16 Dec, 21

Kenya: Kisumu Launches Newborn Sickle Cell Screening Centre

Fredrick Odiero  The Kisumu County Government has launched a Newborn Sickle Cell Screening Centre at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) to respond to the high burden of the sickle cell disease condition in the area. Through partnership with American Society of Hematology(ASH), Perkin Elmer-Finland, and Consortium On Newborn Screening in Africa […]
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16 Dec, 21

Conversations with Prof. Jaoko on Omicron Variant

Prof. Walter Jaoko’s responses to media queries on the new Omicron virus during an AfriSMC press briefings on What Scientists know about the new Covid-19 variant. Prof Jaoko is the Director KAVI-Institute of Clinical Research, University of Nairobi  Why is the new variant called Omicron? The naming of these variants are based on the Greek […]
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COVID-19: More Cases if Vaccination Rate Does not Improve, Moeti Says

By Saumu Juma With an 83% surge in COVID-19 cases in Africa in the past one week with the Delta and Omicron variants mainly being detected, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, Word Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa said that Africa is likely to report more cases if the vaccination rate does not improve. “We are cautiously […]
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African Countries urged to Increase Domestic Investment in Public Health

By Naomi Kitur African governments and national parliaments should increase domestic financing for health in Africa, Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s President said at the first international Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA 2021). At the event organized by the African Union (AU) and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Kagame stated […]
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15 Dec, 21

Climate Change Adaptation: Women Group Adds Value to Drought-Resistant Crops, Fruits

By Kahindi Vilivu The 2021 devolution conference that was held at Wote in Makueni County tasked the county governments to put in place measures that would address the adverse effects of climate change among the communities. The conference that was addressed by President Uhuru Kenyatta via a video link and was attended by 25 governors […]
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NCDs: Investing One Dollar More per Person could Avert Seven Million Deaths

By Faith Atieno Close to seven million deaths could be prevented by 2030, if low and lower-middle income countries were to make an additional investment of less than a dollar per person per year in the prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), according to a new World Health Organization (WHO) report. Currently, NCDs including […]
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14 Dec, 21

Scientists Unearth More Information on the World’s Largest Flying Reptile

By University of California – Berkeley Look around any wetland today and you’re likely to see 3-foot-tall egrets or 4-foot-tall herons wading in the shallows in stealthy search of fish, insects or crustaceans. But 70 million years ago, along the Rio Grande River in Texas, a more impressive and scarier creature stalked the marshes: the […]
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Africa: Close to 50% of Omicron Cases, Millions of People Still Unvaccinated

By Naomi Kitur Africa currently accounts for 46% of the nearly 1000 Omicron cases reported globally according to Dr. Richard Mihigo, Coordinator, Immunization and Vaccines Development (IVD) Programme, World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa. The Omicron variant has now reached around 60 countries worldwide, 10 of which are in Africa. Over the past […]
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Funding for TB Research Less than Half of What is Needed to End the Disease

By Christian Benard The global funding for tuberculosis (TB) research is less than half the goal of US$2 billion set forth by participating country governments at the 2018 United Nations (UN) high-level meeting on TB, a new report finds. The report, ‘Tuberculosis Research Funding Trends, 2005-2020’ by Stop TB Partnership and Treatment Action Group presents […]
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