HEALTH - The African Mirror

Jan

05

2024

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…

Nov

29

2025

By LEANE RAMSOOMAR

Men’s drinking harms women and children, and the impact is worst in poorer countries

HEALTH

DRINKING alcohol is known to be harmful to people’s health. It’s also known to be harmful in other ways. For example, men experience more harm, such as aggression, accidents, and injury, from their own drinking than do women. But when a man drinks, the women and children closest to him often pay a price too. I’m part of a global collaborative group of health researchers who set out to explore how – and how much – men’s drinking harms women and children. Our recent research drew on three global reviews of findings from rich, poor and middle-income countries. These covered…

Nov

26

2025

By JONNY PETER

Long COVID’s hidden toll: the South Africans still battling fatigue, anxiety and memory loss

HEALTH, COVID-19

“I feel better, but my mind isn’t the same.” Four years after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, such comments are still heard regularly in many medical practices in South Africa. What began as a respiratory virus seems to have left a lingering mark on some people who were infected. In South Africa, more than 4 million cases of COVID-19 were confirmed. For some people, the physical recovery was just the beginning. Ongoing fatigue, poor concentration, and mood changes due to lasting viral effects have affected work, relationships and quality of life. Our team of specialist psychiatrists, clinical immunologists and…

Jun

08

2020

By The African Mirror

‘I lost my mind’: Ethiopian migrants forced home empty-handed by Coronavirus

COVID-19

EMELINE WUILBERCQ WHEN Rita Alemu realised the plane she had boarded in Dubai had taken her back home to Ethiopia, she burst into tears as she knew she would never recover more than a year's unpaid wages. The 23-year-old domestic helper had only been paid for two out the 18 months she had worked in the United Arab Emirates when the new coronavirus pandemic suddenly forced her and thousands of other Ethiopian migrants to go home. "I went to Dubai hoping I could work and change my life, but I spent all this time there and came back empty-handed," said…

Nov

25

2025

By MARY KINNEY

Africa’s hidden stillbirth crisis: new report exposes major policy and data gaps

HEALTH

NEARLY one million babies are stillborn in Africa every year. Behind every stillbirth is a mother, a family and a story left untold. Most of these are preventable, many unrecorded, and too often invisible. Each number hides a moment of heartbreak, and every uncounted loss represents a missed opportunity to learn and to act. As a public health researcher specialising in maternal and newborn health, I have spent the past two decades working on strengthening health systems and quality of care across Africa. My research has focused on understanding how health systems can prevent stillbirths and provide respectful, people-centred care…

Nov

20

2025

By The African Mirror

Africa charts bold path to pharmaceutical independence at landmark Mombasa Summit

HEALTH

AFRICA has set an ambitious course toward regulatory self-sufficiency and transformed pharmaceutical manufacturing, with continental leaders unveiling sweeping reforms at a landmark health regulation summit that demands urgent government action and accelerated ratification of the African Medicines Agency (AMA). The 7th Scientific Conference on Medical Products Regulation in Africa (SCoMRA VII) produced hard-hitting recommendations calling on African governments to provide "necessary support" for the AMA to establish itself as an "internationally trusted regulatory agency," while urging all 55 African Union member states to accelerate full ratification of the agency's founding treaty. Under the theme "Regulatory Harmonisation – Unlocking Africa's Potential…

Nov

15

2025

By OWN CORRESPONDENT

Africa launches bold initiative to transform youth population into economic powerhouse

AUDA-NEPAD, HEALTH

AFRICA stands at a critical crossroads. With the continent's population expected to surge from 50 years median age in 2000 to 64 years by 2020, and life expectancy climbing to 71.3 years, the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) has launched an ambitious program to ensure this demographic shift becomes an economic windfall rather than a burden. The new "AUDA-NEPAD Initiative for Demographic Dividend and Sexual and Reproductive Health" represents a fundamental shift in how the continent approaches its youth bulge – viewing sexual and reproductive health not as a social issue, but as an economic imperative. "Africa's demographic dividend is…

Nov

14

2025

By SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Africa spends $65 billion annually on imported medical products as continental push for health sovereignty intensifies

AUDA-NEPAD, HEALTH

AFRICA’S overwhelming dependency on imported pharmaceuticals poses a serious threat to the continent's health security and economic resilience, with 70 to 80 percent of medical products consumed on the continent coming from overseas despite annual spending exceeding $65 billion, the head of the African Union Development Agency has warned. Nardos Bekele-Thomas, CEO of the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD (AUDA-NEPAD), delivered the stark assessment during opening remarks at the 7th Biennial Scientific Conference on Medical Products Regulation in Africa (SCoMRA VII) in Mombasa on Tuesday, calling for urgent action to strengthen local manufacturing capacity and regulatory harmonisation across the continent. "This…

Nov

13

2025

By OWN CORRESPONDENT

Kenya’s pharmacy board chief calls for urgent regulatory alignment to unlock Africa’s manufacturing potential

HEALTH

THE Chairman of Kenya's Pharmacy and Poisons Board has issued a powerful call for continental regulatory harmonisation, describing it as essential to unlocking Africa's potential in health product manufacturing and cross-border trade. Dr John Munyu, speaking at the opening of the 7th Biennial Scientific Conference on Medical Products Regulation in Africa on Tuesday, told delegates that the gathering represents more than academic discussion - it's a "continental call to action." "We are gathered here under a theme that is not just a topic for discussion, but a continental call to action: 'Regulatory Harmonization: Unlocking Africa's Potential in Health Product Manufacturing…

Nov

12

2025

By The African Mirror

Africa builds continental health infrastructure to serve 1.5 billion people

HEALTH

AFRICA is constructing a comprehensive health ecosystem designed to unlock local manufacturing, strengthen regulatory systems, and ensure equitable access to medical products for its 1.5 billion people, a senior development official announced at a landmark continental conference. Symerre Grey-Johnson, Director of Human Capital, Institutional and Social Development at the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), outlined ambitious progress in establishing trusted institutions and harmonised regulatory frameworks at the 7th Scientific Conference on Medical Products Regulation in Africa (SCoMRA VII) in Mombasa, Kenya. "To secure health sovereignty and equitable access to medicines, Africa must strengthen its regulatory systems and harmonise health product…