October 09, 2023
Uganda: Interview - a Simple Device Used After Birth Can Help Save Lives, Says Award-Winning Young Innovator
As a child growing up in the Ugandan capital of Kampala, Maureen Etuket used a screwdriver to dismantle electronic appliances and toy trucks. "I was around eight, nine years old,"… Read more »
July 31, 2023
South Africa: Growing the Beta Variant - Young Scientist Remembers the Day They Danced in the Lab
In a Durban laboratory in 2020, there was dancing and scientists jumping with joy when Dr Sandile Cele realised they had finally successfully "grown" the SARS-CoV-2 Beta variant.… Read more »
June 15, 2023
Africa: In-Depth - What It Means to Build Genomics Capacity in Africa
South African scientists - notably, the team headed by Professor Tulio de Oliveira - were thrown into the global spotlight through their pivotal role in detecting and monitoring… Read more »
April 24, 2023
South Africa: Can Digital Adherence Technologies Help With Adherence to HIV Medicines?
Around 7.8 million people were living with HIV in South Africa in 2022, of which 5.7 million were taking antiretroviral treatment. People living with HIV who take antiretroviral… Read more »
March 24, 2023
South Africa: Face to Face - Prof Muki Shey On His Journey From Cameroon to Doing Cutting-Edge TB Research
It was his own background including childhood sickness that inflamed Professor Muki Shey's passion for finding health solutions in resource-constrained settings. Read more »
November 24, 2022
South Africa: New Resistance Tests Set to Improve TB Treatment
Some strains of the tuberculosis (TB) bacterium have mutated to become resistant to some of the drugs commonly used to treat TB. Accordingly, one of the first questions to ask when… Read more »
November 15, 2022
Africa: TB Treatment Can Be Cut to Two Months for Some, Finds Landmark Study
Some cases of tuberculosis (TB) can be successfully treated in as little as two months - a third of the current standard of six months in South Africa and most other countries.… Read more »
November 10, 2022
South Africa: Breathing Easier - How Madwaleni Hospital Started Producing Its Own Oxygen
As the strain on the Eastern Cape's oxygen supply increased during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, health authorities often had to intervene and use their own trucks… Read more »
October 21, 2022
South Africa: Digital X-Rays Boosting TB Diagnosis, Assessment Finds
TB diagnosis usually starts with asking someone whether they have any of the classic symptoms of TB (coughing, fever, loss of weight, and drenching night sweats in adults).… Read more »
October 10, 2022
South Africa: Interview - Prof Wendy Stevens On Following the Science, Even If It Means Swimming Against the Stream
When Wendy Stevens' mother succumbed to breast cancer in 2020, she left a series of letters to her four children that she had penned during her illness. Read more »
September 26, 2022
South Africa: Rural Doctor of the Year - Craig Parker - the Doctor-Engineer Who Created a Covid Lifeline for Rural Areas
Dr Craig Parker's oxygen device - the OxERA - saved hundreds of lives during COVID-19, particularly around the rural Eastern Cape. Now, the device has earned a global nod as it was… Read more »
September 20, 2022
South Africa: From Cameroonian Village to Stellenbosch Professor - Top TB Researcher Reflects On a Remarkable Journey
In 2004, Novel Chegou left his home country, Cameroon, in search of a better life in South Africa. With high hopes and not much money, he sold African crafts - beads, masks, and… Read more »
May 18, 2022
Africa: Are Oral Swabs the Future of TB Testing?
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that every year 40% of people who fall ill with tuberculosis (TB) globally are not diagnosed. There is thus an urgent need for faster,… Read more »