rural areas - The African Mirror

Feb

2024

By JEN MANNE-GOEHLER, FRANCESC XAVIER GOMEZ-OLIVE CASAS, JULIA ROHR, KATHLEEN KAHN, NOMSA MAHLALELA and TILL BÄRNIGHAUSEN

HIV among older South Africans in rural areas: big study shows there’s a problem that’s being neglected

HEALTH

SOUTH Africa continues to have a high prevalence of HIV among all age groups. About 8.2 million people or 13.7% of the population live with HIV, one of the highest rates in the world. The country also has one of the world’s most impressive antiretroviral therapy programmes. Over 5 million people living with HIV are currently on chronic treatment. Widespread access to antiretroviral therapies since 2008 has led to millions of people ageing with chronic HIV infection. Consequently, people with HIV are older on average than they were just a decade ago. Most HIV prevention and treatment programmes and policies…

Aug

2021

By The African Mirror

Farmers in Zimbabwe happier than city residents

AFRICITIES

SETH ONYANGO SOMETIMES it takes just a farm - and good rains - to be happy, as the World Bank reveals Zimbabweans in rural areas are happier than their city counterparts. Zimbabweans living in rural areas have a better life than those in urban centres, a World Bank report reveals, reigniting debate on whether it is better to live in the city or in the countryside. The multilateral lender cited thriving subsistence farming in Zimbabwe’s remote areas, stating it has propped up the fortunes of those living far from cities. The report's chief finding offers striking insight into the "rural-urban…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

South African policies go some way to tackling poverty and inequality. But more is needed

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

SOUTH Africa is one of the most unequal societies in the world. More than 50% of the population live in poverty. Despite notable gains in poverty reduction post-apartheid, poverty levels have remained consistently highest among women, black South Africans, people with disabilities, and those living in rural areas. SOPHIE PLAGERSON, Senior research fellow at the Centre for Social Development in Africa, University of Johannesburg The government has committed itself to addressing poverty, inequality and social exclusion – understood as a disadvantage by gender, race, disability or place. The mandate is laid out in the constitution and in the government’s National…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

India tests drones to take COVID-19 vaccines to rural areas

WORLD

RINA CHANDRAN VILLAGERS in remote corners of rural India could start seeing curious flying objects in the skies as health experts test out drones to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to isolated communities amid a deadly surge in coronavirus cases. The southern state of Telangana, which is part of the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Medicine from the Sky project along with government think-tank NITI Aayog and Apollo Hospitals, will run a trial and then launch COVID-19 vaccine deliveries with drones. Karnataka, another southern state, is also looking at drone deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines, while the Indian Council of Medical Research has been…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

In Kenya, COVID-19’s rural spread strains creaky healthcare

COVID-19

JOSEPH AKWIRI and MAGGIE FICK THE recent deaths from COVID-19 in Kenya of a refugee, a member of parliament and a retired civil servant all happened for the same reason: emergency help was hours away. Nearly three quarters of Kenya's intensive care unit (ICU) beds are in the two largest cities, Nairobi and Mombasa. Yet the new coronavirus is spreading into rural areas where the public health system is creaking and scarce ICU units are full and turning patients away, medics round the nation told Reuters. Christmas travel may worsen the problem - and not just in Kenya. "That is…