Ministry of Health and Development partners tour Ebola Treatment Units to strengthen response preparedness in the country

WHO and partners tour Ebola Treatment Centers in Uganda

The Ministry of Health in Uganda in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) organized a guided tour for development partners to the Entebbe and Mulago Ebola Treatment Units (ETU) to assess the state and operation of the centers.

The guided tour involved officials from the Ministry of Health, WHO, and Ambassadors from the different diplomatic corps, including the embassies of the United States, the Norwegian government, Ireland and the British High Commission in Uganda.

Progress in polio eradication in Africa

Image courtesy of Rotary International

Abuja – The African region has made significant strides in the fight against polio, reaching a monumental achievement in August 2020 when the region was certified as free of indigenous wild polio after eliminating all forms of wild poliovirus. Professor Tunji Funsho, chair of Rotary’s Nigeria National PolioPlus Committee, discusses the milestones and challenges in the polio fight.

What are the major highlights of the decades-long polio fight in Africa?

Expanding treatment of mental illness in rural Sierra Leone

Safiatu using her sewing skills and the machine provided to her by the Mental Health Coalition of Sierra Leone to generate income
Living with mental illness has been a harrowing ordeal for Safiatu Kondeh. The 34-year-old, who lives in Kabala, northern Sierra Leone, with her mother and two children, has had to endure conditions almost worse than the disease.

COVID-19 vaccination roll-out stagnates in Africa

COVID-19 vaccination roll-out stagnates in Africa
COVID-19 vaccination coverage has stagnated in half of African countries, while the number of doses administered monthly declined by over 50% between July and September, a World Health Organization (WHO) analysis finds.

Redefining mental healthcare in Ghana

Redefining mental healthcare in Ghana
Ghana launched the Director General’s Special Initiative for Mental Health in July 2022, with the aim to improve access to integrated quality person-centred mental health care for an additional 5.2 million Ghanaians

Moving towards zero Malaria in Zanzibar

Photo of a mother and child in a treated mosquito bed net

Zanzibar - The prevalence rate of malaria in Zanzibar is currently below one percent--the lowest in Tanzania and in the Eastern and Central Africa. The result is one the best news from the review conducted in September 2022 by different stakeholders, including Government and development partners to document implementation of the Zanzibar Malaria Strategic Plan (MSP).

Self-care empowers women to manage their sexual and reproductive health

A mother at an IDP camp

Abuja, 18 October, 2022 - Living at the Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDPs) camp in Damagaza in Abuja, 20- years old Anifa Tsani, a mother of one, is glad she can now make informed choices on her sexual and reproductive health.

She started living in the camp at a very young age and married into the same environment where she barely had enough food to eat. 

‘The day COVID came into our house’

Elna Christiana Rooi chose to self-medicate at home when she tested positive for COVID

GOBABIS- As she reflects on the havoc the Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 had wrecked in the Omaheke region over a year ago, 46-year-old Elna Christiana Rooi’s tears flow freely down her face. 

Rooi lost her life-time partner, who was also the father of her children- and sole breadwinner to COVID-19  in May of 2021. She believes the outcome could have been different if they had sought medical attention sooner. 

“To be honest we were very scared of going to the hospital because most of the people who went there did not come out alive,” says Rooi.