Nigeria has been added to the UK “travel ban” list because of concerns about the spread of COVID-19 and a rise in cases linked to the omicron variant of the coronavirus. The decision prompted a new wave of frustration among Africans, with the Nigerian high commissioner in London, Sarafa Tunji…
Kenya has shown great improvement in managing HIV/AIDS, largely due to an 83% increase since 2013 in the number of affected citizens who can access antiretroviral drugs, said President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday. New infections dropped nearly 70% between 2013 and 2021, but infections continue to impact people between the…
President Xi Jinping of China has pledged to deliver another 1 billion COVID vaccine doses to the African continent, an announcement he made during his speech to the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in Dakar. Xi said 600 million doses of China’s vaccines will be donated while the other…
Authorities in Botswana held a Sunday night press conference to discuss the latest information about the B.1.1.529 coronavirus variant first identified there. In the meantime, southern Africans are asking: Where did this variant actually come from? That’s because Botswana’s government said Friday that the four B.1.1.529 cases reported last week…
Botswana confirmed on Thursday that a new COVID-19 variant, one that’s causing great concern in southern Africa and beyond, was detected in four people described as travelers. Botswana’s Presidential COVID-19 Task Force said the four cases of the B.1.1.529 variant were recorded on Monday. All four cases happened in people…
BioNTech is moving forward with plans to build vaccine manufacturing facilities on the African continent, with an announcement Tuesday that Rwanda has been chosen for the first site. Dr. Daniel Ngamije, the health minister for Rwanda, said the first facility will be built at the Kigali Special Economic Zone (KSEZ),…
Just one in every seven cases of COVID-19 infection on the African continent is diagnosed correctly, a trend that the World Health Organization hopes to reverse by applying a “ring strategy” approach to the outbreak in affected communities. The new approach is based on models used successfully to curb the…
A young child has died after contracting the Ebola virus in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the first such case since the last outbreak of the virus in the country was declared over in May. The Congolese Ministry of Health says the child died on Wednesday. Ebola was then confirmed…
World Health Organization leaders responded with shock and sorrow after an independent panel released an investigative report that found widespread sexual abuse committed by workers during the 2020 Ebola outbreak in the country’s east. Malick Coulibaly, a panel member, said the commission interviewed dozens of women who were offered work…
The World Health Organization issued new guidelines on air pollution Wednesday that dramatically reduce the levels of particulate matter (PM) and other pollutants linked to a range of diseases. These illnesses include heart disease, lung cancer, stroke, and respiratory diseases including asthma. “Since WHO’s last 2005 global update, there has…
An outbreak of bacterial meningitis has claimed at least 129 lives in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with health officials warning that so far, roughly half of the people who became ill have died. Congolese officials, alongside the World Health Organization, said they confirmed the spread of Neisseria meningitidis,…
The Indian Ocean nation of Mauritius recently touted the success of a COVID-19 vaccination program that, as of Monday, had reached 60% of all adults. The tourism board welcomed the news, calling it a milestone in the effort to reach herd immunity and “allowing the country to reopen to international…
Another variant of the coronavirus, reported in South Africa, is cause for concern among health experts who are monitoring its potential but say they need to continue gathering information. The C1.2 variant was first noted in May, according to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and its partners, which…
Authorities in Burkina Faso are monitoring a new case of suspected Ebola in West Africa. The country’s health ministry says a 22-year-old person is being treated at the Bogodogo University Hospital Center in Ouagadougou. They are isolated and receiving care while awaiting confirmation of any Ebola infection. The case points to the possibility…
The western African nation of Cote d’Ivoire has reported its first case of Ebola since 1994. The country’s ministry of health said the case was confirmed at the Institut Pasteur after samples were taken from a patient hospitalized in Abidjan. The unidentified person traveled to Abidjan from Guinea by road…