Healthcare in South Africa: how inequity is contributing to inefficiency
Healthcare provision in South Africa is centered in hospitals. Sharon Seretlo/Gallo Images via Getty ImagesSouth Africa has a two-tiered, and highly unequal, healthcare system. The public sector is...
View ArticleWhat Uganda has got wrong – and right – in its struggle to contain COVID-19
Health workers wearing protective suits lower the body of a COVID-19 victim for burial at a graveyard in Gulu, northern Uganda. Sally Hayden/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesLast month, Uganda’s...
View ArticleWater, power cuts and neglect are taking their toll on South Africa's top...
Photo by Sharon Seretlo/Gallo Images via Getty Images)A fire at one of the biggest public hospitals in Johannesburg, the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, and the delay in reopening the...
View ArticleUnpaid care work still falls on women: seven steps that could shift the balance
Men did more unpaid care work during COVID-19 lockdowns. ShutterstockA recently released report highlights how societies could move closer to a more gender equal distribution of care work in the...
View ArticleWhy Nigeria's weak health system affects women and girls the most
Mothers wait with their babies to receive treatment at a dispensary .ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP via Getty ImagesNigeria’s healthcare service delivery is very poor. It ranks among the worst globally in terms of...
View ArticleSpike in COVID-19 cases points to gaps in South Africa's response
Wearing masks, handwashing and sanitising were adopted quite quickly by South Africans. Xabiso Mkhabela/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesThe numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths in South Africa have...
View ArticleLatest data from Lusaka morgue analysis shows spike in COVID-19 deaths
The research was conducted at the Zambia University Teaching Hospital morgue.Salim Dawood/AFP via Getty ImagesUnderstanding the epidemiology of infectious diseases often rests heavily on the local...
View ArticleCholera is still a danger in Nigeria: here's what the government can do
Cholera outbreaks are more common in internally displaced persons camps Stefan Heunis/AFP via Getty Images Thousands of cases of cholera have been reported in Nigeria between January and June 2021. The...
View ArticleCOVID-19 lockdowns and contraception: unexpected findings in four African...
Women's need for contraception and contraceptive use must be an ongoing priority.Jonathan Torgovnik for The Hewlett Foundation/Reportage by Getty ImagesThe COVID-19 pandemic has affected the sexual and...
View ArticleSouth Africans are keener to get vaccinated. But many still need to be convinced
Increasing vaccination calls for a targeted approach.Brenton Geach/Gallo Images via Getty ImagesThe number of people being vaccinated against COVID-19 in South Africa is on the rise after a bumpy...
View ArticleNigerian academics weigh in on the faults and frustrations of managing COVID-19
Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari shows his COVID-19 certificate after receiving his first dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in March 2021.Photo by Kola Sulaimon / AFP via Getty ImagesThe...
View ArticleWhat machine learning can offer Nigeria's healthcare system
Machine learning can change patient care in Nigeria for good. avestia.com/shutterstock Imagine it’s 2030 – and a typical day in a Nigerian healthcare setting. In earlier decades, when a patient walked...
View ArticleSouth African women needing to abandon their babies don't have safe options:...
Hundreds of babies are abandoned every year in South Africa. Fati Moalusi/AFP via Getty ImagesIn South Africa it is against the law to abandon a child – specifically an infant, in such a way that the...
View ArticleVaccine hesitancy has risen in Ghana: a closer look at who's worried
Vaccine confidence is essential if the pandemic is to be brought under controlWikimedia CommonsThe COVID-19 pandemic continues apace, with high- and lower-income settings struggling to contain...
View ArticleTB prevention has relied on the same vaccine for 100 years. It's time for...
BCG has been used all over the world to protect against the development of TB. Noah Seelam/AFP via Getty ImagesTB is one of the oldest infectious diseases in recorded history. Most of the people who...
View ArticleWe created a tool to help predict COVID-19 increases in African countries
shutterstockOne of the obstacles if you are trying to guide policy and protect people from COVID-19 is the bewildering amount of data available every day. We are awash in information, but everyone...
View ArticleMonkeypox in Nigeria: why the disease needs intense management
Monkeypox can only be diagnosed through a laboratory test.ShutterstockMonkeypox is back in the news. The publicity this time derives from a case brought into the US by someone from Nigeria in June...
View ArticleCOVID-19 in children: the South African experience and way forward
From the outset, communities were concerned about the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on children.Roger Sedres/Gallo Images via Getty ImagesSince its emergence in late 2019, SARS-CoV-2 has caused illness...
View ArticleThis is no time to neglect hepatitis - 70 million Africans are infected
A childhood vaccine given at birth is effective.BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty ImagesIn 2016, the World Health Organisation (WHO) set an ambitious target to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030....
View ArticleExcluding migrants undermines the success of COVID-19 vaccine rollouts
African countries must include all migrant populations in their vaccination plans.Thierry/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesMigration is increasingly recognised as a determinant of health. Research shows...
View Article