Ethiopia: Ethiopia Must Do More to Stop Recurring Chikungunya Outbreaks

Ethiopia's second largest city, Dire Dawa, is dealing with a chikungunya fever outbreak. Around 20,000 cases of the mosquito-borne viral infection have been reported since the… Read more »

Kenya: Bad Habits Drive Health Risks Among Kenya's Urban Poor

There's a rise of cardiovascular diseases in developing countries which is linked to changes in diet, physical activity and obesity. Read more »

Africa: Why Knowing What Black Mamba Venom Does to the Human Body Is Crucial

Black mambas are extremely dangerous reptiles - in fact, many consider the species to be one of the world's deadliest snakes. They are found in southern and eastern Africa, and are… Read more »

South Africa: Rebuilding Health Systems From the Bottom Up - A Case Study

The recent publication of the National Health Insurance Bill in South Africa has provoked vigorous debate. Many question whether the proposed reforms contained in the Bill offer… Read more »

Africa: What Works to Stop Gender-Based Violence and What Doesn't

Globally, one in three adolescent girls and young women experience physical, psychological or sexual intimate partner violence or sexual violence by a non-partner. Boys and young… Read more »

South Africa: Remembering David Sanders - a Humble, Visionary Public Health Activist

The sudden death of public health scholar Professor David Sanders has left people across the globe shocked and with a deep sense of loss. David was still, at the age of 74,… Read more »

Congo-Kinshasa: Ebola - A Forgotten Conflict Became a Danger to World Health

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recognised the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Ebola epidemic as a "public health emergency of international concern". Read more »

Africa: Why Living in a Poor Country Means You Have Bad Food Choices

Poor diets are the number one risk factor in the global burden of disease: they account for one in five deaths globally. Read more »

South Africa: Taxpayers Will Bear the Brunt of National Health Insurance

South Africa's government recently released the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill whose aim is to extend universal healthcare to all South Africans. Read more »

Congo-Kinshasa: How Outbreaks Like Ebola Extract Huge Social and Economic Costs

Epidemics, or infectious disease outbreaks, are invariably disruptive and tend to have far-reaching effects on individuals and communities. Humanity has endured a myriad of… Read more »

Congo-Kinshasa: Why the Ebola Outbreak Was Declared a Global Emergency and Why It Matters

In mid-July the WHO declared the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. At the time over 2000 cases had been… Read more »

South Africa: Why Plans for Universal Healthcare Are Pie in the Sky

Performance in South Africa's two tier health system - the public and the private - has been worsening for some time. Politicians have attempted to attribute the decline in the… Read more »

Africa: Why It's Proving Hard to Eliminate the Eye Disease Trachoma By 2020

Trachoma is a disease that can cause blindness and visual impairment in about 1.9 million people every year. Poor communities in rural areas of countries in Africa, Central and… Read more »

Africa: Global Health Still Mimics Colonial Ways - Here's How to Break the Pattern

Imagine this scenario. A couple of newly minted Master of Public Health graduates from an African university, say in Rwanda, land in Washington DC for a 2-week visit. They visit a… Read more »

Congo-Kinshasa: Tshisekedi Has Taken Over Ebola Response. How He Can Make a Difference

The most recent Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) rages on. There's been a continued increase in the number of new cases for a year since the outbreak… Read more »

Africa: How to Manage in a Crisis - Lessons From the West Africa Ebola Outbreak

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is currently grappling with the world's second largest Ebola outbreak. More than 1,800 people have died and 2,600 infections have been… Read more »

South Africa: Gender Equality At Home Takes a Hit When Children Arrive

Laurie DeRose, Georgetown University Read more »

Uganda: The Uganda Vaccine Trial - How African Researchers Are Tackling Ebola

In August 2015 Dr Sakoba Keita, who led the Ebola response in Guinea during the largest Ebola outbreak the world has ever seen, declared: Read more »

Kenya: Providing Nairobi's Mothers With Subsidised Day-Care Will Benefit Everyone

One of the major challenges that faces mothers who work is how to ensure their children are properly cared for while they are away. Read more »

Africa: Subtle Abuse Affects Women During Childbirth

Stripping women of dignity and respect during childbirth is not only a violation of human rights. It also affects the health of women and babies. It's time to recognise the urgency… Read more »

South Africa: South Africa's Healthcare System Can't Afford to Ignore Migration

Reflecting global trends, most migration in South Africa is internal - people moving between the country's different provinces. South Africa is also home to a much smaller… Read more »

Africa: Special Edition - What Are the Symptoms and Effects of Ebola?

Janusz Paweska, head of the Centre for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa, discusses the terrible physical effects… Read more »

Southern Africa: Migration and Health - What Region Needs to Do to Plug the Gaps

A global commission on health and migration has released its report on how health care systems fail migrants. The aim is to provide the basis for evidence-based approaches to… Read more »

Kenya: Lessons On How to Boost Breastfeeding Rates

Kenya has, over the past two decades, made tremendous achievements in promoting breastfeeding. The number of babies who were exclusively breastfed rose from just 13% in 2003 to… Read more »

Southern Africa: Region Needs Better Health Care for Women and Girls On the Move

Women are on the move throughout southern Africa. They move within the countries they were born in, or cross borders in the region. Although more men than women migrate the data… Read more »