December 18, 2023
Africa: Loneliness Is a Major Public Health Problem - and Young People Are Bearing the Brunt of It
Writing in the Week, journalist Theara Coleman has declared 2023 "the year of the loneliness epidemic". In May, the US surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, said loneliness posed a public… Read more »
December 17, 2023
Africa: Dermatologist Speaks Sunscreen, Even If You're Rich in Melanin
Sunburn is a sign that skin has experienced significant levels of damage. Ultraviolet light can change a person's DNA structure, which can lead to cancer. At the same time,… Read more »
December 13, 2023
Africa: We Followed 14 'Long Haulers' for 3 Months. Here's What They Told Us About Living With Long Covid
At least 65 million people around the world are estimated to have long COVID, which describes the continuation or development of symptoms at least three months after an initial… Read more »
Africa: Climate Change Risks Triggering a Spike in Infectious Disease Outbreaks - Three Reasons Why
Climate change is our planet's most immediate existential threat, and will likely only worsen for the foreseeable future. Read more »
December 05, 2023
Africa: Could Antivirals Reduce Your Risk of Long Covid? Where the Research Is Up to On Prevention and Treatment
Evidence is continuing to accumulate on the burden and frequency of chronic effects after a COVID infection, which fall under the umbrella term "long COVID". Read more »
November 28, 2023
Africa: Umaru Shehu - Nigerian Public Health Giant Who Played a Major Role in Polio Eradication
Professor Emeritus Umaru Shehu, who died on 2 October 2023, was born in Yerwa (Maiduguri), Nigeria, in 1930. Widely regarded as one of the country's early leaders in public health… Read more »
November 27, 2023
Africa: Stem Cell Therapy Shows Promise for Treating Multiple Sclerosis - New Study
Over 2 million people globally have multiple sclerosis (MS), a disease that affects the nervous system and can lead to problems moving, seeing and thinking. Read more »
November 26, 2023
Africa: How Worried Should We Be About the Pneumonia Outbreak in China?
Reports of a surge in pneumonia-like illness primarily affecting children in northern China have captured our attention. The last time we heard about a mysterious respiratory… Read more »
November 23, 2023
Africa: Drug Resistance May Make Common Infections Like Thrush Untreatable
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest global threats to health, food security and development. This month, The Conversation's experts explore how we got here and the… Read more »
November 22, 2023
Ghana: Patients' Beliefs About Illness Matter - The Case of Elephantiasis in Rural Ghana
Would you take medication for an illness you didn't believe you had? Or if you disagreed with healthcare workers about the cause of your condition? Read more »
November 21, 2023
Africa: No Compelling Evidence That Air Purifiers Prevent Respiratory Infections - New Study
The COVID pandemic led to many calls for improved indoor air quality with claims that doing so would reduce the risk of the virus spreading. But the real-world evidence to support… Read more »
Africa: How Do Viruses Get Into Cells? Their Infection Tactics Determine Whether They Can Jump Species or Set Off a Pandemic
COVID-19, flu, mpox, noroviral diarrhea: How do the viruses that cause these diseases actually infect you? Read more »
Africa: Groundbreaking Malaria Vaccines Developed, but Challenges Remain
The approval of two malaria vaccines - the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine in 2021 and the R21/Matrix-MTM vaccine in 2023 - will help control, and eventually help eradicate, a disease that… Read more »
November 20, 2023
Africa: Early Births - Between 34 and 37 Weeks - for Moms With Pre-Eclampsia Can Reduce Baby and Mother Deaths
About half a million babies die each year as a result of pre-eclampsia, an aggressive and potentially life-threatening problem in pregnancy. Approximately 46,000 women also die… Read more »
Africa: Antibiotic Resistance Causes More Deaths Than Malaria and HIV/Aids Combined
Each year antimicrobial resistance - the ability of microbes to survive agents designed to kill them - claims more lives than malaria and HIV/Aids combined. Africa bears the brunt… Read more »
November 17, 2023
Africa: The Silent Killer That Leads to 5 Million Deaths a Year
Microbes such as bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi form part of our everyday lives - they live in us, on us and around us. Read more »
November 16, 2023
Africa: Development Aid Cuts Will Hit Fragile Countries Hard, Could Fuel Violent Conflict
Fragile and least developed countries have had their development assistance cut drastically, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. For instance,… Read more »
Africa: There Are Too Few Toilets in Africa and It's a Public Health Hazard - How to Fix the Problem
Imagine you are miles from the nearest restroom, and nature's call is urgent - a situation that might raise a mild panic during a hike or at a music festival. Now, picture that… Read more »
November 15, 2023
Africa: Six African Countries Shows How Healthy Housing Saves Children's Lives
Housing is a critical social determinant of health. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines healthy housing as a shelter that supports physical, mental and social wellbeing. Read more »
November 13, 2023
South Africa: Bad Food Choices - Clearer Labels Aim to Help South Africans Pick Healthier Options
South Africans have a hard time figuring out which foods are unhealthy when they go shopping. But this is about to change. Read more »
November 06, 2023
Africa: What's Your Chronotype? Knowing Whether You're a Night Owl or an Early Bird Could Help You Do Better On Tests and Avoid Scams
Timing is everything. For early risers and late-nighters alike, listening to your internal clock may be the key to success. From the classroom to the courtroom and beyond, people… Read more »
November 02, 2023
South Africa: Bird Flu Could Be Eradicated By Editing the Genes of Chickens - Our Study Shows How
Recent advances in gene editing technology could potentially be used to create disease-resistant animals. This could curtail the spread of avian influenza, commonly known as bird… Read more »
October 30, 2023
Africa: Why Some People Got Blood Clots After the Astrazeneca Vaccine - New Clues
AstraZeneca in partnership with the University of Oxford developed one of the first vaccines against COVID. The vaccine, which used an adenovirus to smuggle instructions into human… Read more »
Africa: TB Vaccine - WHO Expert Explains Why It's Taken 100 Years for a Scientific Breakthrough, and Why It's Such a Big Deal
The BCG vaccine for TB has been used for 100 years. It is largely effective for children under five, but less so in older people and can't be used on patients who have certain… Read more »
Nigeria: Niger Delta Is Rich in Resources, but Environmental Destruction Is Pushing People Into Poverty
Nigeria's Niger Delta region is rich in natural resources. Its vast oil and gas deposits are the mainstay of the country's economy. Read more »