(HealthDay)—In Africa, only 4% of people have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Leaders had once hoped to have 60% of people living on the continent vaccinated this year. That now appears unlikely. The World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners…
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Why lockdown in Africa does not work as a first COVID-19 pandemic response
In an African pandemic it is more productive to consider lockdowns after using other non-medical measures first, especially in countries with high levels of poverty and corruption, says Prof. Nicholas Ngepah, a Professor of Economics at the University of Johannesburg…
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Pfizer study deals new blow to South Africa's vaccine hopes
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Scientists will meet on Thursday to advise South Africa’s government on its next steps after a study suggested the dominant local coronavirus variant may reduce antibody protection from Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine by two-thirds.FILE PHOTO: A woman holds…
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South Africa testing whether vaccines work against variant
Scientists in South Africa are urgently testing to see if the vaccines for COVID-19 will be effective against the country’s variant virus. The genomic studies come as Britain’s health minister, Matt Hancock, and other experts in the U.K. have said…
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Here’s where efforts to end HIV in eastern and southern Africa must focus
The World AIDS Day commemoration of 2020 took place in the midst of a global pandemic. It served as another reminder that people are not only susceptible to pathogens, but to the political, social and economic inequities that determine vulnerability…
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A hard journey to a future free of hepatitis in Africa
The World Health Organization has announced additional efforts to eliminate hepatitis by 2030. The overall strategy calls for the prevention of new infections through universal implementation of the hepatitis B birth-dose vaccine. It also calls for full vaccine coverage, and…
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Concern over rapid rise in COVID-19 cases in South Africa
There is growing concern that South Africa’s hospitals may not be able to cope with the numbers of COVID-19 patients expected in the next two months. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in South Africa continues to surge, accounting for…
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Africa starts opening airspace even as Covid-19 cases surge
As Covid-19 cases surged in many parts of the world, the island nation of the Seychelles was looking good: 70-plus straight days without a single infection. Then the planes arrived. Two chartered Air Seychelles flights carrying more than 200 passengers…
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Community-based counselors help mitigate grief among children orphaned in East Africa
A first-of-its-kind clinical trial involving more than 600 children in Kenya and Tanzania, in which community members were trained to deliver mental health treatment, showed improvement in participants’ trauma-related symptoms up to a year after receiving therapy, new research shows….
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