HEALTH - The African Mirror

Aug

14

2024

Mpox cases are soaring in Africa – what must be done to prevent a global pandemic

HEALTH

ALARMED by the surge in mpox cases, the Africa Centres for Disease Control has taken the unprecedented step of declaring the outbreak sweeping through African countries a continental public health emergency. The World Health Organization (WHO) is also meeting to decide whether to trigger its highest global alert level over the epidemic. These moves come after a virulent strain of the disease spread rapidly to 16 countries and six new countries were affected in 10 days. There have been 15,132 mpox confirmed cases in Africa since the beginning of 2024. Some of the countries affected are Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Ghana,…

Aug

07

2024

By KIRSTY SANDS; EDWARD AR PORTAL; OWEN SPILLER and TIMOTHY R WALSH

Babies in Nigeria are being born with antibiotic-resistant bacteria

HEALTH

SEPSIS occurs when one’s immune system has an extreme response to an infection. It’s a life-threatening condition: globally, it accounts for about 11 million deaths – 20% of all deaths per year. And it doesn’t just affect adults. In 2020, 2.4 million newborn babies died of sepsis in the first month of their lives. Most of these deaths happened in sub-Saharan Africa. The main treatment for sepsis is antibiotics. However, the overuse and misuse of antibiotics in human medicine and agriculture has led to antimicrobial resistance – a process in which bacteria, fungi and parasites have developed the ability to…

Jul

24

2024

By BLESSING AKOMBI-INYANG

11 million Nigerian children are going hungry: how this hurts their health and what needs to be done

HEALTH

UNICEF, the UN agency for children, reported in June 2024 that around 11 million Nigerian children were experiencing severe child food poverty. The report says this translates to one in every three Nigerian children under five years old. Nigeria has about 31 million children under five. Unicef defines severe child food poverty as consuming no more than two out of eight food groups. Globally, 181 million children under the age of five are considered to be facing severe child food poverty. Nigeria ranks among the 20 countries that account for 65% – almost two-thirds – of these children. According to…

Jul

20

2024

By NADINE DREYER

The HIV epidemic 40 years on: 5 essential reads on breakthroughs, blind spots and new challenges

HEALTH

IN June 1981 The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a rare form of pneumonia in young gay men in California. Although they didn’t know it at the time, these were the first documented cases of AIDS. In 1983, HIV – the virus responsible for AIDS – was isolated by virologists from the Institut Pasteur. Since then 85.6 million people have become infected with HIV and 40.4 million people have died from AIDS-related illnesses. In the early years, the disease was known as the “gay plague” because it only seemed to affect homosexual men. We now know that…

Jul

17

2024

By ADURAGBEMI BANKE-THOMAS

Pregnant Nigerian women need faster access to hospitals – technology helped us calculate travel times

HEALTH

NIGERIA contributes 28% of the 280,000 maternal deaths and about 10% of almost two million stillbirths that occur annually across the globe. Evidence shows significantly higher odds of maternal deaths in urban Nigeria than in rural areas, especially in the south, due to poor road infrastructure, haphazardly built environments, traffic congestion and expanding informal settlements. According to research published in 2019, 82.5% of stillbirths in Nigeria occurred in urban areas. I am a maternal health expert and co-authored two studies using Google Maps to accurately calculate travel time to obstetric care facilities in urban Nigeria. Over 50% of maternal deaths…

Jul

12

2024

By SCARLETT SMOUT, SCARLETT SMOUT and LAUREN GARDNER

New research shows small lifestyle changes are linked to differences in teen mental health over time

HEALTH

JUDGING by recent headlines and policy ideas, you might think screen time is the only lifestyle behaviour influencing teen wellbeing. But with young people struggling to deal with mounting mental health issues, it’s crucial we don’t get tunnel vision and instead remember all the lifestyle levers that can play a role. Our research, published today, tracked Australian high school students from 71 schools across New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. Over time, improvements in sleep, fruit and vegetable intake, and exercise were associated with small but significant improvements in mental health. The reverse was also true when it came…

Jul

10

2024

By LILIAN DUDLEY, CATHERINE MATHEWS, FLAVIA SENKUBUGE, GUINEVERE LOURENS, LESLIE LONDON and SHARON FONN

South Africa’s healthcare system: eight steps that would get it on the right track

HEALTH

SOUTH Africa’s healthcare system suffers from widespread problems in its governance. A number of indicators point to this dysfunction. These include the large number of managers in acting positions, frequent changes in senior leadership, worse health outcomes than similarly resourced countries, and overall deterioration of morale and trust in the public health system. These indicators confirm that there are system-wide failures. And that much needs to be done to improve the governance of the South African health system. The findings were made by a panel appointed by the Academy of Science of South Africa. The seven-member panel was made up…

Jul

09

2024

By STELLA BOYD-FORD and CLARE DIX

Mealtimes can be tough when your child is autistic or has ADHD. Here are 5 tips to try

HEALTH

GATHERING as a family for a meal can serve several purposes: from social connection to nutrition. But this can also make eating and mealtimes tricky to manage when someone in the family is neurodivergent. Many autistic children and children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) display what has been called “abnormal feeding behaviours”. Children may develop these behaviours as a way to cope with the complex task of mealtimes. The skills involved in mealtimes such as recognising feelings of hunger and thirst, completing tasks in a set order, processing all kinds of sensory input, using fine motor skills, and interacting socially…

Jul

05

2024

By LINDA-GAIL BEKKER

HIV breakthrough: drug trial shows injection twice a year is 100% effective against infection

HEALTH

A large clinical trial in South Africa and Uganda has shown that a twice-yearly injection of a new pre-exposure prophylaxis drug gives young women total protection from HIV infection. The trial tested whether the six-month injection of lenacapavir would provide better protection against HIV infection than two other drugs, both daily pills. All three medications are pre-exposure prophylaxis (or PrEP) drugs. Physician-scientist Linda-Gail Bekker, principal investigator for the South African part of the study, tells Nadine Dreyer what makes this breakthrough so significant and what to expect next. Tell us about the trial and what it set out to achieve…

Jul

03

2024

By STELLA IFEANYI SMITH

Nigeria’s cholera outbreaks: why they happen and are so hard to control

HEALTH

ON 9 June 2024 the Lagos State government declared a cholera outbreak. Three days later, it announced that 324 suspected cases had been reported in the state, including 15 people who died and 40 who were discharged after treatment. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reported that as of 11 June, 1,141 suspected cholera cases had been recorded across 30 states in Nigeria since 1 January 2024. There were 65 confirmed cases with 30 deaths reported from 96 local governments in 30 out of the 36 states. The Conversation Africa asked Stella Smith, a molecular epidemiologist, to explain…