Feature Stories

Nairobi – Five years ago, Esther Omagwa was one of only two nurses at the Railways Health Centre in Kisumu County, western Kenya. The immense workload often exhausted her, forcing her to turn away clients.

Today, the scene at the community health centre is remarkably different. With the nursing staff now expanded to a team of four, Omagwa and her colleagues are better equipped to deal with the load.

Kigali - Esther Uwababyeyi's journey with HIV began at a young age. "Since the age of three, I've been on HIV treatment,” she says. Born in 2002, Uwababyeyi was infected during her mother’s pregnancy, a time when access to HIV treatment for women living with HIV was only just starting to improve. Now 22 years old and living in Rwanda’s Rwamagana district in the Eastern Province, she has benefitted greatly from the advancements in country’s HIV treatment programme over the years.

Malabo – In Equatorial Guinea, where over 6% of the population lives with HIV, access to antiretroviral (ARV) treatment was limited to just two centres in the provincial capitals of Malabo and Bata until 2017. This restricted access caused difficulties in patient follow-up and placed significant strain on health services.

Brazzaville – Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the top global public health and development threats. About4.71 million deaths were linked to bacterial AMR in 2021 alone, with sub-Saharan Africa accounting for highest mortality rates.

Bujumbura – The biomedical laboratory is a critical component of outbreak response efforts. In Burundi, it serves as a cornerstone in addressing the current mpox outbreak. When the outbreak was declared on 25 July, the country faced a shortage of qualified staff to manage the laboratory pillar effectively. As of 17 November, Burundi is the second most affected country in the African Region, with 2003 confirmed mpox cases. 

Windhoek – “The injury pattern did not match the father's account, so I involved a social worker,” recounts Julia Kaiyamo, a doctor at Katutura Health Centre in Windhoek, Namibia, of a recent case she treated. Kaiyamo’s assessment was informed by training she received on addressing child maltreatment.

Abuja – Borno state, in northeastern Nigeria, has been severely impacted by recent floods, which have displaced more than 400 000 people and led to 37 deaths. The flooding, mostly affecting the municipal area of Maiduguri, the state’s capital, has also caused significant damage to agricultural land and infrastructure, including health facilities. Almost 90 000 vulnerable people have been forced to take shelter in temporary camps with limited access to food, clean water and health services.