Antananarivo, Madagascar | AFP | In most countries health ministers are seen as bureaucrats more interested in paperwork than medical miracles. Not in Madagascar, where Mamy Lalatiana Andriamanarivo recently picked up a scalpel and separated conjoined siamese twins in a medical first for the Indian Ocean island nation. “Surgery was performed …
Read More »UN seeks $10 million as Nigeria cholera outbreak worsens
Maiduguri, Nigeria | AFP | At least 44 people have now died in a cholera outbreak in northeast Nigeria, the United Nations said Monday, calling for nearly $10 million to keep the disease from spreading. “To date, the outbreak has claimed at least 44 lives, out of close to 2,300 …
Read More »THIS WEEK: Mulago Hospital conducts brain surgery on an awake patient
THIS WEEK: Mulago Hospital conducts brain surgery on an awake patient Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | During a medical camp organised by nuerosurgeons at Mulago hospital together with experts from the India based Yashoda hospital have conducted brian surgeries on over ten patient including one who underwent the procedure while …
Read More »Zimbabwe opposition head stable in SAfrica hospital:spokesman
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been hospitalised in South Africa after his health deteriorated, a senior party official told AFP Saturday, though a spokesman said his condition was stable. “He is in South Africa on account of a medical cause. He is being attended …
Read More »Disguised Uganda minister catches corrupt hospital workers
Disguised Uganda minister Opendi catches corrupt hospital workers Kampala, Uganda | AFP | Uganda’s State Minister of Health for General Duties disguised herself as a patient and caught two medical workers demanding a bribe for free government services, she told AFP on Saturday. Health State Minister Sarah Opendi said she …
Read More »Zimbabwe opposition chief hospitalised in S. Africa:source
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader and former prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, has been hospitalised in South Africa after his health deteriorated, a senior party official told AFP Saturday. “He is in South Africa on account of a medical cause. He is being attended to,” a senior official …
Read More »Five die as Pneumonic plague resurfaces in Madagascar
Antananarivo, Madagascar | AFP | Pneumonic plague has killed five people in Madagascar since August, a top health official told AFP on Thursday, but stressed the situation was under control. “We have detected 22 suspected cases of pneumonic plague, including five deaths,” said senior health ministry official Willy Randriamarotia. “There …
Read More »Smoking changes lung cells, primes them to develop cancer
Washington, United States | AFP | Chronic exposure to cigarette smoke can change lung cells over time, making them more vulnerable to disease and priming them to develop cancer, US researchers said Monday. The report in the journal Cancer Cell is based on lab experiments on lung cells that were …
Read More »Portuguese medics clear woman’s bid to bear grandchild
Lisbon, Portugal | AFP | Portugal has approved its first surrogate mother — a 50-year-old grandmother who will bear a child to allow her daughter to start a family, media reports said on Saturday. The Portuguese Council for Assisted Birth late Friday unanimously approved the request of a 30-year-old woman who …
Read More »WHO sounds alarm over DRCongo cholera epidemic
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | The World #Health Organization on Saturday sounded the alarm over a #cholera outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo which has already claimed 528 lives and reached “worrying proportions”. The UN says cholera is a major public health problem in the country with millions …
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