HEALTH - The African Mirror

May

25

2021

Algeria plans strict health measures

COVID-19

ALGERIA will impose strict health measures on passengers when it partially resumes international flights next month, the prime minister's office said yesterday. The North African country last week said it would reopen air borders on June 1, but with only five flights a day from and to three local airports. Passengers must have a negative result for COVID-19 from an RT-PCR test dated less than 36 hours before the date of travel to Algeria, the prime minister's office said. All passengers would be quarantined for five days in hotels at their expense, and the quarantine would be extended to 10…

May

24

2021

By The African Mirror

How South Africa is tracking adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccines

HEALTH

SOUTH Africa has begun the second phase of its public vaccination campaign, targeting people aged 60 or older. The first vaccinations were given in February to health workers. So far almost 600,000 healthcare workers and members of the public have been vaccinated. KERRIGAN MCCARTHY, Pathologist, Centre for Vaccines and Immunology, NICD, National Institute for Communicable Diseases Healthcare workers have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, while the Pfizer vaccine is being rolled out as part of Phase 2 for members of the public. A crucial aspect of the vaccination campaign is tracking adverse reactions. It’s imperative that all health events…

May

23

2021

By The African Mirror

COVID is surging in the world’s most vaccinated country. Why?

COVID-19

THE small archipelago nation of Seychelles, northeast of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, has emerged as the world’s most vaccinated country for COVID-19. C RAINA MACINTYRE, Professor of Global Biosecurity, NHMRC Principal Research Fellow, Head, Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, UNSW Around 71% of people have had at least one dose of a COVID vaccine, and 62% have been fully vaccinated. Of these, 57% have received the Sinopharm vaccine, and 43% AstraZeneca. Despite this, there has been a recent surge in cases, with 37% of new active cases and 20% of hospital cases being fully vaccinated. The country has had to…

May

23

2021

By The African Mirror

COVID-19: why critically ill patients in Africa are taking a bigger hit

COVID-19

IN March 2020, those of us living on the African continent were terrified about what would happen. We had watched Wuhan and then Italy get overrun by Covid-19. These were environments far more resourced than Africa. BRUCE M BICCARD, Professor and Second Chair at Groote Schuur Hospital , University of Cape Town We knew that we had a limited healthcare workforce. And we have estimated that there was about one critical care bed per 100 000 population on the continent. The average across Europe was over 11 per 100 000 population. What scared us, even more, was a lack of…

May

23

2021

By The African Mirror

COVID-19 could be the end of ‘global health’ as we know it

HEALTH

THE pandemic has made us painfully aware of our common vulnerability to disease outbreaks. New communicable diseases originating in one part of the world can spread quickly and widely, underlining that health is a global concern. But this is old news. COLIN MCINNES, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research, Knowledge Exchange and Innovation, Aberystwyth University The advent of the concept of “global health” is well established in both the academic literature and policy discussions, reflecting the consensus that we have seen a fundamental change in the nature of the causes and outcomes of ill-health in recent decades. This change is rooted in the…

May

22

2021

By The African Mirror

G20 health summit looks to boost vaccine access, drugmakers offer cut-price shots

COVID-19

CRISPIAN BALMER and FRANCESCO GUARASCIO LEADERS of the world's largest economies kicked off a global health summit on Friday, where drugmakers were expected to promise cut-price supplies of vaccines for poorer nations to help end the COVID-19 pandemic. The Group of 20 nations looked set to call for voluntary licensing and technology transfers to enable a rapid increase in vaccine production, but will sidestep a push from the United States and other nations to waive valuable patents for shots. The European Union will also promise to set up vaccination manufacturing hubs in Africa, which faces a dearth of doses. The…

May

22

2021

By The African Mirror

COVID fight could return ‘to square one’

COVID-19

KATE KELLAND INDIA’S export ban on COVID-19 shots risks dragging the battle against the pandemic "back to square one" unless wealthy nations step in to plug a gaping hole in the COVAX global vaccine-sharing scheme, health specialists have said. COVAX, which is critical for poorer countries, relies on AstraZeneca shots made by the Serum Institute of India, the world's biggest maker of vaccines. It was already around 100 million doses short of where it had planned to be when India halted exports a month ago amid a surge in infections there. Rich countries with plentiful COVID-19 vaccine stocks must now…

May

22

2021

By The African Mirror

Low trust in authorities affects vaccine uptake: evidence from 22 African countries

HEALTH

IN a time when the world is focusing on COVID-19 vaccines, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has highlighted the importance of routine immunisations for diseases such as measles, tetanus and polio. JEAN-FRANCOIS MAYSTADT, Professor, Lancaster University KALLE HIRVONEN, Senior Research Fellow, The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) NIK STOOP, Post-doctoral researcher, University of Antwerp Although immunisation saves millions of lives each year, progress in vaccine coverage remains highly uneven, both between and within countries. Despite considerable progress over the past two decades, the situation is particularly worrying in Africa. Nearly half of the world’s unvaccinated and under-vaccinated children live…

May

21

2021

By The African Mirror

Vaccine patent waiver will not be enough – WTO chief

COVID-19

PHILIP BLENKINSOP WAIVING intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines will not be enough to narrow the huge supply gap between rich and poor countries, the head of the World Trade Organization said yesterday. South Africa and India have urged fellow WTO members to waive IP rights on vaccines to boost production. Poorer countries that make up half the world's population have received just 17% of doses, a situation the World Health Organization head has labelled "vaccine apartheid". U.S. President Joe Biden said last week he supported the waiver idea, but the European Union and other developed country opponents said it…

May

20

2021

By The African Mirror

‘We are waiting to die’: Desperation after India halts vaccine exports

COVID-19

NITA BHALLA and BEH LIH YI WHEN John Omondi received his COVID-19 vaccination last month, the Kenyan taxi driver counted himself one of the lucky ones. Now, he's not so sure - victim of a vaccine export freeze by mega-producer India that has dashed hopes of protection for millions of poor people caught in the pandemic. "It was a good day when I got the vaccine. I needed it because of my age and my work," explained Omondi, 59, as he navigated the busy roads of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. "I am supposed to get my second dose in June,…