As the world waits for additional guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO) on the fast-moving coronavirus outbreak centered in China, the number of cases continued to mount – as did concerns over the African continent, with its close ties to Beijing. “Has Ethiopian Airlines started screening passengers flying from…
Authorities in China say dozens of new cases of a coronavirus outbreak were reported over the weekend, with 136 new cases in Wuhan where the severe respiratory illness began, bringing that total to 198 including three fatalities. Health officials also reported new cases in Beijing and Shenzhen districts, adding to…
President Macky Sall of Senegal and his Ugandan counterpart, Yoweri Museveni, are among African heads of state participating in a conference on counterfeit medications hosted by President Faure Gnassingbé of Togo. The two-day conference runs through Saturday and is expected to lead to a “Lomé Initiative” to end the illegal…
With the new year, the World Health Organization has released a list of its top priorities for 2020. They include a number of concerns with special resonance on the African continent, including the need to understand that the climate crisis is a health crisis, and the need to address the…
The World Health Organization says more than 6,000 people have died from measles in Democratic Republic of Congo, during an outbreak that has seen some 310,000 suspected cases reported since the beginning of 2019. “We are doing our utmost to bring this epidemic under control,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO…
There is both good and bad news on the Ebola front from Democratic Republic of Congo, where health officials report a full three weeks has gone by with no new cases in Beni – the health zone that was an early epicenter of the outbreak and has seen 461 fatalities….
There are disappointing trends in the Ebola fight in Democratic Republic of Congo, where an uptick in reported cases and increased attacks by extremists in the affected eastern provinces dampen optimism that health workers are gaining ground. CMRE, the Congolese agency overseeing the Ebola response, listed five health zones Sunday…
Researchers in the United States say they’ve found a link between breast cancer risk and the use of hair dyes and straighteners, especially among African American women. The National Institutes of Health study, published in the International Journal of Cancer, was drawn from data on 46,709 women enrolled in the Sister…
The United Nations said Friday that the situation in Democratic Republic of Congo, where more Ebola response workers were killed in attacks this week in and around Beni, has become untenable for civilians and the health and humanitarian aid workers seeking to help them. Armed groups have been targeting civilians…
Last week brought a landmark agreement between the World Health Organisation and the African Union, designed to help the continent push towards the goal of universal healthcare. Under the terms of the agreement, inked at the WHO’s headquarters in Geneva, the international organisation will provide specialist support to Africa’s medical…
Millions of Ethiopians are exposed to fluorosis, a bone disease caused by drinking Rift Valley water tainted with high levels of naturally occurring fluoride. Now scientists say they have a solution, and they found it in another type of abundant mineral in the region called zeolites. On Saturday, the researchers…
Fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo has interfered again with response to the Ebola crisis in affected regions in the country’s east, with World Health Organization (WHO) officials warning that the violence compromises the progress made in recent months. “Following another senseless attack on civilians in eastern DRC on…
South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) assured the public Thursday that there are no cases of Ebola within the nation and it is not testing for any cases in neighboring countries, following miscommunication over an Ebola drill at a Lesotho border crossing. “The NICD houses the only biosafety…
Scientists working with Abbott Laboratories in the United States say they’ve discovered a new strain of HIV, one that took nearly four decades to confirm. That’s because researchers needed to verify three occurrences of the unusual strain before they were able to report that it was, indeed, a separate HIV…
Recent flooding has brought disaster to parts of Somalia, with heavy Deyr-season rains sending the Shabelle and Juba rivers over their banks and forcing some 273,000 people from their homes in the southern part of the nation. That’s raised fears of malaria and other disease outbreaks in the affected regions….