WHO’s Africa Region has declared the end to the recent outbreak of Sudan Ebolavirus – just a day before WHO convenes Ebola experts in a global consultation to explore a way forward on testing three candidate vaccines for the deadly Sudan strain of the virus. The oubreak was declared over after the elapse of 44 […] 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 ->
In the wake of the COVID pandemic, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Israel’s largest medical center, Sheba Medical Center, are launching a scientific collaboration aimed at identifying emerging disease threats in the region. One of the first projects planned will be a study examining the impacts on antibody defenses amongst travelers from […] Continue reading ->
As nations clamp down on travellers from China during an Omicron surge there Chinese health experts have told the World Health Organization that two known Omicron lineages are dominating the current Chinese surge, with BA.5.2 and BF.7 together accounting for 97.5% of all locally-acquired infections. The data was contained in a report by WHO’s Technical Advisory […] Continue reading ->
Along with a pledge to conserve 30% of the world’s biodiversity, the sweeping new deal reached in Montreal on Monday also etches a way forward to create an open-access platform for sharing gene sequences (digital sequence information) as part of new benefit-sharing arrangements. But some observers worry these policy advances still aren’t keeping up with […] Continue reading ->
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania – For Khadija Kambi, the country’s water shortage presents a tricky moral dilemma for her family: either she lets her children drink murky water and fall sick or she lets them suffer from extreme thirst. “I don’t have the money to buy clean piped water. Well water is the cheaper option […] Continue reading ->
The US-Africa Leaders’ Summit ended last week with a strong commitment to strengthen Africa’s health systems, tackle food insecurity and climate change. Meanwhile, top African health officials and scientists meeting at a public health conference in Kigali, Rwanda, at the same time as the summit, vowed to bolster inter-country collaboration to build healthier nations post-COVID. […] Continue reading ->
When it becomes fully operational, the AMA will complement the Africa CDC especially in the area of pandemic preparedness. KIGALI, Rwanda – Advocates for the African Medicines Agency called on the African Union (AU) and its 55 member countries to speed up efforts to establish the African Medicines Agency (AMA), saying it will strengthen the […] Continue reading ->
South Africa is poised to become the first African country to decriminalise sex work following the publication of an amendment to the country’s criminal law for public comment. South Africa’s Cabinet has approved the publication of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Bill, which proposes the decriminalising the “buying and selling 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 ->