The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), working with a team of researchers including those at Kenema Government Hospital in Sierra Leone, will spend the next five years studying the survivors of Ebola and Lassa virus outbreaks to better understand how to protect others in the future. “These are very severe diseases,…
Dangerously high levels of mercury and a related toxin are pervasive in rivers and soils near artisanal gold mines in Senegal, according to a new study from Duke University. “Nearly every sample we collected from in and around four mining villages contained mercury concentrations higher than regulatory standards set by…
African health advocacy organizations have joined in a global campaign against the Heineken beverage company’s new partnership with The Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The Dutch company’s announcement came during the World Economic Forum in Davos, as Heineken promised to share its expertise in logistics and supply…
The Government of Guinea is on the growing list of African countries taking action to ban or remove recalled Lactalis dairy products, as the salmonella contamination crisis deepens for the France-based firm. Officials with the health and commerce ministries in Conakry recalled product lines and asked anyone still holding onto…
More than 60 people have died from Listeria infections in South Africa in what is now believed to be the largest such outbreak ever recorded, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday. Some 750 cases have been reported in an outbreak that began December 5, surpassing the 147 cases reported…
Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) say they’ve made promising breakthroughs in understanding how a treatment for the deadly Marburg virus might work. The team led by Erica Ollmann Saphire, a TSRI professor and senior author of the study, mapped the Marburg virus structure using high-resolution imaging to better…
Kenya on Thursday became the latest African nation to ban the use of shisha, an addictive and sweetly flavored tobacco smoked while using a water or hookah pipe. Dr. Cleopa Mailu of the country’s Ministry of Health issued the new control measures, which cover both the use and sale of…
About 160 people die of rabies infection each day, according to 2015 data – almost all of them from dog bites, and almost all of them children in Africa and Asia. The United Nations considers rabies a neglected tropical disease, and its eradication is a health priority of the UN…
In parts of Africa, patients who can’t pay their medical bills are detained and abused by the same health care staff and centers where they sought treatment in what advocates say is a clear violation of their human rights. That’s according to a new report from Chatham House in the…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
On World AIDS Day the United Nations says there’s been much progress to celebrate, but success in meeting global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that target the end of AIDS by 2030 will need more effort – and there remains much at stake for Africa’s young populations. The UN Children’s Fund…
The vast majority of all malaria cases reported to the World Health Organization in 2016 arise from sub-Saharan Africa, according to an annual WHO report released Wednesday. Just 15 countries, all in the region except for India, account for 80 percent of the global malaria burden. There are overall positive…
Researchers studying African bonobo populations in the Congo Basin say they’ve discovered a new malaria parasite that’s specific to their geography and species – with potential implications for human health, because the newly discovered Plasmodium lomamiensis is closely related to a parasite known to cause malaria infections in people. Dr….
The World Health Organization issued new guidelines on Tuesday for antibiotic use in food-producing animals, and points to Namibia as a successful model for raising livestock without them. The new guidelines are part of an overall effort to combat the rise of antibiotic resistance, since food animals are a key…
The World Bank says $5 million in emergency funding will help Madagascar finance the response to the island nation’s plague outbreak, as the death toll has reached at least 127 victims there – and threatens to spread to neighboring nations. More than 1,800 suspected cases have been reported since August…
The World Health Organization director general rescinded his decision to make President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe a WHO goodwill health ambassador on Sunday, following international outcry about Mugabe being an appropriate choice for the role. “Over the last few days, I have reflected on my appointment of H.E. President Robert…