THIS WEEK: World Health Organization endorses new typhoid vaccine Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Jan.03 endorsed the first conjugate vaccine for typhoid. Dubbed Typbar TVC, the vaccine which has been approved to be introduced by interested countries on their immunization programmes can be administered …
Read More »THIS WEEK: Uganda declared Marburg free
THIS WEEK: Uganda declared Marburg free Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Backed by a Sh3.5billion outbreak response, Uganda has contained the recent Marburg Viral Disease outbreak and declared the country free of the infectious disease. The declaration comes after completion of 42 days of the post-Marburg surveillance countdown period for …
Read More »Strengthening healthcare
How to boost delivery and management of essential medicines in low- and middle-income countries Kampala, Uganda | JUSTUS HAUCAP | Around the world, health security is increasingly being recognised as the foundation of economic growth. Healthy populations are better able to produce, trade, and innovate, while unhealthy populations strain public budgets …
Read More »WHO wary of ‘major setback’ on cholera in Yemen amid blockade
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The World Health Organization warned Friday that a Saudi-led blockade of Yemen was threatening to undo efforts to rein in a cholera epidemic already affecting nearly one million people in the war-ravaged country. Yemen, where a multinational conflict has caused a daunting humanitarian crises, has …
Read More »WHO: Stop using antibiotics in animals to prevent spread of resistance in humans
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The World Health Organization on Tuesday urged farmers to stop using antibiotics in healthy animals to help ensure the drugs remain effective in fighting life-threatening diseases in humans. Overuse and misuse of antibiotics in animals and humans is contributing to the growing threat of “superbugs”, …
Read More »Risk of Madagascar plague outbreak spreading in region: WHO
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The World Health Organization said Tuesday there was a “moderate risk” that a plague outbreak in Madagascar would spread to other countries in the region, but advised against travel restrictions. The outbreak of both bubonic plague, which is spread by infected rats via flea bites, and …
Read More »Madagascar plague kills 24, triggering WHO fears
Antananarivo, Madagascar | AFP | The World Health Organisation said Sunday it was boosting its response to a plague outbreak in Madagascar that has killed 24 people, as the government banned public meetings to reduce infections. In a televised address Saturday, Prime Minister Olivier Mahafaly Solonandrasana said no public meetings or …
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 …
Read More »Yemen cholera cases soar past half-million: WHO
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Cholera is believed to have affected more than 500,000 people and killed nearly 2,000 since late April, the World Health Organization said Monday. A full 503,484 suspected cases and 1,975 deaths are attributable to the outbreak that erupted less than four months ago in the …
Read More »THE LAST WORD: Rethinking healthcare in Africa
Why attempts to provide too much too fast are the cause of corruption and institutionalised incompetence The Last Word | ANDREW M. MWENDA| Last week I moderated a World Health Organisation panel on providing universal healthcare in Africa. These ambitions assume that poor countries have the ability to deliver the set …
Read More »