Programmes and Clusters News

24 February 2022 | Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccines

New push to drive up Africa’s COVID-19 vaccination

One year since the COVAX Facility delivered the first COVID-19 vaccines to Africa, around 400 million doses have been administered – the region’s largest ever vaccine rollout in a single year. However, vaccination rates in the continent are the lowest in the world. To help bolster uptake, World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and partners are supporting mass vaccination campaigns in 10 priority countries to reach 100 million people by the end of April 2022.

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22 February 2022 | Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccines

Ramping up COVID-19 vaccination among Kenya’s hard-to-reach communities

When Kenya’s Ministry of Health set its sights on reaching 10 million people with the COVID-19 vaccination by the end of 2021, many people like Lilian Anyango were not afraid of the myths circulating about the harm it could cause.

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17 February 2022 | Polio

Malawi declares polio outbreak

Brazzaville/Lilongwe – The health authorities in Malawi have declared an outbreak of wild poliovirus type 1 after a case was detected in a young child in the capital Lilongwe. This is the first case of wild poliovirus in…

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15 February 2022 | Cancer

Towards early cancer diagnosis in Senegal

Asma* recalls the long journeys between her parents’ home in Mbour, a coastal city in western Senegal, and the Aristide Le Dantec Hospital in the capital Dakar, where she was being treated for leukaemia. It was a journey she came to know by heart. Diagnosed at age 16, she spent three long years in intensive treatment, followed by another five years of monitoring for any potentially life-threatening relapse.

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10 February 2022 | Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccines

Africa on track to control COVID-19 pandemic in 2022

Almost two years after Africa identified its first case of COVID-19 (14 February 2020), the World Health Organization (WHO) finds that, if current trends continue, the continent can control the pandemic in 2022. However, WHO warned that continued vigilance is key.

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3 February 2022 | Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccines

Africa needs to ramp up COVID-19 vaccination six-fold 

Although COVID-19 vaccine supplies to Africa have risen significantly, the continent is struggling to expand rollout, with only 11% of the population fully vaccinated. The vaccination rate needs to increase six times if the continent is to meet the 70% target set for the middle of this year. The World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and partners are launching a new initiative aimed at resolving bottlenecks.

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2 February 2022 | Neglected Tropical Diseases

Why do neglected tropical diseases suffer low priority?

Neglected tropical diseases affect millions of people across Africa, yet the efforts to eliminate them and alleviate the suffering they cause receive little national attention. Professor Nicholas Midzi, an expert in preventive chemotherapy of neglected tropical diseases and the Director of Zimbabwe’s National Institute of Health Research, analyses factors contributing to low priority to these diseases and how to reverse the trend.

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1 February 2022 | Neglected Tropical Diseases

Improving treatment of neglected diseases

Preventive treatment of neglected tropical diseases (NTD) has saved many lives across Africa. However, obstacles persist as these diseases often affect impoverished communities in rural areas, conflict zones and hard-to-reach regions. These diseases are also almost absent from the global health agenda. Dr Paul Emerson, Director of the Atlanta-based International Trachoma Initiative, discusses ways to improve treatment and apply lessons for effective prevention and control.

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