Feature Stories

The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, just concluded a week-long visit to Ethiopia to acknowledge the country’s efforts to sustain essential health services alongside the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, learn about the progress and challenges in the health response to the humanitarian situation in northern Ethiopia, and reaffirm WHO’s commitment to support these efforts. 

Imam El hadj Moussa Soumahoro wears a serious face. He has just ended a morning sermon that concluded with Ebola preventive messages and the importance of vaccination against the virus that recently re-emerged in Guinea for the first time since the 2014–2016 outbreak. Soumahoro has joined the fight against the disease.

Up to 55 000 premature deaths can be saved in Accra, one of Africa’s fastest-growing cities, through sustainable modes of transport, a new report by the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Urban Health Initiative has found.

A few days after he referred a patient from his clinic to the regional hospital, Emmanuel Goepogui, a private practitioner in N’Zerekore prefecture in south-eastern Guinea, received a visit by a community disease surveillance team. “They came to inform me that my patient had tested positive for Ebola and that I was a direct contact,” he says.

Studies show that the Ebola virus can persist in bodily fluids – such as semen and breast milk – of survivors for months. The recent resurgence of Ebola in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been linked to bodily fluids of survivors.

In the fulfilness of time, Madam Amie Jobe received her heart’s desire- a lifesaving COVID-19 vaccine, at Kanifing Hospital on 19 March 2021. She commands a section of women in politics and she is a businesswoman in Bakau area, Western Region.

Accra, 18 March 2021 – COVID-19 vaccination in Africa is gathering pace, with more than 7 million doses so far administered. But the continent received vaccines later than other regions of the world and in limited quantity. A few weeks after launching vaccinations, some countries are nearly exhausting their initial supplies. Professor William Ampofo, chairperson of the African Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative, discusses vaccine manufacturing in Africa.

What is the current vaccine manufacturing capacity in Africa?

Abuja, 15 March 2021 – After Yunusa Thairu became one of Nigeria’s earliest COVID-19 vaccine recipients, his mother received a text message that her son had taken the vaccine and something bad might happen to him.

“She got super worried and gave me a call,” the doctor recalls. “I had to drive down to go see and assure her that I am fine, [that] there is nothing wrong with taking the vaccine. Upon seeing how healthy I was, she agreed to take the vaccine when it is available.”

Abuja, 15 March 2021 – After Yunusa Thairu became one of Nigeria’s earliest vaccination recipients, his mother received a text message that her son had taken the COVID-19 vaccine and something bad might happen to him. 

“She got super worried and gave me a call,” the doctor recalls. “I had to drive down to go see and assure her that I am fine, [that] there is nothing wrong with taking the vaccine. Upon seeing how healthy I was, she agreed to take the vaccine when it is available.”

The Gambia through His Excellence the President recently launched the momentous COVID-19 vaccination campaign. Since the launch on the 10th of March 2021, health workers among other prioritized groups are getting vaccinated.