Featured news

Namudu Kareen*, 30, an anti-tobacco advocate in Uganda, was forced to face up to the impact of smoking on her health when her damaged lungs could not supply the necessary oxygen she needed after undergoing surgery in 2020. She needed a ventilator, a machine to help her breathe. The eldest of five children, she stopped smoking a year later and committed to encouraging others to follow suit.

In Guinea, around 30 health centres offer free cervical cancer screening services, giving thousands of women the chance of early detection of the disease, and appropriate treatment.

Attending a health centre was an “unattainable luxury” after the Batsirai and Emnati cyclones hit Madagascar’s south-eastern Vatovavy region in February 2022, cutting off any access to care for Toky Rabemaharo and his community.

Hammanskraal resident Tebogo Hlongwane was terrified when she took her three-year-old son, Agisang, to the emergency room at Jubilee District Hospital.

With its mountainous terrain and use of donkeys and horses as primary modes of transport, Berea Hospital nurse Sello Ramakanate says the consequent high incidence of traumatic brain injuries in Lesotho is compounded by limited critical care, pushing up deaths rates.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa this week inaugurated the first cohort of candidates of the Mwele Malecela Mentorship (MMM) Programme for Women in Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), established in 2022 in honour of the visionary behind the 2030 WHO road map for NTDs, and one of Africa’s most respected scientists.