Feature Stories

Cotonou ‒ Throughout her ten years as a midwife, Françoise Kouveglo, who works at Houenoussou Health Centre in Cotonou, Benin, has witnessed some highly emotional moments in the delivery room. “Giving birth is a deeply powerful moment with lots of strong sensations, but what stands out for me is to make sure that the baby is born safely and that both mother and baby are in good health,” she says.

Brazzaville - Mavie Ndama is a phlebotomist at the National Blood Transfusion Centre in Brazzaville, the Republic of the Congo. She has spent years working at blood donation drives and transfusion stations, drawing blood from countless donors. Yet, despite her vital role in the blood donation process, she had never found the courage to donate blood herself.

Mbabane – Marcia Motsa, a human-resources professional and mother of two, from Manzini, Eswatini, started her journey with blood donation during high school, when the local blood bank visited and provided detailed information about the process. Although she stopped donating after school as work and family shifted her focus, in 2023 her commitment was reignited by a presentation given by the Ministry of Health at her workplace. 

Dar es Salam – “I remember hearing the news that I was infected with Marburg like it happened yesterday. It was one of the most challenging periods for me,” recalls Dr Mahona Jumanne Ndulu, who works at Bukoba Regional Referral Hospital in Tanzania’s Kagera region in the north. 

A year since the Marburg Virus Disease (Marburg) outbreak in Tanzania was declared over in June 2023, memories of the disease, which was controlled in a record 90 days, remain fresh in the minds of survivors.

Pretoria ‒ Tobacco consumption in Africa presents complex public health, economic and environmental challenges and requires a multisectoral approach to prevention and control. Professor Lekan Ayo-Yusuf of the Africa Centre for Tobacco Industry Monitoring and Policy Research (ATIM) at the University of Pretoria discusses tobacco control measures in Africa. 

Lilongwe ‒ Shombe Banda from Kasungu District in Central Malawi was a tobacco farmer for 35 years. He recently switched to growing other crops, such as soya beans, groundnuts and maize. His motivation to change was mostly economic, he says.