Rome, Italy | AFP | A four-year-old girl who died of malaria in Italy in September caught the deadly disease in hospital, the health ministry said Saturday, ruling out the possibility she was bitten by an infected mosquito. Sofia Zago, who had not travelled to any at-risk countries, fell ill after …
Read More »UKAid launch new Sh215 billion malaria programme in Uganda
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) has today marked the launch of a new programme to tackle malaria in Uganda. Over the next five years, the UK government will invest up to sh215 billion ($59m) to tackle malaria in the country. A statement …
Read More »Mosquitoes aren’t going away
That’s what 115 years of data tells scientists about battle with malaria Kampala, Uganda | BOB SNOW | Professor of Malaria Epidemiology, Centre for Tropical Medicine & Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford It’s difficult to accurately measure the number of people who get malaria each year. This …
Read More »Italian doctors baffled after malaria kills four-year old
Rome, Italy | AFP | A four-year old girl has died of malaria after apparently contracting the disease in northern Italy in a case that has perplexed the medical world, doctors said Tuesday. “I’ve never seen a case like it, it’s a mystery. It shouldn’t have been possible for her …
Read More »Warmer climate threatens malaria spread in Ethiopia
Paris, France | AFP | Cool, high-lying areas of Ethiopia hitherto shielded from heat-loving malaria mosquitoes are increasingly exposed to the disease as the climate warms, researchers said Thursday. Most Ethiopians live in the country’s highlands, and have long enjoyed natural protection against mosquitoes carrying the malaria-causing parasites Plasmodium falciparum …
Read More »Kamuli gets 391,000 mosquito nets
The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga has launched a mass distribution of over 390,000 insecticide treated mosquito nets in Kamuli to curb incidents of malaria in the eastern region. The distribution is part of a countrywide effort by the Malaria Control Programme under the Ministry of Health, which commenced in …
Read More »World’s first malaria vaccine
Children aged five to 17 months old in Kenya, Ghana, Malawi to test it Ghana, Kenya and Malawi have been chosen to test the world’s first malaria vaccine through a pilot program beginning next year, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on April 24. The vaccine, which has partial effectiveness …
Read More »Kenyan study shows why reusing old mosquito nets should be encouraged
Treated mosquito nets are vital in the fight against malaria. But the average lifespan of a net is about four years. The Conversation Africa’s Health and Medicine Editor Joy Wanja Muraya asked Dr Lydiah Kibe to explain how old and torn bed nets are being reused in coastal Kenya. …
Read More »First large-scale malaria vaccine trials for Africa
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | A new malaria vaccine will be tested on a large scale in Kenya, Ghana and Malawi, the World Health Organization said Monday, with 360,000 children to be vaccinated between 2018 and 2020. The injectable vaccine RTS,S could provide limited protection against a disease that killed …
Read More »700 dead as malaria ‘epidemic’ hits Burundi
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | About 700 people have died from malaria in Burundi so far this year, the health minister said, with the authorities having registered 1.8 million infections in a rising epidemic. “Burundi faces a malaria epidemic,” Josiane Nijimbere said Monday, commenting on a World Health Organization (WHO) report. …
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