HEALTH - The African Mirror

Feb

2024

Children most at risk as measles cases soar from Ethiopia to Yemen

The urgency of Abdirizak Ahmed's efforts to fight a measles outbreak in Ethiopia hit home last month when two of the aid worker's colleagues lost children to the disease, which is making a comeback from Africa to India and Britain. "Both boys died before they reached the 13th month or 14th month of life ... It's devastating," said Abdirizak, who works for charity Save the Children in the Horn of Africa country, which reported 10,000 cases in 2023 - the world's highest toll after Yemen, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and India, according to World Health Organization (WHO) data. COVID-19 disrupted routine vaccinations against measles globally in…

Feb

2024

By ANDREW SHENNAN and MEGAN HALL

80% of premature baby deaths happen in poorer countries. Five simple measures that can help save them

HEALTH

WORLDWIDE in 2020 a baby died every 40 seconds because of complications of prematurity. Preterm birth is the leading cause of death among children under 5 years old. The burden of preterm birth is heavier in in low- and middle-income countries, where around 80% occur. The countries with the highest recorded preterm rates in Africa are Malawi, South Africa, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Botswana. In Ethiopia 12.9% of babies were born preterm in 2020. In Nigeria the figure was 9.9%. ANDREW SHENNAN, Professor of Obstetrics at King’s College London and chair of the FIGO Preterm Birth Committee…

Feb

2024

By JEN MANNE-GOEHLER, FRANCESC XAVIER GOMEZ-OLIVE CASAS, JULIA ROHR, KATHLEEN KAHN, NOMSA MAHLALELA and TILL BÄRNIGHAUSEN

HIV among older South Africans in rural areas: big study shows there’s a problem that’s being neglected

HEALTH

SOUTH Africa continues to have a high prevalence of HIV among all age groups. About 8.2 million people or 13.7% of the population live with HIV, one of the highest rates in the world. The country also has one of the world’s most impressive antiretroviral therapy programmes. Over 5 million people living with HIV are currently on chronic treatment. Widespread access to antiretroviral therapies since 2008 has led to millions of people ageing with chronic HIV infection. Consequently, people with HIV are older on average than they were just a decade ago. Most HIV prevention and treatment programmes and policies…

Feb

2024

By The African Mirror

Cape Verde is the third African country to eliminate malaria: here’s how

HEALTH

CAPE Verde has been certified malaria-free by the World Health Organization. The archipelago to the west of Senegal consists of 10 islands and has a population of over 500,000 people. It is the third country in Africa to be declared malaria-free, after Mauritius (in 1973) and Algeria (in 2019). TIAAN DE JAGER, Dean: Faculty of Health Sciences and Director: UP Institute for Sustainable Malaria Control, University of Pretoria TANESHKA KRUGER, UP ISMC: Project Manager and Coordinator, University of Pretoria This brings the total of malaria-free countries to 43 worldwide. Achieving malaria-free certification is no simple feat. As specialists in malaria…

Jan

2024

By NYASHA CHINGONO

Zimbabwe launches door-to-door cholera vaccination campaign

HEALTH

ZIMBABWE launched a cholera vaccination campaign to immunize over 2 million people against the waterborne disease, amid an outbreak that has killed hundreds since early last year. Cholera had killed 452 people and infected a total of 20,446 in the southern African country as of January 24, since the outbreak started in February 2023, according to health ministry statistics. About half of the cases have involved children. Zimbabwe will receive a total of 2.3 million vaccine doses from UNICEF and the World Health Organization to be deployed to 29 of the hardest-hit districts. More than 892,000 doses have already been…

Jan

2024

By KANISHKA SINGH

US Treasury official discusses cholera outbreak, debt with Zambia minister

HEALTH

THE U.S. Treasury Department's top international official spoke with Zambia's finance minister and discussed Zambia's ongoing debt restructuring and its response to a recent cholera outbreak, the U.S. Treasury Department said. Zambia faces a major cholera outbreak that has killed at least 333 people since October, with over 8,000 cumulative cholera cases during this period, according to the website of the U.S. Embassy in Zambia. U.S. Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs Jay Shambaugh reiterated the U.S. government's "commitment to partner with Zambia" to end the outbreak when he spoke to Zambian Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane, according to the Treasury…

Jan

2024

By BONFACE ORUCHO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Cabo Verde’s malaria victory is a blueprint for Africa

HEALTH

CABO Verde has achieved a significant milestone in the battle against malaria, securing malaria-free certification from the World Health Organization (WHO). In news released on Friday, January 12, WHO explained that indigenous malaria transmission by Anopheles mosquitoes across the archipelago of 10 islands has been halted nationwide for the past three consecutive years. The country's certification is the fourth on the continent, following Mauritius, Morocco, and Algeria in 1973, 2010, and 2019, respectively. Globally, 43 countries now hold malaria-free certifications. According to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO's Director-General, "WHO’s certification of Cabo Verde as malaria-free is a testament to the power…

Jan

2024

By The African Mirror

Stressed out? Why mindfulness and meditation help us cope with the world

HEALTH

IN a world fraught with anxiety, stress, and environmental and humanitarian disasters, people are looking for ways to cope. Many have turned to practices originating in ancient eastern philosophies for guidance. Among these is mindfulness, which is linked to meditation. Lucy Draper-Clarke, researcher and author of The Compassionate Activist, spoke to health & medicine editor Nadine Dreyer about looking inwards and cultivating compassion, awareness and gratitude. LUCY DRAPER-CLARKE, Research Associate in Compassion, University of the Witwatersrand What does mindfulness actually mean? The original translation of the Pali word sati is “remembering”. It was about remembering your ethics, the right way…

Dec

2023

By CONRAD ONYANGO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Africa inches closer to manufacturing anti-HIV rings

HEALTH

AFTER approval for the use of vaginal rings by nearly a dozen countries, Africa is inching closer to local manufacturing of the world’s first fully woman-controlled HIV prevention device. South Africa will be the first country on the continent to make and distribute the dapivirine vaginal ring (DVR) following a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between South Africa’s pharmaceutical manufacturer and medtech company, Kiara Health, and Population Council. “Moving into the future with a long-term goal of commercial sustainability and local leadership, the Council is working toward granting an exclusive license for the DVR in the current territories to Kiara Health,…

Dec

2023

By JENNIFER RIGBY

Stigma, regulatory barriers delay mpox response in country that needs it most

HEALTH

VACCINESand treatments that could help tackle an mpox epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo are lying unused outside the country despite a death rate far higher than from the global outbreak that began last year. Stigma, regulatory hurdles and competing disease outbreaks are all factors holding back the response, according to almost a dozen scientists, public health officials and drugmakers involved. Since January, at least 581 people have died of mpox in Congo out of 12,569 suspected cases, compared to 167 deaths among 91,788 reported cases in 116 other countries since January 2022, according to the World Health Organization.…