Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention

Dec

2023

Climate change is the biggest human health risk, says Africa’s disease boss

CLIMATE change is the biggest threat to human health in Africa and the rest of the world, the head of the continent's public health agency said. Mitigating that risk was top of his agenda, Jean Kaseya, the director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told Reuters as he headed to the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, which begins on Thursday. The measures needed, Kaseya said, would include funding to help countries in Africa trying to contain outbreaks of disease. In an online interview, he said the threat of "a climate change-related disease becoming a pandemic and coming…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Strong leadership fought COVID-19 in Africa: the next step is to harness research

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

AFRICAN countries are still reeling from the effect of measures, such as lockdowns, taken to contain the spread of COVID-19. Though painful, they were a vital part of the successful public health response mounted by many African leaders. MONIQUE WASUNNA, Director, Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative Africa Regional Office and Researcher, Kenya Medical Research Institute The quick responses by most African countries meant that they were able to avoid the large-scale loss of life seen elsewhere. The 1.8 million infections and 44,000 deaths recorded on the continent by mid-November are a great loss. They are, nevertheless, far from the catastrophic…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

10 countries account for 80% of Africa COVID-19 testing – Africa CDC

NEWS

TEN countries account for 80% of the new coronavirus testing taking place across Africa, a regional body said on Thursday, indicating that little testing is taking place in many countries around the vast continent. COVID-19 confirmed cases across Africa have accelerated and are close to hitting a million this week, and experts say low levels of testing in many countries means infection rates are likely to be higher than reported. Some governments across the continent are too poor or conflict-ridden to carry out widespread testing, while others are reluctant to share data or to expose their crumbling health systems to…