HEALTH - The African Mirror

Jun

11

2021

Biden to donate 500 million Pfizer doses

COVID-19

STEVE HOLLAND and ANDREA SHALAL U.S. President Joe Biden plans to buy and donate 500 million doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine to more than 90 countries, while calling on the world's democracies to do their part to help end the deadly pandemic, the White House said. The announcement of the vaccine donation - the largest ever by a single country - comes before Biden meets leaders of the other Group of Seven advanced economies in England. "The goal of today's donation is to save lives and end the pandemic and will provide the foundation for additional actions to be…

Apr

24

2021

By The African Mirror

Egypt sends backup to province

COVID-19

EGYPT’S health ministry has sent reinforcements and equipment to a province south of Cairo over the past week, after medical staff complained of a shortage of resources to cope with a surge in coronavirus cases. The reported rise of infections in Sohag province, nearly 400 km (250 miles) from the capital, has raised concern about a third wave of COVID-19 infections in Egypt, where most restrictions on movement and other precautions were lifted after a first wave last summer. Deployments to Sohag include teams to conduct home visits and supplies of oxygen and ventilators, while hospitals have expanded admission capacities,…

Apr

24

2021

By The African Mirror

Vaccine co-creator defends its safety

COVID-19

KATE KELLAND ONE of the Oxford scientists who co-developed AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine defended its safety on Friday and said he was not worried that some countries had opted to restrict its use amid concerns about a possible link to very rare side effects. Adrian Hill, director of the Oxford University's Jenner Institute, said teams around the world were working to pin down any potential mechanism for what might be causing the blood clots, using real world data now so many shots have been administered. He agreed with medicines regulators in Britain, and Europe, and with World Health Organization experts, that…

Apr

24

2021

By The African Mirror

S.A. calls for vaccine technology transfer

COVID-19

SOUTH's President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on pharmaceutical companies to transfer mRNA vaccine technology to low and middle-income countries "free of intellectual property barriers". Speaking at a virtual World Health Organization (WHO) briefing, Ramaphosa added that vaccine nationalism was seriously threatening the world's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and deepening inequality. "Let us together challenge vaccine nationalism and ensure that protecting intellectual property rights does not come at the expense of human lives," he added.

Apr

24

2021

By The African Mirror

What Nigeria must do to eliminate malaria: three researchers offer insights

HEALTH

Nigeria accounts for nearly a quarter of deaths from malaria in the world – in 2018 the numbers stood at 95,000. Three of the country’s top malaria researchers reflect on why the numbers remain so high. WALE FATADE, Commissioning Editor: Nigeria, The Conversation What does Nigeria need to do to eliminate malaria? Olukemi K. Amodu: research and innovate Malaria remains an important public health hazard globally. It is responsible for high disease and death rates especially among children under five and pregnant women. The malaria burden in Nigeria is high – 25% of cases globally. The causes include the climate,…

Jun

09

2021

By The African Mirror

Bafana wins, despite Covid-19 problems

COVID-19

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER THE South African national football team - Bafana Bafana - overcame setbacks induced by COVID-19 to defeat the visiting Ugandan national team 3-2 in a friendly match at Orlando Stadium, Soweto, yesterday. Bafana took on the cranes without its assistant coach and six players. Hellman Mkhelele, the assistant coach, led the team in the absence of Hugo Broos, the national coach who missed the match. Bafana Bafana's three goals were scored by debutant Evidence Makgopa, who netted a brace and Bongokuhle Hlongwane. Ibrahim Orit and Abdu Lumala scored for The Cranes. One of the team’s assistant coach…

Jun

10

2021

By The African Mirror

Vaccine supply talks start

COVID-19

WORLD Trade Organization members agreed on Wednesday to start formal negotiations on a plan to boost COVID-19 vaccine supply to developing countries, but face rival proposals - one with and one without a waiver of intellectual property rights. South Africa and India, backed by many emerging nations, have been pushing for eight months for a temporary waiver of IP rights on vaccines and other treatments. This could allow local manufacturers to produce the shots, something the proponents say is essential to redress "staggering" inequity of supply. Developed nations, many home to large pharmaceutical companies, have resisted, arguing that a waiver…

Apr

23

2021

By The African Mirror

Tributes for ANC MP, who died of COVID-19

COVID-19

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER Jacqueline Mofokeng, the ANC MP who succumbed to COVID-19 complications, 24 hours after her daughter succumbed to the same, has been praised by presiding officers of Parliament and her colleagues in the ANC. Mofokeng, 62, died at home in Centurion, where she had been in quarantine. Her daughter, Thato, 28, passed to COVID-19 at a hospital in Pretoria. Mofokeng was a former member of the Gauteng Legislature. In a joint statement, the Speaker of the National Assembly Thandi Modise and Amos Masondo, the chairperson of the National Council of Provinces described Mofokeng as an MP who served…

Apr

23

2021

By The African Mirror

“Don’t waste vaccines”

COVID-19

ALEXANDER WINNING and OMAR MOHAMMED THE African Union's disease control body and World Health Organization yesterday urged African countries not to waste COVID-19 vaccines donated to them, after confusion in Malawi and South Sudan about whether doses they received had expired. "My appeal to member states is: if we are doing our part to mobilise these vaccines, you do your part and use the vaccines," John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), told a news conference. Malawi has said it plans to destroy more than 16,000 doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine manufactured by the…

Apr

23

2021

By The African Mirror

WHO to review COVID-19 vaccines

COVID-19

TECHNICAL experts at the World Health Organization (WHO) will review on April 26 Chinese drugmaker Sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccine for possible emergency use listing, to be followed by the Sinovac jab on May 3, the agency said on Thursday. "We would expect a decision a couple of days later," the WHO said in response to a Reuters query. So far COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson have received a WHO listing - an endorsement of their safety and efficacy that helps to guide countries' regulatory agencies.