next three weeks, the head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday. While many rich nations have already begun mass vaccination drives, only a few African countries have started vaccination, and the 55-member African Union hopes to see 60% of the continent's 1.3 billion people immunised in the next three years. The AU has so far secured around 670 million doses for its member states. Africa CDC…

Feb

05

2021

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe to get 200,000 COVID-19 doses from China

COVID-19

ZIMBABWE will receive 200,000 free doses of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said yesterday, after China and Russia offered shots against the coronavirus to the impoverished southern African nation. Mnangagwa, in a nationally televised address, also said there were plans to vaccinate at least 60% of the population using government and private sector funding. The coronavirus pandemic has increased rapidly in Zimbabwe over the past few weeks, with about 70% of its known 33,964 infections and more than two thirds of the 1,269 deaths recorded since the beginning of January. The Sinopharm vaccine is approved in China for…

Feb

05

2021

By The African Mirror

World faces around 4,000 COVID-19 variants as researchers explore mixed vaccine shots

COVID-19

GUY FAULCONBRIDGE and ALISTAIR SMOUT THE world faces around 4,000 variants of the virus that causes COVID-19, prompting a race to improve vaccines, Britain said on Thursday, as researchers began to explore mixing doses of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca shots. Thousands of variants have been documented as the virus mutates, including the so-called British, South African and Brazilian variants which appear to spread more swiftly than others. British Vaccine Deployment Minister Nadhim Zahawi said it was very unlikely that the current vaccines would not work against the new variants. "Its very unlikely that the current vaccine won't be effective on…

Feb

10

2021

By The African Mirror

India backs AstraZeneca shot despite South Africa halt

COVID-19

KRISHNA N DAS and ANURON KUMAR MITRA INDIA has no concerns over the efficacy of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine despite South Africa putting it on hold, and ordered 10 million more doses of the shot for its own huge immunisation campaign. South Africa delayed use of the vaccine after researchers found it offered minimal protection against mild-to-moderate COVID-19 disease caused by the country's dominant coronavirus variant. India, with the highest number of infections after the United States, has yet to detect the South African variant and will continue to use the vaccine in an inoculation drive that has covered 6.3…