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Health in Africa

  • Rwanda, Health Insurance for the poor

    RWANDA, 2015/10/13 Reports indicate that only 65 % of the people targeted for Mutuelle de santé have paid their premiums and 35 % have not paid. Because of this, the government has made its stance clear that it will be locking out those who have not paid premiums for the social medical insurance plan. The scheme, which is handled by Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB), has been one of the initiatives which has garnered a lot of regional and international praise for the government. The globally lauded universal medical insurance plan targeting the poor and vulnerable has cemented the RPF leadership as a pro-poor establishment with the credentials to support and uplift people out of poverty and other vulnerabilities.

  • No Medical Assistance Available in Leer, Following Repeated Lootings of MSF Facility

    SOUTH SUDAN, 2015/10/11 Civilian populations in Leer and Mayendit Counties have once again been deprived of access to urgently needed medical and humanitarian assistance next a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) compound in Leer was looted twice by well-organized armed men on 2 and 3 October. As a result, MSF was forced to suspend medical activities and evacuate its team from Leer. "MSF strongly condemns these armed robberies of its medical personnel and facilities," says MSF Emergency Manager Tara Newell. "These incidents have forced MSF to suspend its medical activities in Leer and they are responsible for depriving the people of urgently needed medical assistance." On Friday, 2 October, amid renewed clashes, MSF was looted by well-organized armed men who entered its compound with their weapons, intimidated MSF staff with threat of violence and stole medical supplies, vehicles, technical equipment and personal belongings. MSF remained in Leer to continue providing medical assistance to war-wounded patients who were receiving treatment at the time of the incident.

  • New ARV Treatment Guidelines for HIV Patients, Namibia

    NAMIBIA, 2015/10/11 HIV-positive patients will hereafter go on antiretroviral treatment as any minute at this time as they test positive, unlike in the completed where they had to wait for their CD4 count to drop to a certain level, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced last week. This is one of the two new guidelines that were released at the end of last month by the WHO. The guidelines will form part of the WHO's revised and updated 2016 guidelines on the use of antiretroviral drugs for treating and preventing HIV infections. The new guidelines are set for release in December. WHO said the expanded use of antiretroviral treatment is supported by recent findings from clinical trials confirming that early use of ART keeps people living with HIV alive and healthier, and reduces the risk of transmitting the virus to partners. Unlike in the completed at the same time as HIV-positive patients were mainly treated next their CD4 count had dropped to 500 cells/mm3 before going on antiretrovirals, the new guidelines set by the WHO recommend that patients go on treatment as any minute at this time as they test positive.

  • Nigeria is still a World Health Organization-certified Ebola free country‎

    NIGERIA, 2015/10/11 Contrary to claims of an Ebola outbreak in Calabar, Cross River National, Nigeria is still a World Health Organization-certified Ebola free country‎, the Federal Ministry of Health has said. ‎Linus Awute, the permanent secretary of the ministry, said there was no basis for rumours of from presently on an extra outbreak of the virus. "We are as well going to organize a press conference today. You know the news and rumours of Ebola in Calabar... ," Mr. Awute told PREMIUM TIMES over the phone on Friday.

  • Development of Chinese Anti-Malaria Medicine Beneficial to Developing Countries

    CHINA, 2015/10/09 Guinea's Deputy Coordinator for the National Anti-Malaria Program Dr. Timothee Guilavogui on Monday expressed confidence that "the development of traditional Chinese medicine will contribute to helping developing nations to resolve their public health problems."I Interview in Conakry, Guilavogui hailed Chinese pharmacologist Tu Youyou for her research that led to the discovery of Artemisinin, a drug that has significantly reduced the mortality rates for patients suffering from malaria. On Monday, Madam Tu, alongside Irish-born William Campbell and Japan's Satoshi Omura were jointly awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discoveries that helped doctors fight malaria and infections caused by roundworm parasites. According to the Nobel Assembly at Sweden's Karolinska Institute, Tu won half of the prize while Campbell and Omura were jointly awarded the other half of the prize. She is the initial Chinese women national to win a Nobel Prize.

  • Nigeria will continue to keep vigil over polio

    NIGERIA, 2015/09/29 Nigeria will continue to keep vigil over polio to make sure that the virus does not re-emerge in the West African country, a presidency statement said Sunday. The African country was declared polio-free on Saturday by the World Health Organization, following the absence of any case of the wild polio virus since July 24, 2014. In spite of the succcess, surveillance activities and immunization will continue across Nigeria to keep the country polio-free at all times, the presidency statement, signed by presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, said.

  • 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.
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