HEALTH - The African Mirror

Sep

22

2020

Nearly 80% displaced people have lost job, income due to virus – survey

COVID-19

SOME 77% of people displaced by conflicts have lost a job or revenue since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, a survey by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has revealed. A record 79.5 million people worldwide, or 1% of humanity, were displaced at the end of 2019 after fleeing wars or persecution, according to the United Nations. The NRC, a non-governmental organisation, polled 1,431 refugees and internally displaced people across 14 countries including Afghanistan, Colombia, Iraq, Kenya Libya, Mali, Uganda and Venezuela. Some 70% of those surveyed said they had to cut the number of meals for their households and…

Sep

22

2020

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe teachers to boycott work over pay, demand COVID-19 allowance

COVID-19

ZIMBABWE's biggest teachers' union said its members would not return to work for the first time since March next week unless they are paid a COVID-19 allowance and given a pay rise. The government shut schools in March in a bid to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, which has infected 7,683 people and led to 225 deaths. Most schools are due to re-open next week, although only for students sitting their final exams. The Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA), in a circular to its 42,000 members, called for monthly pay to be a minimum $520 (42,488 Zimbabwe dollars), compared to…

Sep

22

2020

By The African Mirror

Coronavirus rumours and regulations mar Burkina Faso’s malaria fight

HEALTH

SAM MEDNICK HEALTH worker Estelle Sanon looked on helplessly as a woman tried to make her squirming baby drink a mug of malaria medicine outside their house in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou. Normally Sanon would hold the 18-month-old and administer the dose herself, but because of coronavirus, she has to keep a distance from her patients. "If I am standing and watching the mother do it, it's as if I'm not doing my work," said Sanon, a community health volunteer assisting in a seasonal campaign to protect children in the West African country from the deadly mosquito-borne disease. Burkina Faso…

Sep

21

2020

By The African Mirror

FACTBOX-Worldwide coronavirus cases cross 30.78 million, death toll at 954,843

COVID-19

LYNX INSIGHT SERVICE MORE than 30.78 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 954,843 have died, according to a Reuters tally. Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019. The following table lists the top 50 countries by the number of reported cases. Nr. COUNTRY TOTAL DEATHS CASES CASES / 10,000 INHABITANTS 1 United States 199,292 6,785,198 6.1 2 India 86,752 5,400,619 0.64 3 Brazil 135,793 4,495,183 6.48 4 Russia 19,418 1,103,399 1.34 5 Peru 31,283 756,412 9.59 6…

Sep

21

2020

By The African Mirror

Digital rights legal fund targets COVID-19 violations with grants

COVID-19

KAROLIN SCHAPS AS governments embrace tracing apps to stem the spread of COVID-19, a Dutch-based organisation announced grants this week to fight alleged violations of digital rights during the coronavirus pandemic. The Digital Freedom Fund (DFF), which warned that measures to contain the virus were increasingly infringing on privacy and other basic rights, said it would allocate legal funding to four cases involving European governments and companies. One of the cases is being brought on behalf of an online abortion information portal that was blocked by the Spanish government. Another involves a privacy complaint due to be filed at London's…

Sep

21

2020

By The African Mirror

OPINION: The world must pull together on COVID-19 vaccine for all

COVID-19

MUKHTAR KARIM LAST week WHO Director Tedros Adhanom railed against ‘vaccine nationalism’, warning that ‘going it alone will perpetuate the economic and health crisis for all’. If history is any guide, he is right: if and when a vaccine is available, its effects will be limited to the world’s richest countries. The fantasy of a vaccine that, almost overnight, can eradicate COVID worldwide, is comforting but unrealistic. The UK and US, two of the richest countries in the world, took almost thirty years to eradicate polio after a vaccine was first produced in the 1950s. It was finally eradicated in…

Sep

19

2020

By The African Mirror

Morocco orders COVID-19 vaccine as cases approach 100,000

COVID-19

MOROCCO has signed a deal with Russia's R-Pharm to buy a COVID-19 vaccine produced under a licence from Britain's AstraZeneca, the health ministry said, as its total number of cases approached 100,000. The Ministry did not provide details on the cost and quantity of the order. AstraZeneca licensed R-Pharm in July to produce the vaccine it developed together with Oxford University. This month, Morocco started taking part in clinical trials of China's Sinopharm vaccine. The North African country added a daily record 2,760 cases to its confirmed total on Friday, meaning it has recorded 97,264 in all, including 1,755 deaths.…

Sep

19

2020

By The African Mirror

European cities announce new restrictions as COVID-19 cases soar

COVID-19

GUY FAULCONBRIDGE and INGRID MELANDER EUROPEAN countries from Denmark to Greece announced new restrictions on Friday to curb surging coronavirus infections in some of their largest cities, while Britain was reported to be considering a new national lockdown. Cases in the United Kingdom almost doubled to 6,000 per day in the latest reporting week, hospital admissions rose and infection rates soared across parts of northern England and London. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was inevitable that the country would see a second wave of the coronavirus, and while he did not want another national lockdown, the government may…

Sep

19

2020

By The African Mirror

COVID-19 isn’t the only infectious disease scientists are trying to find a vaccine for

HEALTH

DANIELLE STANISIC, Associate Research Leader, Institute for Glycomics, Griffith University JOHNSON MAK, Professor, Institute of Glycomics, Griffith University MORE than 28 million people around the world have now contracted COVID-19, and more than 900,000 people have died. Research groups across the globe are rightly racing to find a vaccine to protect against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. While it’s not surprising all eyes are on this vaccine race, COVID-19 isn’t the only disease for which scientists are currently trying to find a vaccine. Let’s look at three others. The big three We regard malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS as the…

Sep

18

2020

By The African Mirror

Beyond COVID-19, Africa needs an integrated approach to development

COVID-19

PETER ERIKSSON and BAN KI-MOON As the virus spreads across the African continent, innovative and collaborative initiatives are springing up to strengthen healthcare systems. Mobile apps that transmit agricultural prices and weather forecasts to farmers are also being used to send out messages on how to avoid contagion by Covid-19. In South Africa, the government is working with the private sector to manufacture 10,000 ventilators. In Kenya and Ghana, garment factories have switched to producing masks and protective clothing. But in spite of this noteworthy spirit of collaboration and the efforts in healthcare systems to contain the pandemic, Covid-19 cases…