When monkeypox suddenly started spreading globally in May, the world was fortunate in one respect: A vaccine was available. MVA, originally developed by Bavarian Nordic as a smallpox vaccine, was already licensed for monkeypox in Canada and the United States (US). European Union (EU) regulators have since followed suit. Vaccine supplies are limited, and no […]
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Health Issues in Africa
Health Issues in Africa is an online news portal dedicated to exclusive and comprehensive coverage of the issues surrounding health and development affecting the people of the African continent.
Our readers include policymakers, health professionals working in the government, private and non-profit sector, research and the media.
HIV/Aids
Out of the 34 million HIV-positive people worldwide, 69% live in sub-Saharan Africa. There are roughly 23.8 million infected persons in all of Africa. 91% of the world’s HIV-positive children live in Africa. More than one million adults and children die every year from HIV/AIDS in Africa alone.
Diarrhoeal diseases
The fact that almost 40 percent of all diarrhoea deaths in children under five worldwide occur in the African region is striking. The diarrhoea mortality burden among children under five in Sub-Saharan Africa reveals the persistent magnitude of this preventable and treatable disease in the region.
Malaria
It is because the most effective malaria vector – the mosquito Anopheles gambiae – is the most widespread in Africa and the most difficult to control, ninety percent of all malaria deaths in Africa occur in young children.
The situation of access to clean water and sanitation in rural Africa is even more dismal than the previous statistics imply. The WHO (2006) stated that, in 2004, only 16% of people in sub-Saharan Africa had access to drinking water through a household connection (an indoor tap or a tap in the yard).
When it comes to killer diseases in Africa many people think of infectious diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, or even Ebola. But the reality is thatdiseases like cancer, diabetes and heart disease – known as non–communicable diseases (NCDs) – are a major threat.
Access to medicines refers to the ability for people to get needed medicines required. Such access is part of the right to health as supported by international law since 1946. The World Health Organization states that essential medicines should be available, of good quality, and accessible.
US declares monkeypox a public health emergency; The latest health stories from around the world
The Biden administration in the United States (US) has declared monkeypox a public health emergency. There have been more than 7,000 cases detected in the US, but that is likely an undercount. The majority of cases are concentrated in the gay and queer community, primarily among men who have sex with men. But the Centers […]
President Joe Biden tests positive for COVID-19 a second time; The latest health stories from around the world
United States (US) President Joe Biden tested positive for the coronavirus again on Saturday morning, becoming the latest example of a rebound case after taking the Paxlovid treatment that has otherwise been credited with broadly impressive results in fighting the virus and suppressing its worst effects. “The President has experienced no re-emergence of symptoms, and […]
Monkeypox officially declared a global emergency by WHO; The latest health stories from around the world
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a global emergency for the second time in two years. This time the cause is monkeypox, which has spread in just a few weeks to 74 countries. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/23/health/monkeypox-pandemic-who.htmlDr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director general, on Saturday overruled a panel of advisers, who could not come to a […]