Feature Stories

An age-old social belief that “what goes on under the cloth should remain under the cloth” is killing women in Sierra Leone.

A traumatic motor accident marked a turning point for Mariama Issifu. It was during treatment for her injuries that the 37-year-old teacher was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

In a previous stint as a chemistry teacher Dr Gladys Mwiti could not help but notice flagging performance among her students. She would later discover that the underachievement was largely due to unresolved trauma from poverty, domestic violence and abuse.

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, has played a critical role in helping African countries secure lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines. It has also supported national efforts to maintain vaccination campaigns for other vaccine-preventable diseases during the pandemic.

“The vaccine at all costs to survive the COVID-19 pandemic.” This is the credo of Justine Rasoanindrina, a grandmother of eight Ambatondrazaka district, more than 270 km from Madagascar’s capital, Antananarivo.

In 2018, World Health Organization (WHO), working with the Democratic Republic of the Congo health authorities and other health partners, set up a programme to monitor the health of Ebola survivors and support them in their recovery.

In her small office at University Clinics of Kinshasa, nurse Agnès Bisilwala has her eyes trained on a row of large gas cylinders. “In the past, three or four days could go by without enough medical oxygen for our COVID-19 patients in intensive care,” she says. “Many of them were unable to maintain their oxygenation and succumbed to the virus.”

Alioune Samb works as a butcher at the bustling Grand Dakar market in the heart of the Senegalese capital. “Before, we weren’t conscious of the potential dangers of our behaviours and the poor sanitation of the market,” he admits.

Beatrice Banya of Bong County, Liberia, knew that something was wrong. For over two years, the 34-year-old mother of two had been noticing her urination patterns changing. Hospital after hospital failed to provide relief until, finally, a nurse at CB Dunbar Hospital encouraged her to undergo a screening for cervical cancer.

As one of the first-ever female urologist surgeons in sub-Saharan Africa, Dr Médina NDoye regularly faces students’ astonishment at her choice to embrace a “male speciality”.