HEALTH - The African Mirror

Feb

26

2021

Kenya’s vaccines to arrive in March

COVID-19

KENYA’S first batch of COVID-19 vaccines will arrive in the first week of March, the presidency announced yesterday, with healthcare workers, frontline workers and vulnerable population groups to be given priority. "Cabinet ratified the distribution framework for the vaccines; with first priority being given to Health Care Workers, Frontline Workers including Security Personnel and Teachers, vulnerable persons and groups and Hospitality Sector Workers," the presidency said in a press release.

Feb

26

2021

By The African Mirror

“Waive intellectual property rights on drugs”

COVID-19

THE African Union is backing calls for drugmakers to waive some intellectual property rights on COVID-19 medicines and vaccines to speed up their rollout to poor countries, the head of its disease control body said yesterday. South Africa and India, which both manufacture drugs and vaccines, made the proposal at the World Trade Organization last year, saying intellectual property (IP) rules were hindering the urgent scale-up of vaccine production and provision of medical products to some patients. They have faced opposition from some developed nations, but the backing of the African Union may give renewed impetus for the push to…

Feb

26

2021

By The African Mirror

South Africa aims to vaccinate 1.1 million

COVID-19

SOUTH Africa aims to vaccinate around 1.1 million people against COVID-19 by the end of March as it ramps up its immunisation programme, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said yesterday. Addressing parliament, Mkhize also said authorities might have to inoculate more than their original target of 40 million people to reach herd immunity. The country, hit far harder by the pandemic than any other in Africa, started rolling out Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) vaccine last week in a research study targeting healthcare workers. It hopes to receive doses of the Pfizer vaccine soon. Mkhize said so far more than 32,000 health…

Feb

26

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigeria’s plan to pay for COVID-19 vaccines

COVID-19

FELIX ONUAH NIGERIA will draw up a supplementary budget in March to cover the cost of COVID-19 vaccinations, for which no provision was made in the 2021 finance bill adopted in December, finance minister Zainab Ahmed said on Thursday. The government has said it plans to inoculate 40% of Nigeria's 200 million people this year and another 30% in 2022. The country, Africa's most populous, has been hit by a second wave of infections in recent weeks. "There will be a supplementary budget, the first one will be in March relating to the COVID-19 pandemic," Ahmed told reporters, without giving…

Jul

23

2021

By The African Mirror

Africa demands local production of vaccines

COVID-19

DUNCAN MIRIRI and GEORGE OBULUTSA GLOBAL pharmaceutical firms should license the production of COVID-19 vaccines in Africa rather than just do piecemeal contract deals, an African Union special envoy has said. AU coronavirus envoy Strive Masiyiwa was speaking a day after Pfizer and BioNTech announced a "fill and finish" deal with South Africa's Biovac Institute under which it will carry out the final stages of vaccine manufacturing where the product is processed and put into vials. Pfizer and BioNTech will handle drug substance production at their facilities in Europe. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has called the arrangement "restrictive" and said…

Jul

24

2021

By The African Mirror

Malnutrition among children is rife in Nigeria. What must be done

HEALTH

MALNUTRITION is one of the world’s major public health and development concerns. In Nigeria, the situation is dire. Currently, UNICEF says 5 in 10 children under five years old suffer from the effects of being malnourished. This has an overarching impact on the lives, future and productivity of Nigerian children. Ogechi Ekeanyanwu, from The Conversation Africa, asked Blessing Akombi-Inyang, a maternal and child health expert, to explain the reasons for this high rate of malnutrition. BLESSING AKOMBI-INYANG PHD, MPH, Lecturer in Global Health, UNSW Why is malnutrition so endemic in Nigeria? The main reason is malnutrition’s close association with poverty.…

Feb

26

2021

By The African Mirror

Psychology carries a dark past: how the discipline can be Africanised

HEALTH

IT'S well documented by many scholars that psychological warfare took place for a long time as part of the colonial conquest. The colonialists laboured to ensure that black people’s minds were colonised. And to this end, many theories were developed (by white psychologists) to prove the inferiority of the black mind. PULENG SEGALO, Professor of Psychology, University of South Africa JULIA SIMANGO, Lecturer, University of South Africa One of the consequences of this is that, in colonial and post-colonial settings, psychology didn’t speak – or respond – to the lived realities of black people. The writer and scholar Chabani Manganyi…

Jul

26

2021

By The African Mirror

SA’s 18-35 year-olds to get vaccine

COVID-19

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER AFTER a slow start, South Africa has made strides in its COVID-19 vaccination programme, notching the 6.3-million vaccinations, and has plans to radically improve the numbers, the country’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced. In a special address to the nation, Ramaphosa also announced that South Africans between the ages of 18 and 35 will soon be able to register for vaccinations. Ramaphosa said: “As we have always said, our most effective weapon in the fight against COVID-19 is an effective and comprehensive vaccination programme. In the last few weeks, our vaccination campaign has made huge strides. We…

Jul

23

2021

By The African Mirror

Guinea takes part in Olympics

COVID-19

GUINEA’S five athletes will participate in the Tokyo Olympics after all, a statement from the West African nation's sports ministry has said, reversing the previous day's decision to suspend its participation in the Games citing the pandemic. On Wednesday, Sports Minister Sanoussy Bantama Sow said in a letter to the country's National Olympic Committee that the government had cancelled Guinea's participation to "preserve the health of its athletes" due to a surge in COVID-19 variants. Daily coronavirus infections in Tokyo rose to 1,979 cases on Thursday, the city said, the highest level since January. The July 21 letter seen by…

Feb

25

2021

By The African Mirror

Egypt registers Russia’s vaccine

COVID-19

EGYPT has approved Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19, becoming the 34th country outside of Russia and third in North Africa to do so, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has said in a statement. RDIF, Russia's sovereign wealth fund responsible for marketing the vaccine abroad, said Sputnik V had been approved by the Egyptian Drug Authority using an emergency use authorisation procedure. Tunisia and Algeria have already approved the shot.