Tanzania has confirmed its first-ever cases of Marburg Virus Disease, after laboratory tests were carried out following reports of cases and deaths in the country’s north-west Kagera region. According to the country’s National Public Health Laboratory, eight people developed symptoms including fever, vomiting, bleeding and renal failure. Five of the eight cases, including a health worker, have died, and the remaining three are receiving treatment. A total of 161 contacts have been identified and are being monitored. In response to the
Access to necessary medications for illnesses such as HIV/AIDS can be a struggle for patients in emerging markets like Nigeria and other African countries. With pharmacists being the first point of access, patients are often required to visit them every month to receive their medications and to keep track of their drug use. This creates a tedious process for patients, which can result in low adherence and missed doses. However, a new technology-based solution is aiming to improve this situation by
Today, the World Health Organization (WHO) released its latest progress report on the fight against Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) entitled “Global report on neglected tropical diseases 2023.” The report highlights the progress and challenges of delivering NTD care around the world, against a backdrop of COVID-19-related disruptions. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, says, “Around the world, millions of people have been liberated from the burden of neglected tropical diseases, which keep people trapped in cycles of poverty and stigma.”
Summary: UNAIDS, an organization that works to end AIDS, says that even though a recent trial for an HIV vaccine did not work, it is important to continue using other ways to prevent and treat HIV. They say that by using existing methods and making them more widely available, we can still reach the goal of ending AIDS by 2030. The trial was stopped because it did not show that the vaccine was effective. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS
According to a new status report from the World Health Organization (WHO), five billion people globally remain unprotected from harmful trans fat, increasing their risk of heart disease and death. Despite the global goal for its total elimination in 2023, progress towards this target has been slow, with only 43 countries having implemented best-practice policies for tackling trans fat in food, protecting 2.8 billion people globally. Industrially produced trans fat is commonly found in packaged foods, baked goods, cooking oils and
Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, together with a consortium of global partners, have announced that an independent data review of the Phase 3 Mosaico study of Janssen’s investigational HIV vaccine regimen was not effective in preventing HIV infection among the study participants. The study will be discontinued and further analysis of the data will be conducted. They revealed no safety issues with the vaccine regimen were identified during the trial. The consortium of global partners
The Central Public Health Laboratory (CPHL) in Lagos, Nigeria has achieved full laboratory accreditation status from the World Health Organization (WHO) for its contribution to the fight against measles and rubella in the country. The CPHL is one of the laboratories under the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Measles and Rubella laboratory network. “WHO full accreditation status attained by the laboratory is a great achievement for Nigeria as quality laboratory is critical to understanding the impact of a country’s vaccination
Five United Nations agencies are calling for accelerated progress on the Global Action Plan on Child Wasting, as increasing numbers of children suffer from acute malnutrition in the face of ongoing conflicts, climate shocks, and the impacts of COVID-19. Currently, more than 30 million children in the 15 worst-affected countries, including Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, the Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen, are affected by wasting, or acute
Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari recently signed the country mental health bill into law. Described as groundbreaking, the new law aims, among others, to improve access to mental health care and services in Nigeria. The mental health bill aims to improve access to care and services for people with mental health issues. The bill, which has been long-awaited by mental health advocates, aims to address the significant gap in mental health services in the country. The new law will establish a National Mental
An estimated 7 million children in Africa died before their fifth birthday, according to the latest estimates released by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME). The group also found that 1.9 million babies were stillborn in the same period. Many of these deaths could have been prevented with equitable access and high-quality maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health care. “Every day, far too many parents are facing the trauma of losing their children, sometimes even before