HEALTH - The African Mirror

Dec

18

2020

Drugmakers should cut COVID-19 vaccine prices for Africa – Africa CDC

COVID-19

OMAR MOHAMMED PHARMACEUTICAL companies should sell COVID-19 vaccines to African countries at discounted rates and allow them to be produced locally to potentially cut costs, according to the head of the continent's disease control body. Africa is aiming to vaccinate up to 60% of its 1.3 billion people in the next two years, but may need several years of inoculations, John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told reporters. How frequently people will need vaccinations against COVID-19 remains uncertain, he said. "Because of this, local manufacturing becomes imperative so that we can meet our…

Dec

17

2020

By The African Mirror

Congo to impose curfew against second wave of coronavirus

COVID-19

STANIS BUJAKERA THE Democratic Republic of Congo will impose a curfew and other strict measures, including the mandatory wearing of masks in public spaces, to fight a second wave of the coronavirus, its virus response team said on Wednesday. The mining industry in the world's leading producer of cobalt and Africa's biggest copper producer will not be affected by the new measures. Congo has recorded 14,942 cases of coronavirus and 364 deaths since the epidemic was officially declared in March. But it has seen a steady increase in recent weeks, with 345 new cases declared on Wednesday, mostly in the…

Dec

17

2020

By The African Mirror

WHO vaccine scheme risks failure, leaving poor countries no COVID shots until 2024

COVID-19

FRANSESCO GUARASCIO THE global scheme to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to poorer countries faces a "very high" risk of failure, potentially leaving nations home to billions of people with no access to vaccines until as late as 2024, internal documents say. The World Health Organization's COVAX programme is the main global scheme to vaccinate people in poor and middle-income countries around the world against the coronavirus. It aims to deliver at least 2 billion vaccine doses by the end of 2021 to cover 20% of the most vulnerable people in 91 poor and middle-income countries, mostly in Africa, Asia and Latin…

Dec

17

2020

By The African Mirror

Nigeria expects to get its first COVID-19 vaccine doses in January

COVID-19

FELIX ONUAH NIGERIA expects to receive its first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine in January, the country's health minister has announced, but officials do not yet know which one they will get. Africa's most populous nation has not been as hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic as others on the continent such as South Africa, but it warned last week of a second wave of COVID-19 infections. Health Minister Osagie Ehanire said that Nigeria has a working group in place to handle vaccines, and is working with the COVAX programme backed by the World Health Organization. "We have 200 million citizens.…

Dec

17

2020

By The African Mirror

Top coach Pitso Mosimane tests positive for COVID-19

COVID-19

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER EGYPTIAN giants Al-Ahly’s multi-trophy winning coach Pitso Mosimane has tested positive for COVID-19 and has gone into self-isolation. Mosimane, the former coach of South Africa Mamelodi Sundowns, won the elusive treble with Al-Ahly. He won the CAF Champions League, the Egyptian Premier League title and the Egyptian Cup with Al-Ahly. In a statement, the club said: “Mosimane will follow the ministry of health’s protocol for Covid-19 and will be self-isolated at home.” Mosimane is set to miss his team’s match against Ghazi El Mahalla on Friday. Yesterday, Al Ahly’s first team players underwent a rapid COVID-19 test…

Dec

16

2020

By The African Mirror

Childhood sex education reduces risky sexual behaviour: a Nigerian case study

HEALTH

THE World Health Organisation has marked significant improvements in some aspects of adolescent sexual and reproductive health. Young people are having their first sexual encounters at a later age and are more likely to use condoms. But HIV infections in this age group are not decreasing and sexually transmitted infections remain high. ALOYSIUS ODII, Ph.D. candidate in Demography and population studies, University of Nigeria NKECHI G. ONYENEHO, Researcher, University of Nigeria The World Health Organisation defines an adolescent as a person between the ages of 10 and 19. Adolescents make up 22.3% of Nigeria’s population. The country is home to…

Dec

16

2020

By The African Mirror

New kinds of loans and bonds could fill $28 bln COVID funding gap: WHO

COVID-19

STEPHANIE NEBEHAY and EMMA FARGE THE World Health Organization is looking at new financial instruments to help to fill a $28 billion funding shortfall for tools to fight COVID-19, a senior official said on Tuesday. The WHO and GAVI vaccine alliance aim to provide poor and middle-income countries with diagnostic tests, drugs and vaccines through a fund known as the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, set up last April. Bruce Aylward, a senior WHO adviser and its ACT coordinator, said that new financing mechanisms - including concessional loans and catastrophe bonds - were discussed at a meeting of the…

Dec

15

2020

By The African Mirror

COVID-19: How to reduce risk in the holiday season

HEALTH

DOYIN ODUBANJO, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Academy of Science DURING the festive season, travel and gatherings are sometimes unavoidable, even in a global pandemic. Dr Doyin Odubanjo, Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Academy of Science and a past chairman of the Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria, shares five tips for a safe Christmas during COVID-19. In this video interview, the public health physician explains the “3 Cs” people should avoid in order to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19. They are: crowds, close contact and confined spaces. - The Conversation https://www.youtube.com/embed/lHG_b-g5RgM Keeping safe during Christmas to prevent COVID-19.

Dec

15

2020

By The African Mirror

Nurse gets New York’s first COVID-19 vaccine as U.S. rollout begins

COVID-19

JONATHAN ALLEN and GABRIELLA BORTER NEW YORK has inoculated its first healthcare worker, an intensive care unit nurse in Queens, with the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, marking a pivotal turn in the U.S. effort to control the deadly virus. Sandra Lindsay, an ICU nurse, was given the vaccine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, New York, an early epicentre of the country's COVID-19 outbreak, receiving applause on a live stream with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. "It didn't feel any different from taking any other vaccine," Lindsay said. "I feel hopeful today, relieved. I feel like healing is coming.…

Dec

15

2020

By The African Mirror

How COVID-19 upended informal workers worldwide

COVID-19

JOHN SURICO ABOUT half of the wage earners in Colombia found themselves in the informal economy last year—working unregulated jobs with flexibility, but also, minimal social protection. Yet although rates have steadily declined, informality has remained a weakness. “Before the pandemic, we were in a fragile situation, economically,” says Mauricio Quiñones Domínguez, a Medellín-based economist. Then COVID-19 hit. The hard-hit country, previously strapped with one of the highest unemployment rates in Latin America, has seen joblessness soar to an unprecedented 21.2% (It now hovers around 16%, although ‘real’ unemployment could be higher.) Informality is expected to follow, reversing years’ worth…