Twenty years ago, 16-year-old Mulikat Okanlawan embarked on a 1000-kilometer journey from her home in the Nigerian capital of Lagos to the Northwestern city of Sokoto in a bid to change her life. She is a survivor of noma, a little-known bacterial disease that attacks cells in facial tissue and bones. On paper, Okanlawan had […] Continue reading ->
The number of people requiring treatment for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) decreased from 2.19 to 1.65 billion between 2010 and 2021 – an impressive 25 percent decline. However, interlinked challenges, including the COVID pandemic and, now, accelerating patterns of climate change are putting this progress at risk. On World NTD Day, we need to recognise […] Continue reading ->
IFAKARA, Tanzania – When you think of malaria, a swarm of mosquitoes flying against an orange sunset is a dangerous sight. As part of their mating ritual, the dreaded bloodsuckers brazenly hover for 30 minutes, males adroitly flapping their slender wings to produce a sound that lures female partners to join them. The mosquito proliferation […] Continue reading ->
DAVOS, Switzerland – The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced plans to set up a new TB Vaccine Accelerator Council to increase momentum for the development of a vaccine to combat the world’s most deadly infectious disease. Speaking at a high-level panel at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting where the plan was launched, WHO […] Continue reading ->
For months, Sharifa Shomale suffered in silence from tuberculosis, not knowing what was wrong with her. Doctors suspected a viral infection. Then an unlikely hero made a life-saving discovery: a mischievous rat named Hamisi. DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania—Every evening, as the call to prayer from the mosque echoes in the twilight from Manzese—a tangled Dar […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) isn’t talking about it publicly, but behind the scenes WHO is planning a meeting for 12 January to evaluate next steps, Health Policy Watch has learned, as the absence of new cases in the Uganda outbreak makes it impossible to begin a clinical trial based on a ring vaccination of […] Continue reading ->
The Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) and African Centers for Disease control signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Thursday to providing technical support to African manufacturers of antimalarial drugs that would help bring their products up to WHO-approved standards – thus ensuring wider use of locally-produced drugs on the continent and beyond. The move […] Continue reading ->
A group of African parliamentarians raised a red flag on Tuesday at the UNITE Global Summit when they told representatives that they felt neglected by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which funds billions of dollars of health services in their countries. “Do African parliamentarians only get involved when we have to […] Continue reading ->
On Friday, the Ebola taskforce of Kassanda district in Uganda delivered the remains of four people that succumbed to the the virus for burial to their home village of Kitongo. Three of the bodies belong to family members who died from exposure to the virus after they exhumed a loved one they had lost to […] Continue reading ->
A nature-based solution that could help reduce the rising global burden of disease from dengue fever is looming on the research horizon. But more studies are needed before the World Health Organization could recommend a broad scale-up of the approach, WHO’s chief scientist said on Wednesday. WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan summed up her conclusions […] Continue reading ->