Photo Stories

Active case-finding helps to curb Zambia cholera outbreak

Lusaka ‒ Zambia declared a cholera outbreak in October 2023. Three months later, cases began to decline as response efforts were strengthened through a concerted push by the national health authorities with support from international and local partners, frontline health workers and community-based volunteers. 

Birth plan helps reduce maternal deaths in Cote d'Ivoire

Bouake – In Cote d'Ivoire, in 2017, the maternal mortality rate was 614 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, a long way from the target of 140 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births expected by 2030. Gbeke is one of the health regions with one of the highest mortality rates in the country.

Faced with these maternal deaths, most of which are preventable, the Ivorian health authorities have approached the World Health Organization (WHO) for technical and financial assistance to reverse the trend.

Halting cholera in Democratic Republic of Congo displacement site

Goma –  More than 6 million people have been displaced by recurrent armed violence and insecurity in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since the beginning of 2023, violence has escalated in six provinces – Ituri, Kasai, Mai-Ndombe, North Kivu, South Kivu, and Tshopo – forcing nearly one million people to flee their homes. 

Uganda records significant reduction in new HIV infections among newborns

Kampala ‒ In Uganda, women are disproportionately affected by HIV. Out of 1.4 million people living with the disease, 860 000 are women and 80 000 are children.

As part of the drive to reduce the number of babies born with HIV, Uganda has a robust prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programme. It involves following up women of reproductive age living with, or at risk of acquiring, HIV from their reproductive years, throughout pregnancy and to the end of the breastfeeding period.

Addressing the challenge of antimicrobial resistance in Ethiopia

Addis Ababa ‒ Recent disease surveillance findings from more than 4000 health centres across Ethiopia have shown a rising trend in cases of antimicrobial resistance, which occurs when pathogens change over time and no longer respond to medicines. For instance, resistance by the bacteria that causes typhoid surged nearly nine-fold to 87% of cases in 2019 from 10% in 2006. Equally, strains of infection-causing E. coli bacteria are showing increasing resistance to stronger antibiotics.