HEALTH - The African Mirror

Jan

20

2026

By MICHAEL HEAD; HONGHUI SHEN, and MARKUS BREDE

Ghana collects half the blood it needs – digital approaches can improve that

HEALTH

IT is late, the ward is crowded, and the clock is moving faster than everyone would like. A doctor has stabilised the patient as best they can, but one thing is missing – blood. A relative is asked to “try somewhere else”, and within minutes, the family is on the phone, calling friends, contacting church groups, posting in WhatsApp chats, hoping that someone nearby is eligible, willing and able to reach the hospital in time. In that moment, healthcare stops being only about medicine. It becomes about networks, trust and whether a lifesaving resource can be found quickly enough. This…

Jan

14

2026

By THEMBA TITUS SIGUDU

High cholesterol and insulin resistance are rising among young South Africans – what that means for public health

HEALTH

IN a small mining town in South Africa’s Limpopo province, young people are showing worrying signs of diseases that were once thought to affect only older adults. These include type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity and insulin resistance. This is not unique to Limpopo or South Africa. It reflects a global trend, where young adults in many low- and middle-income countries are increasingly experiencing early-onset metabolic diseases due to rapid urbanisation, lifestyle changes, unhealthy diets and reduced physical activity. The World Health Organisation says non-communicable diseases now account for 75% of all non-pandemic-related deaths globally. Also, 82%…

Jan

12

2026

By LYZBETH KING and MARY KIURA

Ghanaian celebrities are dealing with mental illness stigma behind closed doors – why speaking up matters

HEALTH

IMAGINE living in a country where talking openly about depression or anxiety can cost you your job, your reputation, or even your freedom. That is still the reality in Ghana, where mental illness is often explained in spiritual terms, and seeking help can mean being taken to a prayer camp instead of seeing a therapist. Even with global mental health awareness campaigns flooding social media and calendar days dedicated to ending stigma, many Ghanaians continue to struggle in silence. We study communication and wanted to understand how Ghanaian celebrities, in particular, communicatively manage the stigma that is associated with their…

Aug

02

2025

By VELMA PAMELA, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Her mission: free treatment for cleft lip

HEALTH, MULTIMEDIA

44-YEAR-OLD Sesnie Zemichael was not meant to be in Nairobi, at least not in the way that she arrived. Conflict in her homeland brought her to Kenya in 2020. When civil war broke out in Ethiopia's Tigray region, Sesnie, who is of Tigrayan descent, was forced to flee the nation for safety. The turmoil disrupted her career in public health. “It was a very unpleasant, sudden exit,” she says. “I had to leave my position, my home, and a network I had spent years building.” But she turned her situation around and rebuilt her life — in Nairobi. The city…

Jan

05

2026

By MELANIE BISNAUTH

HIV funding still falls short of targets after pledges: what’s at stake

HEALTH

THE US government paused all foreign assistance in January 2025. This abrupt decision affected the delivery of life-saving HIV medicines and the provision of HIV prevention services to millions of people. A UNAIDS report estimates there could be an additional 6 million new HIV infections and 4 million AIDS-related deaths by 2029 if the world does not act. In November 2025, a global health initiative, The Global Fund, raised US$11.34 billion for HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria. Melanie Bisnauth, a public health professional in healthcare systems strengthening and HIV/Aids leadership, discusses how far this latest funding could go and how African…

Dec

20

2025

By CONRAD ONYANGO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Kenyan engineers take action to help premature babies breathe safer

HEALTH

WHEN healthcare engineer Lisa Mutheu joined the East Africa Biodesign fellowship, she anticipated a year of clinical rotations, design challenges and long hours spent shaping early-stage medical concepts. Instead, she encountered a quieter but urgent emergency unfolding in neonatal wards across the continent. “There’s a problem with oxygen delivery to mostly pre-term babies in Africa. If they’re given too much oxygen, they end up getting blind. If they don’t get enough, they end up dying. And there’s not enough being done around this,” she told bird in an interview. The fellowship is a 10-month program that brings together Kenya’s Kenyatta…

Dec

11

2025

By MACHARIA MAINA

Ruth Apondi’s Smart Route to Mobile Health

HEALTH

24-YEAR-OLD Ruth Apondi Omondi’s August 2025 win of the Top 40 Under 40 Women award in the social Impact category from the Kenyan news publication Business Daily marked a milestone in her lifesaving work. “It's special to everyone because mothers are very important. We bring life, and it's good that I'm able to impact them, and my efforts were recognised, since we're still in the early stages. This is a big award. As we progress, there’s going to be more of Smart Mama, yes,” she told bird. Smart Mama is a mobile health platform that Omondi created in 2024. The…

Dec

10

2025

By MARINA JOUBERT

Telling people to use antibiotics responsibly isn’t enough. What will work instead

HEALTH

ANTIMICROBIAL resistance is projected to cause up to 10 million deaths each year by 2050, making it one of the most pressing global health challenges of this century. In 2021, an estimated 4.71 million deaths were associated with bacterial antimicrobial resistance. Antimicrobial resistance happens when disease-causing microbes such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites develop resistance to antimicrobials (the medicinal substances used to control them). This leads to treatable infections becoming life-threatening. The World Health Organisation, other organisations, networks and alliances run extensive campaigns designed to educate the public about antimicrobial resistance. But a question remains after more than a…

Dec

05

2025

By LIEKETSENG NED and MARGUERITE SCHNEIDER

South Africa needs to rethink how it measures intellectual and developmental disabilities – what’s lacking

HEALTH

THE effective planning and delivery of services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in South Africa is severely constrained by the lack of reliable data. Intellectual disability is characterised by significant limitations in: intellectual functioning (reasoning, learning, problem solving) adaptive behaviour (a range of everyday social and practical skills) which originate before the age of 22. Developmental disabilities are a diverse group of chronic conditions due to an impairment in physical, learning, language, or behavioural areas. Intellectual disability, autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and fetal alcohol syndrome are some of the conditions. South Africa measures disability at the population…

Dec

02

2025

By MELANI RATIH MAHANANI

How to stay healthy on HIV treatment, and what side effects to look out for – Malawi research

HEALTH

HIV treatment has delivered life-altering advantages. Antiretroviral therapy has led to reduced mortality and improved life expectancy for people living with HIV. Nearly 41 million people were living with HIV in 2024. Eastern and southern Africa accounted for 21.1 million, while western and central Africa accounted for 5.2 million. But there are risks associated with the therapy, including the potential for a set of health conditions affecting the heart, blood vessels, and metabolism, like high blood pressure and excessive weight gain. Melani Ratih Mahanani, a medical doctor and epidemiologist, unpacks her research conducted in Malawi that showed some drugs have…