January 16, 2023
Africa: FAQ On Covid-19 Subvariant Xbb.1.5
Despite intensive public health efforts to grind the COVID-19 pandemic to a halt, the recent emergence of the highly transmissible, extensively drug-resistant and profoundly immune… Read more »
Africa: Strep A Cases Are Rising. We Must Remember Our Earliest Hygiene Lessons As Vaccine Trials Continue
Group A streptococci, also known as "strep A", were the first organisms ever identified to be the cause of a disease. Read more »
January 15, 2023
Africa: How to Treat Scars At Home - and Hopefully Make Them Disappear
Maybe you've had a skin cancer removed from your face or body. Perhaps you had an injury or accident and needed stitches. However you came by a cut on your skin, you probably want… Read more »
January 12, 2023
Africa: Sitting All Day Is Terrible for Your Health - Now, a New Study Finds a Relatively Easy Way to Counteract It
The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. Read more »
January 14, 2023
Africa: Why Cholera Continues to Threaten Many African Countries
Malawi is facing its worst cholera outbreak in two decades. The outbreak started early in 2022 and has, so far, resulted in over 18,000 cases and the loss of 750 lives. It's also… Read more »
January 12, 2023
South Africa: Pregnant Learners Need Creches and Compassion to Keep Them in School
After Boitumelo gave birth she decided not to go back to school. She assumed that, because she was now a mother, she would be barred from returning. Then she had a surprising… Read more »
Africa: Cancer Vaccine Trials Could Start in the in Autumn - UK Signs Deal With Biontech
The UK government recently announced that it is partnering with German firm BioNTech to test vaccines for cancer and other diseases. The project aims to build on the mRNA vaccine… Read more »
January 11, 2023
Africa: Speculum - the Creepy History of This Ancient Gynaecological Device and Why It's Still Feared
Women's health is in crisis. In many places, gynaecology waiting lists are rising or are even at record lengths. Read more »
Africa: Bivalent Covid Vaccines Have Now Been in Use for a Few Months - Here's How They're Stacking Up Against Omicron
Vaccines have played a major role in mitigating the harms of the COVID pandemic since their rollout began just over two years ago. They're estimated to have saved tens of millions… Read more »
Tanzania: Why Solar-Powered Cold Storage Could Be a Sustainable Solution to Tomato Harvest Waste #AfricaClimateHope
Feeding Africa's growing population is a big development challenge for governments, policy makers and agriculture experts. Adding to the challenge is the high level of food loss… Read more »
January 09, 2023
Africa: How Cancer Cells Move and Metastasize Is Influenced By the Fluids Surrounding Them - Understanding How Tumors Migrate Can Help Stop Their Spread
Cell migration, or how cells move in the body, is essential to both normal body function and disease progression. Cell movement is what allows body parts to grow in the right place… Read more »
January 10, 2023
Africa: People of Colour - There's a Bias in How Pictures Are Used to Depict Disease in Global Health Publications
Photography is a powerful tool in storytelling and scientific communication. But it can also cause harm when used unethically. Read more »
January 09, 2023
Africa: Long Covid - Here's What It's Like Trying to Access Healthcare for the Condition
It's estimated that 2.1 million people are currently living with long COVID in the UK. Symptoms can include breathlessness, fatigue, chest pains, loss of taste and smell, and… Read more »
January 08, 2023
Africa: HIV Remains a Leading Killer in Africa Despite Medical Breakthroughs - How to Eliminate It
About 38 million people around the world are living with HIV. About 70% of them live in Africa. This shows that there is no solution to the AIDS pandemic without a solution in… Read more »
January 06, 2023
Africa: Where Is the Next Covid Variant, Pi? a Virologist Explains Why Omicron Is Continuing to Dominate
The omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has now been around for more than a year. Before omicron became dominant, there had been a quick succession of… Read more »
January 05, 2023
Africa: Long Covid Stemmed From Mild Cases of Covid-19 in Most People, According to a New Multicountry Study
The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. Read more »
January 03, 2023
Africa: Fears About RSV, Flu and Winter Viruses Can Cause Parental Stress. Try These 4 Expert Tips to Balance Mental Wellness and Health Risks
Pediatric emergency departments and clinics have been overcrowded with the dramatic increase in child respiratory viruses, leaving many families anxious about caring for sick kids. Read more »
January 05, 2023
Africa: How Covid Can Disturb Your Sleep and Dreams - and What Could Help
By the end of 2022, more than 650 million COVID infections had been reported to the World Health Organization. With the true number likely much higher, and the tally increasing by… Read more »
January 03, 2023
Africa: Kick Up Your Heels - Ballroom Dancing Offers Benefits to the Aging Brain and Could Help Stave Off Dementia
The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. Read more »
Africa: Supporting a Child With Long Covid - Tips From Parents of Children Living With the Condition
Long COVID is the patient-preferred term used to describe symptoms lasting more than four weeks after a COVID-19 infection. Children and young people can also suffer from long… Read more »
December 29, 2022
Africa: Covid and Your Gut - How a Healthy Microbiome Can Reduce the Severity of Infection - and Vice Versa
A vast combination of microorganisms live in our gut, including bacteria, fungi and viruses. Collectively, we refer to this as the the microbiome. Read more »
December 28, 2022
Africa: Covid-19 in 2023 and Beyond - Why Virus Trends Are More Difficult to Predict Three Years On
In 2020, we knew very little about the novel virus that was to become known as COVID-19. Now, as we enter 2023, a search of Google Scholar produces around five million results… Read more »
December 22, 2022
Africa: Addicted to Chilli? It Might Help Us Regain Our Sense of Taste After Covid
The news of a hot chilli sauce shortages in the United States earlier this year - due to high temperatures and drought in agricultural regions - prompted warnings to stock up on… Read more »
Africa: Covid or the Common Cold? What to Do If You Have Symptoms This Christmas
There's a lot to be jolly about this Christmas. COVID has been significantly, although not completely, "defanged", thanks to vaccines and treatments. Christmas dos, nativity plays… Read more »
December 21, 2022
Africa: Covid Hit Companies Hard. Why Some Kept Their Sustainability Commitments, and Others Didn't
Covid-19 has had profound implications for the "role of business in society". One of them is the pandemic's effect on companies' sustainability strategies. These are efforts to… Read more »