HEALTH - The African Mirror

Mar

24

2021

TB treatments are notoriously hard to stick to: shorter regimens offer a breakthrough

HEALTH

TUBERCULOSIS (TB) is a major cause of illness and death around the world. In 2019, 10 million people fell ill with TB and close to 1.4 million people died. Most (95%) of the cases are in low- and middle-income countries. VIOLET CHIHOTA, Lead Senior Scientist, Aurum Institute It’s estimated that a quarter of the global population is infected with TB – that’s around 1.8 billion people. Most infected people have no symptoms and are not contagious. Most of them don’t even know they’re infected – their TB is latent. If left untreated, latent TB infection can progress to TB disease,…

Mar

30

2021

By The African Mirror

No off sales Easter booze in SA

COVID-19

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER IN an effort to prevent an upsurge in infections due to expected heightened activity during the Easter weekend, South Africa has reintroduced slightly stricter measures designed to keep the pandemic levels low. In a special address to the nation, Ramaphosa announced that SA will stay at lockdown Level One with the following restrictions: Sales of alcohol for off site consumption will not be permitted from Good Friday to Easter Monday. On site sales at bars, taverns and restaurants will be allowed, subject to licensing conditionsReligious gathering will be restricted to 250 indoor and 500 people outdoors. This is…

Mar

31

2021

By The African Mirror

Pandemic treaty idea for future emergencies

COVID-19

LEADERS of 23 countries and the World Health Organization yesterday backed an idea to create an international treaty that would help deal with future health emergencies like the coronavirus pandemic by tightening rules on sharing information. The idea of such a treaty, also aimed at ensuring universal and equitable access to vaccines, medicines and diagnostics for pandemics, was floated by the chairman of European Union leaders, Charles Michel, at a summit of the Group of 20 major economic powers last November. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has endorsed the proposal, but formal negotiations have not begun, diplomats say. Tedros told…

Mar

31

2021

By The African Mirror

South Sudan face logistics challenge

COVID-19

THOUGH South Sudan has secured more than 2 million COVID-19 vaccines it will struggle to get shots into arms as the rainy season approaches, rendering many roads in one of the world's poorest nations impassable, the outgoing head of the U.N. mission in the country said. Getting vaccines out to the population "is not as easy as it sounds, in a place like South Sudan where logistics are so difficult", said David Shearer, who leaves the country next month after heading the more than $1 billion per year United Nations peacekeeping mission since 2016. David Shearer. Picture: United Nations South…

Mar

31

2021

By The African Mirror

WHO says COVID-19 origins study not extensive enough, cites data access ‘difficulties’

COVID-19

A World Health Organization team probing the new coronavirus's origins cited problems accessing raw data, the health agency's chief said on Tuesday, calling for further studies because the assessment, so far, has not been extensive enough. "In my discussions with the team, they expressed the difficulties they encountered in accessing raw data," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said after the report of a team that traveled to Wuhan, China, this year was released. "I expect future collaborative studies to include more timely and comprehensive data sharing." Although the team concluded a laboratory leak was the least likely hypothesis for the…

Mar

30

2021

By The African Mirror

I’m a millionaire who wants to be taxed to pay for COVID-19

COVID-19

DJAFFAR SHALCHI I am a multimillionaire business owner, and founder of a network of multimillionaires with a message to governments: tax us. The Covid-19 economic crisis did not create the world’s searing inequalities, but it has pulled the rich and the rest even further apart. To give just one example: ILO has revealed that workers have lost $3.7 trillion in the crisis, while Forbes magazine has revealed that billionaires have gained $3.9 trillion. The crisis has also shone a light on how inequalities weaken us all. Even before the crisis, we faced the scandal that over 5 million children under…

Mar

30

2021

By The African Mirror

J&J in deal to supply vaccine to AU member states

COVID-19

JOHNSON & Johnson will supply up to 220 million doses of its single-shot COVID-19 vaccine to African Union's 55 member states from the third quarter of 2021, the drugmaker has announced. J&J, through its unit Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, entered into a deal with the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT), which could order an additional 180 million doses, for a combined total of up to 400 million doses through 2022. (https://refini.tv/3cyeFiB) "We need to immunize at least 60% of our population in order to get rid of the virus from our continent. The J&J agreement enables us to move towards achieving…

Mar

30

2021

By The African Mirror

Ethiopia to get 300,000 doses of vaccines

COVID-19

ETHIOPIA is to receive 300,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses from China's state-backed China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm). The Sinopharm doses are the first shots Ethiopia has secured outside the global COVAX vaccine-sharing initiative, Health Minister Lia Tadesse told Reuters in a text message. Ethiopia is struggling to administer shots and tame infections that have spiked. In the past month, it has recorded a 26% increase in coronavirus infections and deaths rose by 18%, health ministry data shows. On Thursday, Africa's disease control body, the Africa CDC, said Ethiopia had reported the highest number of new cases in the last week of…

Mar

29

2021

By The African Mirror

SA plans to vaccinate 200,000 people daily

COVID-19

SOUTH Africa plans to administer coronavirus vaccines to up to 200,000 people a day beginning around May, the Sunday Times newspaper has reported, citing Health Minister Zweli Mkhize. According to the report, more than 2,000 vaccination sites will be set up. The plan is based on the expected arrival of the first batch of 2.8 million Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses at the end of April, the newspaper said. The Health Ministry did not respond to telephone calls and text messages from Reuters seeking comment. South Africa has been the hardest hit nation on the continent by COVID-19. It has…

Mar

29

2021

By The African Mirror

Sinopharm waits for trial results

COVID-19

CHINA National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) will need to assess results from overseas Phase III clinical trials to decide whether its two-shot COVID-19 vaccine should be followed by a booster shot, a company executive said on Sunday. Regulators and vaccine developers are looking at whether booster doses are necessary amid concerns that emerging variants of the new coronavirus might weaken protection of vaccines designed against older strains. "The preliminary results so far showed that the booster vaccination can effectively increase the neutralizing antibody titer and antibody persistence, and also effectively improve the vaccine's ability to resist mutations," Zhang Yuntao, vice president…