News Category: Africa
AHO determined to prevent cervical cancer in Africa
Cervical cancer claims the lives of nine Kenyan women every day and is the leading cause of cancer deaths in women in sub-Saharan Africa. These deaths are tragic, not just because cervical cancer is the most common in women between the ages of 15 to 44, but also because they are almost always preventable through vaccination.
Read MoreAHO to halve snake bite and its consequences in Africa by 2030
Each year, 5.4m people are bitten by snakes, with up to 2.7m incapacitated. “Envenoming”, it claims, is “one of the most neglected tropical diseases”.
Read MoreAHO to tackle vision impairement and blindness in Africa
At least 2.2 billion people have vision impairment or blindness, of which over 1 billion cases could have been prevented or have yet to be addressed.
Read MoreHow one African community is fighting genetically modified mosquitoes
In the summer of 2018, more than 1,000 people marched in the capital Ouagadougou against the use of genetically-modified organisms in the country, including the GM mosquitoes.
Read MoreGraciano Masauso talks of failure on Ebola as a symptom of dysfunctional healthcare systems in Africa
Four years later, the Ebola epidemic in west Africa is thankfully over but we are now more than a year into the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Despite the new tools at our disposal—vaccines and antibody treatments that we dreamt about having in Sierra Leone—the global medical community is failing the people of the DRC.
Read MoreAHO to eliminate the debilitating Guinea worm parasite by 2030
Dracunculiasis is Latin for “affliction with little dragons.” This parasitic infection, more commonly known as Guinea-worm disease, is contracted when a human drinks water contaminated with copepods (water fleas) that contain worm larvae. AHO plans to eliminate the disease by 2030 after failure by WHO and partners to eliminate it by 2020.
Read MoreChild deaths in Africa could be prevented by family planning
Children under 5 years of age in Africa are much more likely to die than those in wealthy countries as a direct result of poor health outcomes linked to air pollution, unsafe water, lack of sanitation, an increased family size, and environmental degradation, according to the first continent-wide investigation of its kind.
Read MoreInsectcide-treated mosquito bed nets being misused in Malawi for catching and drying fish
Residents of fishing communities in Malawi are using insecticide-treated bed nets meant for malaria prevention to catch fish and other agricultural purposes, a study suggests.
Read MoreSub-Saharan Africa tops maternal deaths globally
While maternal deaths have fallen globally by more than one third since 2000, huge inequalities remain worldwide, the report said, with Sub-Saharan Africa accounting for two thirds of the worldwide total.
Read MoreAHO has plan to combat tropical and infectious diseases in Africa
More than a billion people across the world, mostly in low and lower- Middle income countries, are affected by neglected tropical diseases. Africa bears the most highest burden of these debilitating infections and at least one neglected tropical disease is endemic in most countries. AHO talks to Graciano Masauso, President of Africa Health Organisation (AHO).
Read More