HEALTH - The African Mirror

Nov

23

2020

World’s first COVID-19 vaccine will be available in December in the US

COVID-19

THE first Americans could receive a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as December 11, the chief scientific adviser for the U.S. government's vaccine program said on Sunday. "Within 24 hours from the approval, the vaccine will be moving and located in the areas where each state will have told us where they want the vaccine doses," Dr. Moncef Slaoui, part of the "Operation Warp Speed" vaccine program, told NBC's "Meet the Press." The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's outside advisers will meet on December 10 to discuss whether to authorize the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech…

Nov

22

2020

By The African Mirror

COVID-19 exposed Kenya’s debt vulnerability though measures helped – IMF

COVID-19

OMAR MOHAMMED COVID-19 has exposed Kenya's debt vulnerabilities though official measures including monetary policy easing have helped shield the economy from the impact of the pandemic, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said late on Friday. The Fund said it hoped a deal on a new lending facility for Kenya could be presented to its board in early 2021, noting that economic activity in the East African country was starting to pick up despite a drag from sectors such as tourism. Measures including lowering interest rates, letting lenders restructure some loans, targeted tax cuts, and programmes to help vulnerable families had…

Nov

21

2020

By The African Mirror

From COVID-19 despair to being South Africa’s “Cake King”

COVID-19

KIM HARRISBERG FOR Davy Tsopo, a WiFi password changed his life. When Tsopo lost his cleaning job at a Johannesburg restaurant during lockdown, a neighbour thought sharing his password might help distract Tsopo from his money worries. At first, Tsopo watched episodes of U.S. reality baking show Cake Boss to pass the time as he and his wife cared for their newborn son, but soon found himself scribbling down recipes for chocolate gateau, scones, biscuits and red velvet cake too. "This is where it all began," said Tsopo, 35, holding a worn-out notebook filled with the recipes in the kitchen…

Nov

20

2020

By The African Mirror

Oxford COVID-19 trial will look at interim Phase III data after 53 infections – investigator

COVID-19

ALISTAIR SMOUT and KATE KELLAND OXFORD University will start an initial analysis of data from its late-stage trial of the experimental COVID-19 vaccine it is developing with AstraZeneca after 53 infections among its volunteers, the study's chief investigator said on Thursday. The Oxford Vaccine Group's director, Andrew Pollard, said in a media briefing there were "lots of cases" of infections in its Phase III trial in Britain, Brazil and South Africa. The first two sets of interim data from vaccine trials from Pfizer and BioNTech last week and Moderna on Monday were released after more than 90 infections among volunteers.…

Nov

19

2020

By The African Mirror

Millions of people are on treatment for HIV: why are so many still dying?

HEALTH

TWENTY years ago treatment for HIV was a rare luxury in South Africa. Exorbitant costs and President Thabo Mbeki’s government’s fierce opposition to providing antiretroviral treatment (ART) kept it out of the public sector. GILLES VAN CUTSEM, Honorary Research Associate, Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Research, University of Cape Town They were terrible days. Many lives were lost. The environment has changed remarkably since then. The turning point came in 2004 when, after four years of struggle, led by the Treatment Action Campaign, the government begrudgingly agreed to start providing ART. Antiretroviral coverage of people with HIV in South…

Nov

19

2020

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe shuts school after 100 students test positive for COVID-19

COVID-19

ZIMBABWEAN authorities have closed a boarding school in the west of the country after at least 100 students tested positive for coronavirus, a state-owned newspaper has reported. The school in the Matabeleland North province is the first to report a significant spike in infections since schools began re-opening for end-of-year examinations in September. It is also the first to be closed over a cluster of positive cases. Authorities fear that the country could see a surge after infections increased this month. New cases jumped to 294 last week compared to 109 new cases in the previous week, according to the…

Nov

19

2020

By The African Mirror

Congo declares end of Ebola outbreak, sees lessons for COVID fight

COVID-19

DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo announced the end of an almost six-month Ebola outbreak in the west of the country as health authorities looked to apply lessons from the successful response to the fight against COVID-19 in Africa. The outbreak, which infected 130 people and killed 55, emerged in June, weeks before a separate Ebola epidemic in the east drew to a close. That one killed more than 2,200 people, the second-most in the disease's history. "I am pleased to solemnly declare the end of the 11th epidemic of Ebola virus disease in Equateur Province," Health Minister Eteni Longondo told a…

Nov

19

2020

By The African Mirror

Coronavirus cases in Africa surpass the 2 million mark

COVID-19

SHAINA AHLUWALIA TOTAL coronavirus cases in Africa have surpassed the 2 million mark despite the slow addition of reported infections compared to other regions around the world. With over 2,012,000 cases, Africa represents under 4% of the world's reported cases, which many experts believe to be an undercount. They believe that many COVID-19 infections and related deaths in Africa are likely being missed as testing rates in the continent of about 1.3 billion people are among the lowest in the world, and many deaths of all types go unrecorded. The region's COVID-19 fatality rate at nearly 2.4% is the third…

Nov

18

2020

By The African Mirror

Massive project on African DNA sets out to close the knowledge gap on mental illness

HEALTH

IN July 2009, a woman brought her husband to the hospital where our colleagues work in western Kenya. She reported that for several years he had been behaving abnormally, sleeping poorly, hearing voices that no one else could hear, and believing that people were talking about him and plotting to harm him. LUKOYE ATWOLI, Professor of Psychiatry and Dean, Medical College East Africa, Aga Khan University, Aga Khan University Graduate School of Media and Communications (GSMC) ANNE STEVENSON, Program Director, NeuroGAP-Psychosis Study, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health She was seeking help because he was no longer able to…

Nov

18

2020

By The African Mirror

Misinformation could prompt people to turn against COVID-19 vaccines – study

COVID-19

KATE KELLAND CONSPIRACY theories and misinformation fuel mistrust in vaccines and could push levels that potential COVID-19 vaccines are taken in the United States and Britain below the rates needed to protect communities against the disease, a study has found. The study of 8,000 people in the two countries found that fewer people would "definitely" take a COVID-19 vaccine than the 55% of the population scientists estimate is needed to provide so-called "herd immunity". "Vaccines only work if people take them. Misinformation plays into existing anxieties and uncertainty around new (COVID) vaccines, as well as the new platforms that are…