Nigeria confirms diphtheria outbreak, monitors situation in 4 states
In Kano state, one of the worst-hit states in the country’s north, Dr. Aminu Tsanyawa the health commission for the state has recorded more than 70 suspected cases along with 25 deaths related to the bacterial infection. The total number of confirmed cases and deaths is not yet known. Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention […]
Laboratories in Kenya and Tanzania train rats to detect tuberculosis
Already known for finding land mines, the rodents could now transform the way the disease is detected. The African giant pouched rats work with scientists at the APOPO Project, a Belgian non-profit organisation in Tanzania, because they can detect the smell of the deadly disease. A study conducted by APOPO in 2016 compared the accuracy […]
Million tonnes of partially radioactive waste stir up fear in Niger
An ambitious 10-year scheme costing $160 million is underway to secure the waste and avoid risks to health and the environment, but many local people are worried or sceptical. From 1978, France’s nuclear giant Areva, now called Orano, worked the area under a subsidiary, the Akouta Mining Company (Cominak). It closed the site in 2021 […]
The after effects of Cyclone Freddy continue to affect Mozambicans. The cyclone’s displaced some 184,000 people as the country faces its worst cholera outbreak in more than a decade
Now, over one million people face the possibility of contracting cholera, Polio or Covid-19 the World Health Organisation warned, Friday. The WHO Representative for Mozambique spoke from Maputo. “While the cholera outbreaks regularly occur in Mozambique between October and April of every year with more than 21,000 cases currently and 95 deaths, this is the […]
Kenya will expand the use of the world’s first malaria vaccine (or RTS,S), in the country
At this centre at Kimogoi Dispensary Hamisi Sub-county in western Kenya, mothers bring their children to receive the jab. Kenya is one of three countries, along with Ghana and Malawi, where the RTS,S malaria vaccine is already in use. The Director General for Health details the vaccination campaign. “We have so far vaccinated close to […]