HEALTH - The African Mirror

Jun

07

2022

COVID left South African pupils far behind in maths and language skills

COVID-19

LEARNING to read, write, count and calculate forms the basis for all other learning in school and beyond. Pupils start to learn these basic skills in the first three years of schooling. Their learning continues throughout their time in school as the content becomes more complex. In 2020 and 2021, learners across South Africa missed at least a quarter of a school year due to COVID-related lockdowns and rotational timetabling. Many learners lost much more school time. Author URSULA HOADLEY, Professor, University of Cape Town Given these disruptions, how much learning was lost across the schooling system? The systemic tests…

Jun

04

2022

By The African Mirror

Africa’s Covid-19 deaths fall by 94%

COVID-19

BHARGAV ACHARYA and ALEXANDER WINNING DEATHS on the African continent from COVID-19 are expected to fall by nearly 94 percent in 2022 compared to last year, modelling by the World Health Organization (WHO) showed. 2021 was the pandemic's most deadly year in Africa, with COVID-19 the seventh major cause of death, just below malaria. "Our latest analysis suggests that estimated deaths in the African region will shrink to around 60 a day in 2022. ... Last year, we lost an average of 970 people every day," WHO Africa Director Matshidiso Moeti told a virtual news conference. The gulf in the…

Jun

04

2022

By The African Mirror

Unvaccinated South Africans told us why they weren’t interested in having COVID jabs

COVID-19

SOUTH AFRICA is currently facing a new wave of infections related to the much higher transmissibility of the omicron COVID variant and its sub-variants. The most recent spike has had similar characteristics as the fourth wave in January 2022: increases in infections have not been accompanied by similar increases spikes in hospitalisations and deaths. Author KATHERINE EYAL, Research Associate, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU), University of Cape Town These changes present a challenge to policy makers trying to improve vaccine take-up, particularly in vulnerable groups. People more vulnerable to severe illness with COVID include the elderly and…

Jun

02

2022

By The African Mirror

Here’s how much learning South African children lost in the pandemic

COVID-19

WHEN a state of disaster was declared in South Africa in 2020 in response to the COVID pandemic, a hard lockdown was instituted and schools were shut. This was followed by varying periods of lockdowns, school closure and rotational timetables to maintain social distancing across different grades. Administrative data show that children in South Africa missed at least three-quarters of a year of school in the past two school years. This reduced their opportunities to learn and allowed more time to forget what they had learnt. Authors SERVAAS VAN DER BERG, Professor of Economics and South African Research Chair in…

May

27

2022

By The African Mirror

How a desire to help led me to track COVID numbers and make sense of them through graphs

COVID-19

AS COVID took hold in South Africa, daily case numbers grew. But the numbers people were seeing online or on news channels did not tell the full story of the pandemic. Ridhwaan Suliman works as a computational modelling researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. He started tracking the numbers in his personal capacity. Using publicly available data from daily case numbers, testing rates, hospitalisations and deaths, he mapped the trends that emerged over time. After initially sharing some graphs with a few friends and family, he decided to post these on Twitter. He started with about 90…

May

25

2022

By The African Mirror

COVID is no gamble: physics-inspired simulations predict waves in four countries

COVID-19

AS a physicist, I am trained to look for patterns in data. For example, the motion of the tiniest particles may seem random, but it contains patterns and symmetries. The same can be said of human movements and interactions. Most humans move to and between familiar places (home and work, for instance), and may encounter the same individuals, like colleagues, most days. But, naturally, there are also random interactions in our complex modern world. There’s a good chance that we will bump into random strangers as we go from one place to another. Human motion consists of both “regular patterns…

May

20

2022

By The African Mirror

South Africa has entered a new phase of the COVID pandemic: what that means

COVID-19

CONFIRMED cases of SARS-CoV-2 have been increasing in South Africa in recent weeks. This has been largely driven by two offspring – known as the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-lineages – of the Omicron variant first identified in South Africa late last year. What’s notable about the most recent spike is that there are a number of differences between what the country is currently experiencing and the first four waves of COVID-19 in South Africa. Authors MICHELLE J. GROOME, Head of the Division of Public Health Surveillance and Response, National Institute for Communicable Diseases JULIET PULLIAM, Director: SACEMA, South African Centre…

May

19

2022

By The African Mirror

When Africans asked for COVID shots, they didn’t get them. Now they don’t want them

COVID-19

EDWARD MCALLISTER and COOPER INVEEN IT"S noisy inside the Mamprobi clinic in Accra as kids clamber over their mothers while they wait to get their measles vaccines. Outside, an area reserved for COVID-19 shots is empty. A health worker leans back in his chair and scrolls on a tablet. One woman, waiting to get her daughter inoculated, is fully aware of the dangers of measles: the high fever, the rash, and the risk to eyesight. But COVID-19? She has never heard of a single case. The perception that COVID-19 doesn't pose a significant threat is common in Ghana's capital and…

May

14

2022

By The African Mirror

WHO’s warning to Africa: Omicron sub-variants drive Covid-19 surge

COVID-19

SUB-VARIANTS of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 and relaxation of public health measures are driving a current surge in infections in southern Africa, a senior official from the World Health Organization (WHO) said. "This uptick in cases is an early warning sign which we are closely monitoring. Now is the time for countries to step up preparedness and ensure that they can mount an effective response in the event of a fresh pandemic wave," said Dr Abdou Salam Gueye, Director of Emergency Preparedness and Response at the WHO Regional Office for Africa.

May

13

2022

By The African Mirror

S.Africa’s new COVID cases cross 10,000 for first time since January

COVID-19

SOUTH AFRICA'S National Institute for Communicable Diseases reported 10,017 new COVID-19 cases, the first day since January the institute has reported more than 10,000 new infections. Health authorities have warned South Africa may be entering a fifth wave of infections driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron sub-variants. South Africa has recorded the most coronavirus cases and deaths on the African continent and only exited a fourth wave in January. Experts had predicted a fifth wave could start during the southern hemisphere winter months, sometime in May or June. Just under 50% of South Africa's adult population of roughly 40…