HEALTH - The African Mirror

May

30

2021

What is ‘femtech’ and why are investors taking note?

HEALTH

SHARON KIMATHI NO longer a women's-only industry, the so-called femtech sector is grabbing the attention of investors betting on a worldwide boom in products and services designed to meet women's often-neglected healthcare needs. From apps offering expert online medical advice to home fertility testing kits, the global femtech market is expected to reach $60 billion by 2027, according to a study by Emergen Research, a research and consulting firm. Coined by Ida Tin - co-founder and chief executive of Danish menstruation-tracking app Clue, the term femtech can refer to software, diagnostics, products or services that harness technology to address women's…

Jun

04

2021

By The African Mirror

Ghana player tests positive for COVID-19

COVID-19

A player on Ghana's Under-24 team has tested positive for the novel coronavirus after arriving in Japan for a friendly match, the Japan Football Association (JFA) has announced. The player had been isolated from the rest of the squad and staff, who are themselves isolated at a designated facility, the JFA said in a statement. The news comes just two days after the JFA cancelled a friendly match against Jamaica as 10 of their players were unable to board a flight to Japan due to coronavirus testing issues. Japan is battling a fourth wave of COVID-19 just 50 days before…

Jun

04

2021

By The African Mirror

France donates 184,000 doses to Senegal

COVID-19

FRANCE has donated 184,000 doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine to Senegal through the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility, the programme's sponsors said in a statement. This is the second batch of COVID-19 vaccines Senegal has received through the global scheme after an initial 324,000 AstraZeneca doses arrived in March. The arrival of the latest batch is timely. Senegal's supply of vaccines is running low just as thousands of people are due for their second jabs. Most of the country's 16 million citizens have yet to receive a first dose. Around 456,000 people in Senegal had been vaccinated as of Tuesday, programme sponsors…

Jun

04

2021

By The African Mirror

Biden says U.S. to send 25 million COVID-19 vaccines around the world

COVID-19

JEFF MASON and CARL O’DONNELL US President Joe Biden has laid out how his country would share some 25 million of a planned 80 million COVID-19 vaccine doses with the rest of the world. The United States will donate nearly 19 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine supply through the COVAX international vaccine sharing program, he said in a statement. Through COVAX, some 6 million doses would go to Latin America and the Caribbean, about 7 million doses to South and Southeast Asia and roughly 5 million for Africa. The remaining doses, amounting to just over 6 million, would go…

May

29

2021

By The African Mirror

Macron pledges help for Africa

COVID-19

PRESIDENT Emmanuel Macron has announced that France would invest in boosting the production of COVID-19 vaccines in Africa, to help close a gap in the availability of the shots between African and Western nations. Speaking at a joint news conference with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Pretoria, Macron said Africa made up around 20% of the world's need for vaccines but only 1% of vaccine production. "How do we boost the production of vaccines on the African continent?" he said. "On this, we will this afternoon have an investment strategy to help these industrials produce more, and quite quickly."…

Jun

04

2021

By The African Mirror

Moderna to supply vaccines to Botswana

COVID-19

MODERNA Inc has entered a supply agreement with the Botswana government for its COVID-19 vaccine. The Botswana Medicines Regulatory Authority (BMRA) has issued an emergency use authorization for the vaccine, Moderna said. The latest agreement is separate from the 500 million vaccine doses, which Moderna has agreed to supply to the GAVI-led COVAX vaccine sharing scheme, the company said.

Jun

03

2021

By The African Mirror

Summit secures $2.4 bln for COVID shots for poor countries

COVID-19

STEPHANIE NEBEHAY and JOHN MILLER DOZENS of countries have pledged nearly $2.4 billion to the COVAX vaccine-sharing plan to widen the availability of COVID-19 shots to people in poorer nations who have so far come up short. The announcements, ranging from $2,500 from island nation Mauritius to millions of dollars and doses from larger, wealthier countries, came during a video summit hosted by Japan and the GAVI Vaccine Alliance, which leads the COVAX facility alongside the World Health Organization. "We have taken a big step towards 'one world protected'," said Jose Manuel Barroso, GAVI vaccine alliance chairman. The fresh funds…

May

29

2021

By The African Mirror

Algerian medics fear new infections

COVID-19

LAMINE CHIKHI ALGERIAN medics fear next week's reopening of national borders will trigger a new surge in COVID-19 cases despite health measures, as people living abroad rush home to see family. The borders have been mostly closed since the global pandemic struck in early 2020, marooning thousands of Algerians working overseas and separating families with dual nationality but helping to protect against a more serious infection rate. "I am afraid of a likely increase in cases after the opening. Risks are high because of the variants," said Wafa, a doctor working at a private clinic in Algiers who asked not…

May

28

2021

By The African Mirror

COVID-19 widens learning gap for girls

COVID-19

JAMILA AKWELEY OKERTCHIRI Seventeen-year-old Muniratu Adams, a form two student of the Jeyiri D/A Junior High School at Funsi in the Wa East District of the Upper West Region of Ghana, is fortunate to have returned to school this January after the long COVID-19 shutdown. Ghana’s education sector was one of the hardest affected by the pandemic and for many girls, particularly those in rural areas, the consequences of school closures means many will never return to their schooling. “It was difficult for me to come back to school,” she tells IPS. “When I was home, I did not think…

Jun

04

2021

By The African Mirror

Time is running out, says UN, as HIV/AIDS targets missed

HEALTH

RACHEL SAVAGE THE world has missed ambitious goals to stem the spread of HIV and widen access to treatment, jeopardising a target to end the AIDS pandemic by 2030 unless global efforts are stepped up, the United Nations has warned. Last year, 84% of HIV-positive people knew they had the virus, with 87% of them taking antiretroviral drugs. Of those on medication, 90% had levels of the virus suppressed to a level so low it cannot be passed on, UNAIDS said in a report. Targets of 90% by 2020 were set for each of the three goals five years ago,…