HEALTH - The African Mirror

Mar

28

2021

Cricket legend Tendulkar contracts COVID-19

COVID-19

INDIA batting great Sachin Tendulkar has revealed that he has contracted the novel coronavirus and has mild symptoms as infections continue to surge in the world's second-most populated country. Tendulkar, who will turn 48 next month, retired from the professional game in 2013 after notching a still unmatched 100 international centuries in a prolific 24-year career. He returned to the crease recently as captain of the India Legends team in a promotional event called the Road Safety World Series in Raipur, in the state of Chhattisgarh. "I have been testing myself and taking all the recommended precautions to ensure COVID…

Mar

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Kenya’s president orders new lockdown to curb COVID-19 wave

COVID-19

MAGGIE FICK and GEORGE OBULUTSA KENYA’S President Uhuru Kenyatta restricted travel in the capital Nairobi and four surrounding counties on Friday as COVID-19 infections hit record levels in East Africa's richest economy. In a televised address, Kenyatta said a wave of new curbs including a stricter curfew and the closure of bars would hurt but were essential to fight the pandemic. The new restrictions come a week before the Easter holiday, when many Nairobi residents traditionally travel to visit family in other parts of the country. "Whereas the foregoing measures will have a negative impact on the economy, these measures…

Mar

27

2021

By The African Mirror

UN urges divided world to unite against COVID-19

COVID-19

MATTHEW LAVIETES THE United Nations has urged a divided world to unite against a virus that ignores all borders, saying the pandemic could delay by a decade its goal to end global inequalities. A new U.N. report estimated that the novel coronavirus has unleashed the worst recession in 90 years, threatening to derail its ambitious list of 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The goals, approved in 2015 with a 15-year deadline, aim to end hunger, gender inequality and violence against women, while expanding access to education and health care in poorer nations. "What this pandemic has proven beyond all doubt is…

Mar

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Morocco expects 4.2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses soon, officials say

COVID-19

MOROCCO expects new batches of coronavirus vaccine to arrive soon from Russia, South Korea and China, allowing it to continue its rapid immunisation roll-out despite a pause in exports from India, health ministry sources said. Morocco has already received 8.5-million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, made in India, and Sinopharm vaccine, made in China, allowing it to administer more jabs than any other African country. It expects 4.2-million more doses soon, said Health Ministry scientific committee member Said Afif, keeping it on track to reach its target of herd immunity before the summer. These include two million more Sinopharm doses, a…

Mar

27

2021

By The African Mirror

South Africa launches TB mobile clinics amid COVID-19 disruption

HEALTH

WENDELL ROELF PARKED on the roadside next to a graveyard in Cape Town's Gugulethu township, a tuberculosis hotspot, a team of health workers set up a makeshift TB screening room next to their van. Gladys Rara, 45, provides a sputum sample and within 90 minutes results are ready. The rapid testing model, launched in South Africa, will see 10 mobile clinics rolled out across southern Africa in poor communities to diagnose TB patients, in a bid to prevent the disruption surrounding COVID-19 causing a surge in deaths from the world's deadliest infectious disease. "It is very important for them to…

Mar

28

2021

By The African Mirror

Kenyans with chronic kidney disease know diet is important. But many don’t follow the guidelines

HEALTH

CHRONIC kidney disease is a condition that occurs when a person’s kidneys are damaged and can’t remove harmful waste from the blood. This can lead to high blood pressure and severe infections. The disease affects about 13.4% of the population globally. Around 1.23 million people died of chronic kidney disease in 2017. ROSE OKOYO OPIYO, Lecturer, University of Nairobi But this doesn’t have to be the outcome. Patients can be treated with dialysis to mechanically remove the waste material and excess fluid from the bloodstream. Or they could receive a kidney transplant to replace the damaged kidney. Patients and their…

Mar

26

2021

By The African Mirror

Zambia sets out vaccination plans for all

COVID-19

ZAMBIA has announced plans to vaccinate all people over 18, or 46% of the 18.3 million population, against COVID-19 as it prepares for a third wave of the pandemic. The southern African country has registered more than 87,000 cases of COVID-19 and the death toll from the disease is more than 1,000. Health Minister Jonas Chanda said health workers, the police, security officers, teachers and the clergy would be among those given priority in the vaccination campaign. Cross-border traders, bus and truck drivers, and people over 65 - including those with chronic illnesses and their care givers - would also…

Mar

26

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Pricing out the poor’

COVID-19

NITA BHALLA KENYA will let private hospitals charge for COVID-19 vaccinations and will not set a price limit on their cost - a measure charities warned would "price out the poor" and create greater inequalities in access. The East African nation of more than 50 million people has so far received one million vaccine doses through the World Health Organization's COVAX facility, and plans to procure another 11 million for the public sector in the coming months. Patrick Amoth, acting director general at the Health Ministry, said on Thursday private hospitals would be permitted to import coronavirus vaccines, subject to…

Mar

26

2021

By The African Mirror

COVID-19 traps more girls in sex work

COVID-19

JORDAN MAYENIKINI WHEN Naomie's mother asked the teenager to join her as a sex worker in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo last September, she knew it was a matter of survival for the family. The fallout from the coronavirus pandemic - from rising food prices to a curfew resulting in fewer clients for her mother -left the 15-year-old with no choice but to take to the streets. "I am fatherless, and I have an eight-year-old brother," Naomie - whose name has been changed to protect her identity - said one evening this month in the Tshangu district…

Mar

26

2021

By The African Mirror

Head of SA’s coronavirus committee steps down

COVID-19

THE chairman of South Africa's Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID-19 (MAC), Professor Salim Abdool Karim, stepped down yesterday, the health ministry said, following a meeting of the body to mark the first anniversary of its formation. Professor Marian Jacobs, previously co-chair of the advisory body, will take up the role temporarily, the ministry said. South Africa has been the hardest hit nation on the continent by COVID-19, with the highest number of confirmed cases at over 1.5 million, with more than 50,000 related deaths. The rollout of vaccines has been slow, with only 207,000 people, mainly frontline health workers, inoculated…