HEALTH - The African Mirror

Jun

27

2021

Namibia to suspend first doses as COVID-19 vaccine supplies run low – memo

COVID-19

NAMIBIA will from Tuesday temporarily suspend administering first doses of COVID-19 vaccines as supplies run low, a health ministry memo seen by Reuters showed. The southern African nation, in the midst of a deadly "third wave" of infections, recorded more than 2,500 new cases on Thursday, the highest daily tally since the virus was first detected in the country in March last year. The memo seen by Reuters said vaccine stocks had almost been depleted due to delays in the delivery of procured doses. It said remaining doses of the AstraZeneca and Sinopharm vaccines should be reserved for people getting…

Jun

26

2021

By The African Mirror

Just give us the vaccines, WHO pleads, as poor countries go wanting

COVID-19

MICHAEL SHIELDS and STEPHANIE NEBEHAY RICH countries are opening up societies and vaccinating young people who are not at great risk from COVID-19, while the poorest countries cruelly lack doses, the World Health Organization said yesterday, condemning a global failure. The situation in Africa, where new infections and deaths jumped by nearly 40% last week compared to the previous week, is "so dangerous" as the Delta variant spreads globally, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. "Our world is failing, as the global community we are failing," he told a news conference. Tedros, who is Ethiopian, chastised unnamed countries for reluctance…

Jun

26

2021

By The African Mirror

Tunisian PM contracts COVID-19

COVID-19

TUNISIA’S Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi has been infected with the coronavirus, the government has announced. Mechichi received a COVID-19 vaccine last month. The prime minister will cancel his meetings and continue to work remotely, the government statement added. Tunisia is seeing a significant increase in COVID-19 cases, with intensive care wards almost full, health authorities said adding that the situation is catastrophic. After successfully containing the virus in the first wave last year, Tunisia is grappling with a rise in infections. The positive cases rate now is 36%. In total, Tunisia has recorded 395,000 coronavirus cases and about 14,406 deaths.

Apr

22

2021

By The African Mirror

Africa overwhelmed by vaccine challenge

COVID-19

EDWARD McALLISTER WHEN Ghana received 50,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses from India last month, it hit a frustrating roadblock: it had not trained enough staff to distribute them. The country was still rolling out shots received in late February from the global vaccine-sharing scheme COVAX, and didn't have the capacity to expand that operation, according to the head of Ghana's immunisation programme. Rather than going straight into the arms of health workers, the additional doses were put in cold storage in the capital Accra, Kwame Amponsa-Achiano told Reuters, adding that his team had received two days' notice about the shipment. "We…

Jun

26

2021

By The African Mirror

Tanzania’s president warns of third wave

COVID-19

TANZANIA’S President Samia Suluhu Hassan has urged the public not to ignore a third wave of COVID-19, after her predecessor, the late John Magufuli, alarmed the world with his sceptical approach to the pandemic. Since Hassan took office after the death of Magufuli in March, the government has changed tack from downplaying the crisis to calling for social distancing and emphasising mask-wearing in public. There is currently no COVID-19 vaccination programme in Tanzania, but the country has applied to join COVAX vaccine-sharing facility and officials there are working with health partners to develop a deployment plan, the World Health Organization…

Apr

22

2021

By The African Mirror

SA to resume J&J vaccination study

COVID-19

SOUTH African researchers hope to next week resume a study using Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine to immunise healthcare workers, one of the scientists leading the programme said yesterday. South Africa suspended the study last week after U.S. federal health agencies recommended pausing the use of J&J's vaccine because of rare cases of blood clots. "We do hope to start again next week," South African Medical Research Council President Glenda Gray, co-principal investigator of the Sisonke study, said during a webinar on Wednesday. So far around 290,000 health workers have been given J&J's vaccine in the study, which is further…

Jun

26

2021

By The African Mirror

Uganda team coach arriving in Tokyo had Delta coronavirus variant

COVID-19

DANILE LEUSSINK and CHANG-RAN KIM A member of the Ugandan Olympic team who tested positive for the coronavirus upon arrival in Japan had the Delta variant, Japan's Olympics minister said yesterday, adding to concern the Games - less than a month away - may trigger a new wave of infections. A coach in the East African nation's delegation tested positive after arriving in Japan on Saturday, while a second member, an athlete, tested positive on Wednesday after arriving in the team's host city of Izumisano, officials said previously. Olympics Minister Tamayo Marukawa told a news conference that the person who…

Apr

22

2021

By The African Mirror

France kicks off Europe’s vaccine donations to poorer states

COVID-19

FRANCE will soon become the first European Union member to send some of its own COVID vaccine supplies to developing countries via the international COVAX scheme, hoping others will join its bid to stave off new variants and compete with Russia and China. The French donation of an initial 100,000 doses of AstraZeneca's COVID vaccine this month, announced on Wednesday, is a boost for COVAX, which is backed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). The COVAX facility aims to secure 2 billion vaccine doses for lower-income countries by the end of…

Apr

22

2021

By The African Mirror

Gambia eliminates trachoma, a leading cause of blindness worldwide

HEALTH

EMELINE WUILBERCQ GAMBIA has eliminated trachoma, one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide, the government has announced, after almost four decades of work to counter the disease. Trachoma, a bacterial eye infection that damages the eyelids and causes the eyelashes to turn inwards, is one of 20 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) that the World Health Organization says disproportionately affect the world's poorest people. If not corrected with surgery, it can lead to irreversible vision loss and blindness. "Eliminating a disease on this scale is a massive achievement," said Simon Bush, director of NTDs at Sightsavers, an international charity working…

Apr

23

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigeria is neglecting social workers in the fight against COVID-19. Why it shouldn’t

HEALTH

IN current debates about managing and defeating COVID-19 in Nigeria, an issue that’s missing is the role that social workers should play. PRINCE AGWU -, Researcher at the Department of Social Work and the Health Policy Research Group, University of Nigeria, University of Nigeria UZOMA OKOYE, Professor of Social Work, University of Nigeria In many countries social workers have played a central role in efforts to contain the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and to manage its fallout. In China they are celebrated for their exceptional roles. The same is true in the US, Italy, New Zealand, and the UK.…