HEALTH - The African Mirror

Mar

08

2022

COVID shutdowns exposed flaws in Uganda’s transport system: how to fix them

COVID-19

Uganda has lifted the last remaining COVID-19 restrictions on economic activity. This allowed boda-bodas (motorcycle taxis) to fully operate again beyond their 6pm curfew. The past two years saw restrictions on boda-bodas as well as other forms of transportation, such as 14-seater minibuses, which make the bulk of the city’s paratransit operators. They provide the primary form of public transportation, as in many other African cities. The minbuses and boda-bodas operate with minimal government oversight and regulation. Author ASTRID R.N. HAAS, Fellow, Infrastructure Institute, School of Cities, University of Toronto COVID-19 lockdown regulations, during this period, have oscillated between full…

Mar

05

2022

By The African Mirror

S.Africa risks destroying 100,000 vaccine doses by end-March due to slow uptake

COVID-19

ABOUT 100,000 doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine are at risk of being destroyed by the end of this month due to slow uptake by citizens, South African health authorities said. South Africa has recorded the most coronavirus infections and deaths on the African continent, however, inoculations have slowed and the country has ample vaccine stocks of about 25 million doses. "There is a risk that just over 100,000 or so doses which will expire by end of March ... may have to be discarded. It will be a sad day if significant volumes of doses can end up being discarded. We…

Mar

04

2022

By The African Mirror

New COVID data: South Africa has arrived at the recovery stage of the pandemic

COVID-19

A recently published South African study set out to determine sero-positivity against SARS-CoV-2 before the fourth wave of COVID-19, in which the omicron variant was dominant. Sero-positivity measures the presence of antibodies against the virus; it indicates past infection. The study focused on Gauteng, the country’s economic hub. Ozayr Patel asked Shabir Madhi to unpack the results and explain why the findings suggest that South Africa has reached a turning point in the pandemic. Author SHABIR A. MADHI, Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious…

Mar

02

2022

By The African Mirror

Nigeria’s pandemic lockdown measures were hard on informal workers

COVID-19

During the first wave of the pandemic in Nigeria, security forces were mandated to enforce lockdown and stay-at-home orders. Intended as public health measures, these controls inflicted collateral damage. Authors CHIDI NZEADIBE, Professor of Environmental Management & Sustainability, University of Nigeria CHRISTIAN EZEIBE, Senior Lecturer, Political Science, University of Nigeria KELECHI ELIJAH NNAMANI, Lecturer and Researcher, Department of Political Science, University of Nigeria NKEMDILIM PATRICIA ANAZONWU, Lecturer and researcher, Social Work, University of Nigeria NNABUIKE OSADEBE, Lecturer, Sociology and Anthropology , University of Nigeria OBIORA ANICHEBE, Associate Professor of Social and Political Philosophy, University of Nigeria PETER MBAH, Professor of…

Mar

01

2022

By The African Mirror

How trying to copy a COVID vaccine changes the outlook for African countries

COVID-19

THE World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced the first six African countries that will receive technology to produce messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines. This comes off the back of the news that a South African consortium – part of the WHO’s technology transfer hub set up in 2021– had successfully replicated Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. Ina Skosana spoke to Professor Kelly Chibale about the significance of the replication of the vaccine and what the next steps are. Author KELLY CHIBALE, Professor of Organic Chemistry, Neville Isdell Chair in African-centric Drug Discovery & Development, and Director of the Holistic Drug Discovery and Development…

Feb

26

2022

By The African Mirror

Defying Ghana’s lockdown rules wasn’t simply stubborn: here’s what was going on

COVID-19

GHANA imposed lockdowns in the Accra and Kumasi districts on 30 March 2020 to limit community transmission of the new coronavirus. But members of the public found ways to evade the restrictions, making them ineffective. People went about their daily lives as usual, where they could, and avoided checkpoints. Police were sometimes seen humiliating or violently handling people they caught breaking the rules. Eventually, the government suspended the restrictions. Author FESTIVAL GODWIN BOATENG, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Sustainable Urban Development, The Earth Institute, Columbia University Various public commentators – from the media to politicians – attributed the mass defiance…

Feb

25

2022

By The African Mirror

Omicron BA.2 sub-variant more infectious but not more severe – Africa CDC

COVID-19

THE Omicron BA.2 sub-variant of COVID-19 appears to be more infectious than the original BA.1 sub-variant but does not cause more severe disease, the head of Africa's top public health body said citing data from South Africa. "South Africa is reporting that it is more transmissible than the BA.1 variant, but interestingly and very encouragingly the severity seems to be the same," said Dr John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. South Africa was one of the first countries to detect the Omicron variant of COVID-19, which has since swept around the globe and become…

Feb

24

2022

By The African Mirror

COVID vaccine supply for global programme outstrips demand for first time

COVID-19

FRANCESCO GUARASCIO and JENNIFER RIGBY THE global project to share COVID-19 vaccines is struggling to place more than 300 million doses in the latest sign the problem with vaccinating the world is now more about demand than supply. Last year, wealthy nations snapped most of the available shots to inoculate their own citizens first, meaning less than a third of people in low-income countries have been vaccinated so far compared with more than 70% in richer nations. As supply and donations have ramped up, however, poorer nations are facing hurdles such as gaps in cold-chain shortage, vaccine hesitancy and a…

Feb

23

2022

By The African Mirror

How young Nigerians’ distrust of political leaders fuels COVID misinformation

COVID-19

EVER since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global public health emergency in January 2020, there’s been a need for studies that help explain what people understand by public health messages. Author OLUTOBI AKINGBADE, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for the Advancement of Non-Racialism and Democracy (CANRAD), Nelson Mandela University Research into the nuances of communication is especially important when conspiracy theories and misleading rumours about the pandemic are in circulation. Misinformation can be dangerous. Early in the pandemic, it appeared that younger people (in their teens, 20s and 30s) had a low risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2 or severe…

Feb

19

2022

By The African Mirror

African countries to get mRNA vaccine technology in WHO project

COVID-19

WENDELL ROELF and ALEXANDER WINNING THE World Health Organization said six African countries - Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia - would be the first on the continent to receive the technology needed to produce mRNA vaccines. The technology transfer project, launched last year in Cape Town, aims to help low- and middle-income countries manufacture mRNA vaccines at scale and according to international standards. mRNA is the advanced technology used by companies such as Pfizer-BioNTech, and Moderna for their COVID-19 shots. The WHO established its global mRNA technology transfer hub after large-scale vaccine purchases by wealthy countries and companies prioritising…