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Health in Africa

  • The number of people killed by cholera in Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam rose

    TANZANIA, 2015/09/29 The number of people killed by cholera in Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam rose from one to four on Monday, said medical authorities. Kinondoni municipal health authorities said the number of patients admitted to hospitals increased from six as of Monday. However, the medical authorities said they were trying to establish the source of the outbreak the deadly disease. Musa Naty, the Kinondoni municipal director, confirmed that four patients were diagnosed with cholera next samples of their stools tested positive for the bacterial infection.

  • Cholera outbreak kills 52 in DR Congo

    CONGO KINSHASA, 2015/09/29 At least 52 people have died out of 1,078 cases of cholera that have been reported since January in Maniema province, central Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), the country's Health Minister Felix Kabange Numbi said on Wednesday. "This is the initial time that Maniema province has had a cholera outbreak, and that is why it was the responsibility of the central government to make the announcement," the minister said in Kinshasa.

  • China is drawing up a plan to help Sierra Leone

    CHINA, 2015/09/29 China is drawing up a plan to help Sierra Leone and two other Ebola-inflicted African nations with economic and social reconstruction and mutually beneficial cooperation, Chinese President Xi Jinping said here Sunday. During his conference with Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma in New York, Xi said relations between their two nations are a real testimony to the phrase "a friend in need is a friend indeed." Next the Ebola epidemic broke out in Sierra Leone last year, China instantly responded to President Koroma's call, sending emergency medical support and playing a leading and exemplary role for the international community, the president recalled.

  • Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Approves U.S.$256 Million Grant for Liberia

    UNITED STATES, 2015/09/22 The Board of Directors of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has approved US$256.7 million grant to Liberia under the Millennium Challenge Compact program. The grant was approved during the MCC Board's annual conference held on September 7, in Washington D.C and chaired by U.S. Secretary of National John Kerry. The Board's approval presently paves the way for the formal signing of a bi-lateral agreement (to be known as the Liberia Compact) between the Liberian and U.S. governments to be held in the United States by October.

  • Global Malaria Target Met Amid Sharp Drop in Cases

    BOTSWANA, 2015/09/22 Malaria death rates have plunged by 60 % since 2000, but the ancient killer remains an acute public health problem with 15 nations mainly in sub-Saharan Africa accounting for some 80 % of cases and deaths globally, according to a new United Nations statement released today. “World malaria control is one of the great public health success stories of the completed 15 years,” said Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the UN World Health Organization (WHO). “It’s a sign that our strategies are on target, and that we can beat this ancient killer, which still claims hundreds of thousands of lives, mostly children, each year.”

  • We’re Politicising Malnutrition In Nigeria

    NIGERIA, 2015/09/16 The chief of nutrition, Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH), Dr Chris Isokponwu, in this interview with WINIFRED OGBEBO, talks on the salient issue of malnutrition in the country and how government is not doing enough to tackle it. What is the national of nutrition in Nigeria? Nutrition which is the responsibility of the Federal Government covers all Nigerians across the life course. But general focus is on women and children. We focus on infant and young child feeding, micronutrient deficiency control and building evidence base to strengthen nutrition data system and appropriate policy.

  • UN Health Agency Warns Ebola Outbreak in West Africa Has 'A Very Nasty Sting in Its Tail'

    BENIN, 2015/09/13 The United Nations health agency's appropriate envoy on Ebola response today said the outbreak in West Africa has a "very nasty sting in its tail," but projected that the goal of zero transmission in the human people remains "very possible within 2015." Dr. Bruce Aylward, Appropriate Representative on Ebola Response for the World Health Organization (WHO), made those remarks at a press conference in Geneva, following his return from the "hot spots" of the epidemic in Guinea and Sierra Leone. He said that despite the "ferocious rainy season" in West Africa, the number of Ebola cases has remained in the single digits for six consecutive weeks in Guinea and Sierra Leone. In addition, there are only three active chains of transmission in those nations, a development he described as a "major milestone in all three nations [Liberia being the third] in the march towards zero" cases.

  • Global Fund Commits Half of $15 Million Budget for CRG Special Initiative,South Africa

    SOUTH AFRICA, 2015/09/13    The World Fund has committed approximately $7 million of the $15 million budget for its Community Rights and Gender (CRG) Appropriate Initiative. Each of the initiative's three arms - technical assistance (TA) provision, key populations network strengthening, and regional communication and coordination platforms - have received relatively equal amounts. The initiative runs until the end of 2016. On the TA arm, 40 applicants for technical assistance, spanning 22 nations, have received nearly $2 million in funding. Thirty-four TA providers have been identified and 65 TA requests have been received to date. This is one example of the evolution made since Aidspan last reported on the initiative.

  • Children Who Died After Measles Vaccine Were Injected By a Cleaner, Kenya

    KENYA, 2015/09/13 The two children who died in Kerio Valley in Elgeyo-Marakwet on Monday next a measles vaccine, were injected by a cleaner, the government said Wednesday. Director of Medical Services Nicholas Muraguri said the cleaner has worked at the Kapetwa Health Centre for additional than eight years, and "it seems he has treated patients before". Dr Muraguri told Country: "We understand he was employed by the local community and we are investigating who authorised him to administer the vaccine. The man has been arrested."

  • Millions Going Hungry Because of Boko Haram,Nigeria

    NIGERIA, 2015/09/13 Families driven out of villages, farmers unable to tend crops, food stocks of entire communities raided: Boko Haram's impact on the people of Western and Central Africa lingers long next the rape and slaughter. Additional than 5.5 million people living in conflict areas in Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad, nearly half of whom have been displaced due to ongoing attacks by the Islamist militant group, don't have enough to eat or else lack access to nutritious foods, according to the UN's emergency aid coordination body OCHA. "These are people who have seen guys with guns show up in their villages and kill their [families], or have had their villages torched and again they've fled," Toby Lanzer, OCHA's regional humanitarian coordinator for the Sahel, told IRIN. "The impact has been devastating. They have no food. They've lost their livelihoods. They've been thrust out of their villages... and can't get back to harvest."
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