HEALTH - The African Mirror

Feb

09

2022

5 ways to tackle ignorance about evidence during and after the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19

Author JOHN N. LAVIS, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Evidence-Informed Health Systems, McMaster University SOME political leaders — the Jair Bolsonaros and Donald Trumps of the world — have given the public the impression that they’re at war with the scientific community. They’ve willfully ignored evidence and trafficked in misinformation in ways that have led to botched pandemic responses and cost the lives of millions. But over the last two years, I’ve come to believe that the Bolsonaro or Trump approach is the exception, not the rule. In most countries, and across the United Nations system, it’s ignorance about…

Feb

08

2022

By The African Mirror

South African regulator approves Sinopharm COVID vaccine

COVID-19

SOUTH Africa's health regulator said on Monday it had approved a COVID-19 vaccine from China's Sinopharm, although a senior health official said the government was not planning to procure doses for now. South Africa, the country worst hit by the pandemic in Africa in terms of reported COVID-19 infections and deaths, has used the Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson (J&J) shots in its vaccination campaign. The government delayed some vaccine deliveries late last year because of oversupply as hesitancy slowed the uptake. Drugs regulator SAHPRA said in a statement the Sinopharm approval was based on "acceptable safety, quality and efficacy data…

Feb

07

2022

By The African Mirror

Approval of COVID vaccine made in South Africa could take 3 years, WHO says

COVID-19

THE mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine produced at the World Health Organization-backed vaccine hub in South Africa could take up to three years to get approval if companies do not share their technology and data, a WHO official said. The WHO-backed tech transfer hub in South Africa was set up in June to give poorer nations the know-how to produce COVID-19 vaccines, after market leaders of the mRNA COVID vaccine, Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna, declined a WHO request to share their technology and expertise. Martin Friede, coordinator of the WHO Initiative for Vaccine Research, said if companies with approved COVID vaccines or late…

Feb

06

2022

By The African Mirror

UAE lifts travel ban to 12 African countries for vaccinated citizens

COVID-19

THE United Arab Emirates announced that it will lift a travel ban to 12 African countries for citizens who are fully vaccinated, state news agency WAM said on Friday. The countries include Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria, the Republic of Congo, South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. Fully vaccinated citizens who had booster doses will be allowed to travel starting from February 6. The move also allows medically exempted unvaccinated persons and "humanitarian cases" to travel, according to WAM.

Feb

05

2022

By The African Mirror

COVID: WHO recommends two new treatments – here’s how they work

COVID-19

BACK in early 2020, if you got ill with COVID there were no proven treatments for doctors to give you – it was one of the main things that made this disease so scary. Fast forward to 2021 and scientists have since uncovered a handful of options, but the hunt is continuing. More than 5,000 trials for COVID drugs are registered or ongoing. Author FILIPA HENDERSON SOUSA, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Infectious Diseases, Edinburgh Napier University Thankfully, these are now bearing fruit. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently added two additional drugs to its COVID treatment guidelines. COVID disease…

Feb

04

2022

By The African Mirror

Omicron sub-variant BA.2 harder to identify, found in 5 African nations -WHO

COVID-19

THE BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron has been found in five African countries, a World Health Organization scientist said on Thursday, adding she was concerned about the development because samples of BA.2 may not be spotted as a form of Omicron. The BA.2 sub-variant has begun to replace Omicron's more common "original" BA.1 variant in countries such as Denmark. Data from there suggests no difference in disease severity, according to another WHO official. "BA.2 ... has been reported in five countries, that is Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Senegal as well as South Africa," Dr Nicksy Gumede-Moeletsi told an online media briefing. "We…

Feb

04

2022

By The African Mirror

In world first, S.Africa’s Afrigen makes mRNA COVID vaccine using Moderna data

COVID-19

WENDELL ROELF SOUTH Africa's Afrigen Biologics has used the publicly available sequence of Moderna Inc's mRNA COVID-19 vaccine to make its own version of the shot, which could be tested in humans before the end of this year, Afrigen's top executive said. The vaccine candidate would be the first to be made based on a widely used vaccine without the assistance and approval of the developer. It is also the first mRNA vaccine designed, developed and produced at lab scale on the African continent. The World Health Organization (WHO) last year picked a consortium including Afrigen for a pilot project to…

Feb

02

2022

By The African Mirror

South African scientists will study link between COVID variants and untreated HIV

COVID-19

JENNIFER RIGBY LEADING South African scientists are set to investigate COVID-19 and HIV in tandem, amid mounting evidence that the collision of the two pandemics could be generating new coronavirus variants. The team at the Network for Genomic Surveillance in South Africa (NGS-SA), which first alerted the world to the COVID variant Omicron, said it was time for a "systematic" investigation of what happens when patients with untreated HIV get COVID-19. A number of studies, including one published by the team last week, have found that people with weakened immune systems – such as patients with untreated HIV – can suffer…

Feb

01

2022

By The African Mirror

Taiwan tries hand at COVID diplomacy again with Somaliland vaccine gift

COVID-19

TAIWAN'S gift of 150,000 doses of its domestically developed Medigen COVID-19 vaccine has arrived in Somalia's breakaway Somaliland region, the Taiwanese foreign ministry said on Monday, part of the island's renewed pandemic diplomacy push. Taiwan has donated millions of face masks and other goods around the world in what the government has called the "Taiwan can help, Taiwan is helping" programme to show the island is a responsible member of the international community, despite being locked out of most global bodies because of China's objections. Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said the vaccine doses, made by Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp, arrived in…

Aug

23

2022

By The African Mirror

How the pandemic lockdown in South Africa affected mental health

COVID-19

WHEN SARS-CoV-2 emerged in South Africa, the country took measures to restrict people’s movements and activities, to slow the spread of infections. There were various levels of restrictions, the most severe being in place in March and April 2020. During this “hard lockdown”, many people in South Africa really struggled. Not only did they have financial difficulties but the lockdown took an emotional and mental toll. The common themes, no matter where people lived, were feelings of anxiety, frustration and isolation. And as lockdown went on, those feelings got worse. Author CAROLINE SOUTHEY, Founding Editor, The Conversation In today’s episode…