Feature Stories

Brazzaville – The cholera outbreak is significantly declining in Congo. No confirmed cases were reported between 15 and 16 October 2025. This progress is the result of strengthened response efforts led by the Ministry of Health and Population, with support from partners including World Health Organization (WHO).

Bulape ‒ Fifty-four-year-old Jacob Mukaba, who lost his wife recently to Ebola, is observing a 40-day mourning period during which he must not leave his home. This practice among the Kete community in Bulape, a locality in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Kasai Province and the epicentre of the ongoing Ebola outbreak—is working to the advantage of disease surveillance teams.

Kampala ‒ In an effort to protect populations often left behind in public health campaigns, Uganda is carrying out a community-focused drive to ensure extensive mpox vaccination coverage beyond the traditional health or public service facilities.

Yaoundé – At 14, Eugène learned he was HIV-positive. The diagnosis turned his adolescence upside down, marked by doubt, fear, and stigma. “At that age, you don’t understand everything, but you feel different. I was afraid of how others would see me, afraid of the future,” he confides. Now 20, he is a student at the Faculty of Education and advocates for self-acceptance and equitable access to reproductive health services for young people living with HIV.

Brazzaville – The Republic of Congo has stepped up measures to rapidly detect and respond to potential Ebola outbreak as neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo faces a new outbreak of the virus in Kasai Province in the central region of the country.

A rapid scale up of outbreak control measures in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has helped slow down the spread of the virus, with no new cases reported for 18 days as of 13 October 2025.

Abuja ‒ Nigeria has revitalized mental health policy and programmes in the last three years. Dr Tunde Massey-Ferguson Ojo, a psychiatrist, global mental health expert and National Mental Health Programme coordinator, is driving this progress. His guiding principle: “There is no health without mental health.”

Dr Ojo sheds more light on the country’s progress, why mental health response in emergencies is critical, and his vision is moving forward.

Kampala – Twenty-nine-year-old Aisha Nangobi is a midwife, a mother of two and a recent widow who has faced more adversity than most her age. Her husband, the first confirmed case in the recent Ebola virus disease outbreak in Uganda earlier in 2025, fell ill suddenly and died within ten days. “When I was told that there was an outbreak and that my husband had died of Ebola, it was really terrible to me,” says Nangobi. “Firstly, I lost my husband and secondly, he died of Ebola. Those two things were hard for me to handle.”

Goma – Every year on October 10, World Mental Health Day reminds us of the vital role mental health plays—especially in times of crisis. At Virunga General Referral Hospital in eastern DRC, clinical psychologist Annie Kahambu Kikoli has spent the past three years helping people heal. She shares her journey, the challenges she faces, and what keeps her going.

Kampala ‒ Uganda’s Ministry of Health, working with World Health Organization (WHO) and partners, has intensified surveillance, screening and undertaken contingency planning to mitigate the risk of cross-border transmission of Ebola virus disease. This comes as the Democratic Republic of the Congo enters its fifth week of Ebola outbreak response in Kasai Province in the central region of the country.