Health Issues in Africa

Health Issues in Africa

Our News

Will political posturing give way to calm investigation when WHO investigates future pandemics?

· · Leave a Comment

The World Health Organization (WHO) has proposed a new team to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Scientific Advisory Group on the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) will also be tasked with studying the origins of future outbreaks and epidemics and guiding studies of emerging pathogens more generally, according to a report in www.science.org/content/article/who-unveils-new-26-member-panel-restart-study-pandemic-s-origins.

Novel Coronavirus, 2019-nCoV or SARS-CoV-2, cause of the global flu pandemic. Microscopic virus close up concept.


WHO’s proposed list of SAGO members contains 26 researchers from 26 countries, 11 of whom are women. Six members were also part of the international team that travelled to China earlier this year to study the pandemic’s origins with Chinese colleagues. That earlier team’s report had favoured a natural origin of SARS-CoV-2, calling a possible leak from a lab in Wuhan, China, “extremely unlikely.” WHO’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus later said, however, that it was too early to rule out this hypothesis.
WHO selected the proposed members from more than 700 applicants; they will be formally confirmed after a 2-week public consultation period.

China has challenged WHO’s call to probe the lab-leak hypothesis more fully. SAGO has one Chinese candidate: Yungui Yang, deputy director at the Beijing Institute of Genomics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and one of the group leaders on the Chinese side during the first origins mission. The proposed U.S. member is Inger Damon, director of the Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

The work by the earlier WHO origins group took place amid a thicket of political posturing, conflicts of interest, and poorly supported theories that eventually stalled the research. Such problems occurred in previous outbreak investigations as well, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and two top COVID-19 officials at the agency write in an editorial in Science published today.

WHO hopes that establishing a permanent panel will take some of the heat out of the current COVID-19 origin debate and make future investigations of new pathogens feel more standard.
WHO’s original mission had concluded that a laboratory origin of the novel coronavirus was “extremely unlikely” and said it would not investigate that option further. Tedros later called that conclusion “premature,” and the Science editorial makes clear SAGO will have to consider the lab-leak theory: “A lab accident cannot be ruled out until there is sufficient evidence to do so and those results are openly shared,” Tedros and his co-authors write. That could well put the panel on a collision course with China, which has made clear it will not collaborate on future investigations in that direction.

A more thorough probe would almost certainly involve examining thousands of samples stored in Wuhan blood banks for the last two years. CNN reports that China is about to do precisely that https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/12/asia/china-wuhan-blood-samples-covid-19-probe-intl-cmd/index.html

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says two Chinese anti-COVID 19 vaccines—made by Sinopharm and Sinovac Biotech—will require a third dose to provide solid protection in people 60 years and older, according to www.science.org/content/article/news-glance-third-vaccine-doses

About 2 billion doses of the shots, both based on an inactivated version of the entire virus, have been administered in China, and another 1 billion have been exported. The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, which based its recommendation on real-world evidence of vaccine effectiveness, acknowledged a third dose will further strain the global supply of vaccines and stressed that countries should first give two doses to the unvaccinated. The group insists that a third shot for the Chinese vaccines is not a “booster” shot—which the WHO has said most people don’t need yet—but an “additional” dose to complete the “primary series.”

A panel of experts advising the US FDA has recommended boosters of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The decision by the panel of independent experts likely means that the 15 million adults who received the vaccination will be eligible for an additional injection two months after their initial dose. If the FDA and the CDC accept the recommendation, as expected, boosters could be offered as early as the end of next week. Here’s what to know about the Johnson & Johnson boosters.

The vote concludes a series of recommendations over the last month to back boosters for all three vaccines used in the U.S., adding momentum to a booster program that the Biden administration has called crucial to its fight against the pandemic.


The COVID-­19 pandemic has reversed years of global progress in tackling tuberculosis and for the first time in over a decade, TB deaths have increased, according to the 2021 Global TB report released recently by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The World Health Organization’s 2021 Global TB report estimated that some 4.1 million people currently suffer from TB but had not been diagnosed with it or had not officially reported it to the national health authorities. This figure is up from 2.9 million in 2019. There has also been a reduction in the provision of TB preventive treatment. “Some 2.8 million accessed this in 2020, a 21% reduction since 2019. In addition, the number of people treated for drug-resistant TB fell by 15%, from 1,77,000 in 2019 to 1,50,000 in 2020, equivalent to only about 1 in 3 of those in need,” it pointed out.

WHO added in its release that in 2020, more people died from TB, with far fewer people being diagnosed and treated or provided with TB preventive treatment compared with 2019, and overall spending on essential TB services was falling. It explained that the first challenge is a disruption in access to TB services and a reduction in resources.

In many countries, human, financial and other resources have been reallocated from tackling TB to the COVID-19 response, limiting the availability of essential services. The second is that people have struggled to seek care in the context of lockdowns. “This report confirms our fears that the disruption of essential health services due to the pandemic could start to unravel years of progress against tuberculosis,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Funding in the low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) that account for 98% of reported TB cases remains a challenge. Of the total funding available in 2020, 81% came from domestic sources, with the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa) accounting for 65% of total domestic funding.
The largest bilateral donor is the US government. The biggest international donor is the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

The WHO report notes a fall in global spending on TB diagnostic, treatment and prevention services, from US$ 5.8 billion to US$ 5.3 billion, which is less than half of the global target for fully funding the TB response of US$ 13 billion annually by 202

Malaria and the long road to a vaccine that’s a mixed blessing

· · Leave a Comment

With Covid-19 figures generally heading south (touchwood and all that!), the big news of the week focussed on older ailments with the bat virus being replaced by the unfriendly neighbourhood mosquito.

Mosquito on the human skin at sunset – Adobe Stock

More than 130 years after the naming of the Plasmodium parasites behind malaria, the world now has its first approved vaccine against them. Many malaria researchers have celebrated the development, but others have expressed concerns over the deployment of a vaccine that has only moderate efficacy. (www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02755-5)

In a news release on 6 October, the World Health Organization (WHO) backed the vaccine — called RTS,S — and recommended its widespread use among children in sub-Saharan Africa, which is home to the deadliest malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. (www.who.int/news/item/06-10-2021-who-recommends-groundbreaking-malaria-vaccine-for-children-at-risk)

“The RTS,S malaria vaccine — more than 30 years in the making — changes the course of public health history,” said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press briefing announcing the endorsement.

Compared with other childhood vaccinations, RTS,S has only modest efficacy, preventing about 30% of severe malaria cases after a series of four injections in children under the age of five.

Nevertheless, one modelling study suggests that it could prevent the deaths of 23,000 children a year, if the full series of doses were given to all kids in countries with a high incidence of malaria — making a significant dent in the tremendous toll of the disease, which killed 411,000 people in 2018.

The development and testing of the vaccine also known by its brand name, Mosquirix, has been on since 1987, at a cost of more than US$750 million. This was funded mainly by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, Washington, and the London-based pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

Although clinical trials concluded in 2015, the WHO then recommended pilot studies to determine the feasibility and safety of this multi-dose vaccine outside a clinical trial.

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, helped fund the pilot programmes, which have distributed 2.3 million vaccine doses across Ghana, Kenya and Malawi reaching 800,000 children since 2019. Gavi reports that in these studies, hospitalisations from severe malaria decreased by about 30%. The pilot results prompted the WHO to recommend that four doses of the vaccine be given to children living in regions with moderate to high levels of malaria transmission.

In addition to deciding how to deploy the vaccine, countries will need to determine how much it will cost to purchase and distribute it — and whether donors will help foot the bill.

The vaccine manufacturer GSK released a statement pledging to make 15 million doses available annually at just above the cost of production. However, roughly 100 million doses will be needed annually if all children in high burden countries are to receive the shots.

At a potential cost of about $5 per dose, researchers suggest the vaccine rollout, including its distribution, would cost around $325 million to administer each year across 10 African countries with a high incidence of malaria. But then, more than 260,000 African children under the age of five die from malaria annually which should put a different perspective on the issue.

Relief may be in sight for tropical hospitals that are increasingly overwhelmed during outbreaks of dengue, another mosquito-borne viral disease that can cause excruciating pain and even death. A new study has identified a compound that blocks dengue virus replication in test tube experiments and in mice, and it might one day be available as an easy-to-take pill. (www.science.org/content/article/first-drug-dengue-excruciating-disease-may-be-horizon?1)

If it works in clinical trials in humans, the drug could be given at primary care clinics, very important for the developing world where dengue is hyper-endemic.

Dengue, which is spread by mosquitoes that thrive in urban areas, annually infects more than 400 million people, primarily in Asia and Latin America. Most cases are mild, and patients recover on their own. But an estimated 96 million people come down with bad fevers, rashes, and muscle and joint aches that can last about a week. It is commonly called “breakbone fever” because of the severity of its symptoms. The disease is caused by four related viruses, or serotypes; subsequent infection with a different serotype increases the risk of internal bleeding and death. There are no drugs for it at present. During outbreaks, scores of patients with severe dengue rely on hospital care to manage the life-threatening symptoms.

The need to simultaneously protect against all four serotypes has stymied dengue vaccine development for decades. Finding a drug with balanced activity against all four was “like finding a needle in a haystack,” says Johan Neyts, a virologist at KU Leuven who led the study.

The drug is already in clinical trials, but Neyts declines to give details, saying scientists will present an update in November at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene. He also doesn’t want to hazard a guess as to when a drug might become available.

And can we rest without at least a routine genuflection in the direction of the ruling global deity, Covid-19 or better still its gradual retreat? Pfizer and BioNTech said Thursday they are seeking US Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization (EUA) for their Covid-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11. (https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/07/health/hfr-pfizer-covid-vaccine-fda-eua/index.html)

If authorised, this would be the first Covid-19 vaccine for younger children. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is approved for people age 16 and older and has an EUA for people ages 12 to 15.

Last month, Pfizer released details of a Phase 2/3 trial that showed its Covid-19 vaccine was safe and generated a “robust” antibody response in children aged 5 to 11. The trial included 2,268 participants aged 5 to 11 and used a two-dose regimen of the vaccine administered 21 days apart.

Pfizer began submitting its data on the vaccine for younger children to the FDA late last month, but had not formally requested authorization until now.

FDA officials had said that once vaccine data for younger children was submitted, the agency could authorize a vaccine for younger children in a matter of weeks — not months — but it would depend on the timing and quality of the data provided.

 Even as parents in the United States wrestle with difficult questions over vaccinating their children against the coronavirus, families in other countries have been offered a novel option: Giving children just one dose of the vaccine. Officials in Hong Kong as well as in Britain, Norway and other countries have recommended a single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children aged 12 and older — providing partial protection from the virus, but without the potential harms occasionally observed after two doses. Health officials in those countries are particularly worried about increasing data suggesting that myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart, may be more common among adolescents and young adults after vaccination than had been thought.


EU putting weight behind Ethiopia’s Tedros for a second term in WHO DG role

· · Leave a Comment

Tedros 2.0?

German government sources told Reuters on 23 September that Berlin would officially nominate Tedros as the Director General (DG) of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the second time around and was seeking support from other European Union (EU) member states.

Geneva, Switzerland, 2020. World health organization (WHO) landing page & emblem. Specialized agency of United Nations responsible for public health

At least 17 EU states have said they would also submit his name for nomination, a Western diplomat said, adding: “I understand he is being nominated by other regions.”

As the deadline for nominations elapsed, diplomats said that they were unaware of any other names being put forward, suggesting that Tedros could stand unopposed in the May (2022) election.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a former health and foreign minister of Ethiopia, elected as WHO’s first African DG in May 2017, has led the global fight against the seemingly relentless COVID-19 pandemic.

He has been shunned by his native Ethiopia due to friction over the Tigray conflict, making it necessary for other countries to step into the breach and submit his name for a second five-year term.

African countries broadly support Tedros who has championed their access to vaccines, but have not wanted to break ranks with Ethiopia, diplomats said. However, it is unlikely that they will desert his cause in the ultimate analysis, ending up being seen to have let down Africa’s first WHO chief.

Notably Dr Tedros has steered the UN agency through attacks on its handling of the crisis, which was sparked by COVID-19 that emerged in China in late 2019 and that has killed 4.75 million people so far.

While the Trump administration in the US accused Tedros of being “China-centric” all of last year, relations warmed with the Biden administration, especially after Tedros publicly said that further investigations were needed into the origins of the virus, including audits of China’s laboratories, diplomats said.

The United States has not opposed a fresh term for him, they add.

However, under the WHO process, envelopes are to remain sealed until after October 29, meaning it cannot be ruled out that a country might nominate another candidate. This is designed to limit campaigning too early.

The DG is the WHO’s chief technical and administrative officer.  The appointment of the next DG will take place at the Seventy-fifth World Health Assembly (WHA75) in May 2022. 

The election process began in April when the WHO secretariat invited the 194 member states to submit proposals for candidates for the DG’s position. The deadline for proposals was 23 September 2021. (www.who.int/about/governance/election)

Information on candidates, including the curricula vitae and other particulars of their qualifications and experience as received from member states, will be published following the closure of the last regional committee meeting of the year, shortly after 29 October 2021.

If there is more than one candidate, a second forum will be convened in March 2022, prior to WHA75 to allow for an interactive panel discussion between the candidates and member states.

At WHA75, the World Health Assembly will appoint the next DG by secret ballot.

A DG can be re-elected once. Therefore the incumbent (Tedros) is eligible to be proposed for a second term of five years. (510)

Upping the ante

The Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has set the proverbial cat among pigeons, reversing a recommendation of her panel of experts on COVID-19 booster shots. The Director, Dr Rochelle Walensky, went along with the experts endorsing booster shots for millions of older or otherwise vulnerable Americans, opening a major new phase in the US vaccination drive against COVID-19. However, she decided to make one recommendation that the panel had rejected. The panel on Thursday (23 September) voted against booster jabs to the 18-64 age group who are health care workers or have other jobs that puts them at increased risk of being exposed to the virus. (https://www.npr.org/2021/09/24/1040348413/cdc-director-backs-covid-booster-plan-and-makes-an-additional-recommendation?)

Walensky disagreed and put that recommendation back in, noting that such a move aligns with an FDA booster authorization decision earlier this week. “As CDC Director, it is my job to recognize where our actions can have the greatest impact,” Walensky said in a statement late Thursday night.

Experts say getting the unvaccinated their first shots remains the top priority, and the panel wrestled with whether the booster debate was distracting from that goal.

All three of the COVID-19 vaccines used in the US offer considerable protection against severe illness, hospitalization and death, even with the spread of the extra-contagious Delta variant. But only about 182 million Americans are fully vaccinated, just 55% of the population and hospitals are full because people are not vaccinated.

Thursday’s decision represented a dramatic scaling back of the Biden administration plan announced last month to dispense boosters to nearly everyone to shore up their protection.

The booster plan marks an important shift in the nation’s vaccination drive. Britain and Israel are already giving a third round of shots over strong objections from the WHO that poor countries don’t have enough for their initial doses.

The CDC advisers expressed concern over the millions of Americans who received the Moderna or Johnson & Johnson shots early in the vaccine rollout. The government still hasn’t considered boosters for those brands and has no data on whether it is safe or effective to mix-and-match and give those people a Pfizer shot.

About 26 million Americans got their last Pfizer dose at least six months ago, about half of whom are 65 or older. It’s not clear how many more would meet the CDC panel’s booster qualifications.

CDC data show the vaccines still offer strong protection against serious illness for all ages, but there is a slight drop among the oldest adults. And immunity against milder infection appears to be waning months after people’s initial immunization.

An Indian Rebound?

And now here’s what could be a real role reversal with Indians coming to the aid of the Cowboys! There could be some consolation for vast swathes of unvaccinated people the world over amidst what seems to be vaccine profligacy on the part of the US and other countries plugging booster doses. Back in the reckoning after a crushing second COVID-19 wave that left thousands dead and hundreds of thousands of others seriously ill earlier this year, India says its vaccine manufacturers will resume exporting COVID-19 shots in October, potentially eliminating a major roadblock for global vaccine equity. Indian officials said the country’s producers could churn out one billion more coronavirus vaccine doses by the end of the year, but did not specify how many would be exported. (https://www.science.org/content/article/news-glance-india-s-covid-19-vaccine-exports?

The Serum Institute of India and other local producers had stopped exports at the government’s behest in the spring, when only about 2% of India’s population had been fully vaccinated and daily reported cases in the country soared to nearly 400,000. That deprived the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility of hundreds of millions of doses it had planned to distribute in lower and middle-income countries. (So far, India has exported fewer than 70 million doses.) Now some 15% of India’s population has become fully vaccinated, and daily new cases have fallen to about 30,000.

Pandemic preparedness: better late than never

· · Leave a Comment

Billion-dollar plan 

Almost as if to make up for the lost Trump year during the pandemic, the White House has put together an ambitious new plan with a $65.3 billion price tag that could transform the way the United States responds to pandemics by vastly accelerating vaccine development, testing, and production. But is the plan big enough? 

A mortuary stretcher left sat outside a mobile mortuary vehicle

Announced on 03 September, the scheme hopes to launch with $15 billion set aside in a budget reconciliation bill now before Congress (but not certain to pass). It asks Congress to provide the rest of the funding over the next decade. It calls for an Apollo-like “mission control” centre to coordinate the many branches of government already involved with pandemic preparedness. Nearly 40% of the money would go towards vaccines, followed by just under 20% for treatments. The rest will support new diagnostics, early warning systems, improved public health and biosafety measures, and global health efforts. 

Combining science with security, the 27-page plan has been signed by Eric S. Lander, Assistant to the President for Science and Tech and Jacob J. Sullivan, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. The security angle obviously comes into play because of lurking suspicions that anything of biological origin can be manufactured in laboratories for nefarious purposes.  

(American Pandemic Preparedness: Transforming Our Capabilities)  

Almost military-like in approach, the proposal envisages work organized across five pillars

  1. Transforming medical defences
  2. Ensuring situational awareness
  3. Strengthening public health systems
  4. Building core capabilities
  5. Managing the mission

For vaccines, it calls for more research on 26 families of viruses known to infect humans. It will also lay the groundwork to develop, test, and approve vaccines against new emerging pathogens within 100 days—three times faster than COVID-19 shots—and produce enough vaccine for the United States within 130 days and for the world by 200 days. Vaccine-makers will be funded to maintain excess production capacity at their existing plants.  

A clinical trials network will be at the ready, set up to enrol 100,000 participants within a few weeks, which will lead to answers more quickly than the 30,000-person studies staged for existing COVID-19 vaccines. New technologies such as skin patches or nasal sprays would simplify providing vaccines, and more effort will be made to develop animal models for all potential viral families. 

The plan stresses that the cost of the COVID-19 pandemic to the United States alone has been an estimated $16 trillion, which makes  $65.3 billion seem like bus fare.  

The current pandemic has illustrated the seriousness of biological threats. As of mid-August 2021, COVID-19 has killed over 4.3 million globally, with excess mortality estimates suggesting a death toll exceeding 10 million. In the United States, the number of deaths directly attributed to COVID-19 has surpassed 623,000.  

As devastating as the COVID-19 pandemic is, there is a reasonable likelihood that another serious pandemic will occur soon—possibly within the next decade—and maybe worse than COVID-19.  

SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19 disease, was relatively mild in certain respects. It is far less lethal than the 1918 influenza virus. It also belongs to a well-understood family: coronaviruses. It was possible to design vaccines within days of ascertaining the virus’s genetic code because nearly 20 years of federally-funded fundamental scientific research, spurred by the emergence of SARS and MERS had provided detailed knowledge about coronaviruses. Unfortunately, most of the 26 families of viruses that infect humans are less well understood or harder to control than coronaviruses. The plan document goes on to say: “While there are important lessons to be learned from COVID-19, we must not fall into the trap of preparing for yesterday’s war.” 

/////  

Covax – unprecedented achievements but not quite enough 

The haves vs have-nots saga continues apace on the availability and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines for poorer countries with the rich ones being accused of hogging the show. The major bone of contention for the last couple of months has been booster vaccine doses being given or contemplated by the developed world for people who have already had two doses at least 8 months ago.  

COVAX logo with the four alliance members

Meanwhile, a year after it was launched, the COVAX scheme has not yet reached its target of protecting at least 20% of the adult population in the less privileged world. It’s a year since the innovative scheme was born. “ Yet, the global picture of access to Covid-19 vaccines is unacceptable,” according to a UN statement released on 08 September. https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/09/1099422 

“In the critical months during which COVAX was created, signed on participants, pooled demand, and raised enough money to make advance purchases of vaccines, much of the early global supply had already been bought by wealthy nations,” the statement went on to say, adding that “COVAX’s ability to protect the most vulnerable people in the world continues to be hampered by export bans, the prioritisation of bilateral deals by manufacturers and countries, ongoing challenges in scaling up production by some key producers, and delays in filing for regulatory approval.”  

It’s not that COVAX has been standing still and doing nothing. It has risen to the challenge of organising the most complex vaccine rollout in human history: “…more than $10 billion has been raised; legally-binding commitments for up to 4.5 billion doses of vaccine (secured); 240 million doses have been delivered to 139 countries in just six months”, said the UN statement.  

But according to its latest Supply Forecast, COVAX expects to have access to around 1.2 billion doses of vaccine for lower-income economies in 2021.  This is enough to protect 20% of the population, or 40% of all adults, in all 92 AMC economies, with the exception of India. However, the key milestone of two billion doses released for delivery is now expected to be reached only in the first quarter of 2022, late by several months. COVAX is now calling on donors and manufacturers to “prevent further delays to equitable access”, by ensuring that the following basic steps take place:  

  • That where countries are ahead of COVAX in manufacturer queues, and already have achieved high coverage, those nations give up their place in the queue to COVAX.  
  • That nations “expand, accelerate, and systematize dose donations from countries that are already well advanced in their vaccination programmes”, ensuring that doses are available in larger and more predictable volumes, with longer shelf lives – reducing the burden on countries trying to prepare for deliveries.  

In a news briefing in Geneva, WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, reminded journalists of his call, a month ago, for a global moratorium on booster doses, at least until the end of September, in order to prioritise the vaccination of the most at-risk people around the world who are yet to receive their first dose.  

“There has been little change in the global situation since then, so today I am calling for an extension of the moratorium until at least the end of the year, to enable every country to vaccinate at least 40 percent of its population,” he explained.    

Rich countries with large supplies of coronavirus vaccines should refrain from offering booster shots through the end of the year and make the doses available for poorer countries, Dr Tedros said last week, doubling down on an earlier appeal for a “moratorium” on boosters that have largely been ignored. https://globalhealthnow.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=eb20503b111da8623142751ea&id=0d29081ba0&e=5504a12b0d 

The WHO chief who has so far remained silent on seeking a second and last term, also said he was “appalled” after hearing comments from a top association of pharmaceutical manufacturers that there are enough vaccine supplies to allow for both booster shots for people in well-supplied countries and first jabs in poorer countries that face shortages. The deadline for the declaration of candidature for the WHO DG’s position ends this month. Tedros has failed to explain why he was so “appalled”.  

Cancer in Africa: The untold tale

· · Leave a Comment

Scenes from AMISOM’s work to promote breast cancer awareness in Somali. Image credit: AMISOM Public Information, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Cancer in Africa is an increasing health issue, which must be handled effectively to limit rising incidences and fatality rates. It has been predicted that because of population increase and ageing, there would be a seventy percent influx of new cancer diagnoses by 2030.

In Africa, this daunting condition has co-existed with newly found contagious diseases like COVID-19, Ebola, Malaria, and HIV/AIDS. Even though cancer mortality rates have exceeded malaria, tuberculosis, and AIDS altogether, there is still a lack of dedication in Africa to battling cancer. Indeed, most emphasis is focused on infectious diseases, whereas several non-communicable diseases, like cancer, pose significant concerns. The rising cancer death rates in Africa are particularly because care is costly and there are inadequate resources. In the next two decades, cancer mortality rates in Africa are expected to outstrip the worldwide norm by thirty percent.  

Cancer is a genetic illness, which reacts with other risk factors to establish a person’s susceptibility – three of these corresponding risk variables highlight why African countries should prioritise cancer diagnosis and care. The first is about improved health care. According to World Bank data, Africans’ life expectancy has risen greater than the worldwide median and is presently estimated to be around 60 years across the region. As cancer diagnoses and death rates rise with ageing, these advancements in life expectancy consequently increase cancer incidences. The second is a result of Africa’s development and lifestyle changes. Some of the most notable changes include but are not limited to: rapid urbanisation, the introduction of new pollutants, unhealthy dietary modifications, and increased substance abuse. Research shows that these adjustments cause a heightened risk of cancer, as well as contact with carcinogens. 

Finally, Africa is home to a wide range of sub-populations and ethnicities, all of which are affected by various genetically linked cancers that impact various groups more than others. The most prevalent including breast, cervix, and prostate cancer. As other health hazards recede, these group-dependent cancer illnesses will be even more evident and wreak a greater toll on the healthcare systems in Africa.