Health – Page 27 – Science Africa

18 Feb, 22

Kenya Launches Five-year Plan for Zoonotic Diseases

By Aziza Atieno and Sharon Atieno With Kenya bearing a tremendous burden of zoonotic diseases- transmitted from animals to humans and vice versa- with multiple outbreaks of different diseases yearly, the country has launched a five-year plan to tackle these diseases. Globally, zoonotic diseases account for over 60% of all human infections and over 75% […]

COVID-19: Uganda Receives 1,000 Medical Oxygen Cylinders

By Mary Hearty In an effort to cushion Uganda’s response to COVID-19, the Ministry of Health has received a complete set of one thousand oxygen cylinders worth US$ 233,000 procured by the World Health Organization (WHO) with financial support from the Government of Denmark for the management of critical cases of COVID-19 in the country. […]

17 Feb, 22

KEMRI Launches New Malaria, COVID-19 Kits

By Gift Briton The Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) has launched two new products- Plasmochek and KEMCOV-19- that will revolutionize COVID-19 and Malaria testing. Malaria is an endemic disease in sub-Saharan Africa, including Kenya, where the country’s Centre for disease control and prevention (CDC) estimates that the mortality due to the disease is at 10,700 people yearly. With Kenya listed among […]

Food Security Recovery Likely to Take Time, FSNWG Says

By Muia Thomas Food security recovery is likely going to take time following extremely poor and unpredictable rainfall patterns, Food Security and Nutrition Working Group (FSNWG) says. In a report provided by the FSNWG, at least 12-14 million people in Southern and South Eastern Ethiopia, arid and semi-arid lands (ASALS) of Kenya and Somalia will most […]

WHO: Boosting Africa’s Vaccines Self-Reliance

By Gift Briton The World Health Organization(WHO), South African government and other international partners are collaborating to build and develop mRNA vaccine hub in South Africa, an initiative which aims at producing COVID-19, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria vaccines. For greater part of 2021, inadequate supply of COVID-19 vaccine globally, left billions of people mostly from African […]

WHO: Africa on Track to Control COVID-19, Continuous Vigilance Needed

By Mary Hearty Africa should continue being vigilant despite the continent’s possibility of controlling the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022, World Health Organization (WHO) says. Over the last two years, the continent has witnessed four waves of COVID-19, each with higher peaks or more total new cases than the previous one. The surges have been mostly […]

KEMRI Hosts the 12th KASH Conference

By Aziza Atieno The Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) is set to host the 12th KEMRI Annual Scientific and Health (KASH) conference from Tuesday, 15th- Friday, 18th February 2022 at a hotel in Nairobi. The conference theme is “Building a resilient health sector through investments in data science, research evidence, technology and innovations” which is being supported by the […]

11 Feb, 22

Cervical Cancer Screening Saves Lives

By Daniel Wako Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women globally, as per the World Health Organization (WHO), with an estimated 604 000 new cases and 342 000 deaths in 2020 alone. About 90% of the new cases and deaths worldwide occurred in low- and middle-income countries. In Kenya, a 2021 report by Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) Information Centre says […]

10 Feb, 22

Africa Lagging behind in Malaria Elimination

By Sharon Atieno Though malaria remains a significant threat to health and development in Africa, the continent is not on target to eradicate the disease by 2030, World Malaria Report finds. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates for Africa, there were 232 million cases (96% of global total) and 611, 802 (98% of global total) […]

08 Feb, 22

Commonwealth, WHO Sign MoU to Strengthen Health Cooperation

By Sharon Atieno With the COVID-19 pandemic putting immense pressure on global health systems especially in developing countries, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the World Health Organization (WHO) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) committing to strengthening their collaboration on public health issues affecting Commonwealth member states and governments. Some of the priority issues include […]