Feature Stories

Lusaka – To improve access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services, including family planning and safe abortions, Zambia is training health workers in values clarification and attitude transformation (VCAT).  

Adolescents and young people often face barriers when seeking family planning services or safe abortions at health facilities. These barriers can be rooted in stigma and discrimination, which foster disapproval and negative perceptions against people seeking or providing these services.

Goma – In mid-May, 57-year-old Pierre* was admitted to a health centre in the Lubero area after suffering from severe itching on his right hand, followed by pruritus and a swelling of his forearm. He was treated and, given the unusual symptoms, samples were collected and sent for analysis at the laboratory of the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale (INRB) in Goma. 

Addis Ababa – To address gaps in sexual and reproductive healthcare access, widened by the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing humanitarian crises, Ethiopia is reinforcing its health system, making these vital services more accessible for women and adolescents in remote and crisis-affected areas.

Luanda – In the heart of Boa Vista, a neighbourhood in Angola’s capital, Luanda, 48-year-old mother of three Maria Teresa da Silva is joining other community members to spread awareness of the ongoing cholera outbreak. When the first cases were reported in her community in mid-January 2025, she joined a group of concerned women eager to contribute to the response.

Niamey – In Niger, West Africa’s largest country by land surface, access to health care services is a major challenge. Just one in two people has access to health services. One of the ways to bridge the gap is through mobile clinics in remote areas and deploying medical teams from health districts to villages. 

Bamako – It has been almost a year since 17-year-old Aziz*, a final-year high school student, quit smoking. He had fallen into smoking at the age of 14 due to peer pressure and curiosity. “I started smoking a little just to fit in. At first, it was just to try it, but then I couldn’t stop. I was smoking almost every day,” the teenager admits. “When I smoked, I felt more grown-up, cooler, but I didn’t realize the risks it posed to my health.”

Brazzaville/Amman/Geneva – For nearly a decade, the Horn of Africa has battled persistent outbreaks of variant poliovirus. Low immunity in children and unmonitored population movement have fuelled poliovirus spread. At a programmatic level, the lack of access to children living in insecure areas, variable levels of national ownership of polio eradication efforts across countries, limited cross-border coordination and delayed responses to outbreaks have allowed continued spread of poliovirus. 

Victoria – To curb rising rates of obesity, Seychelles is implementing a range of measures from health promotion campaigns in schools, workplaces and public spaces, to free screening, diagnosis and treatment for people with chronic diseases.

Luanda ‒ “I thought I would not survive,” says Abel Kanivete, from Angola's Cuanza Sul province on the country’s West coast. “There were so many people in the cholera treatment centre. I was afraid the nurses could not care for everyone, but they did, and I am alive because of them.” Kanivete is one of the more than 18 000 Angolans affected by the current cholera outbreak, declared in late January 2025.

Juba ‒ Midwives play a critical role in South Sudan, facilitating antenatal care, skilled birth attendance, and postnatal care for mothers and newborns to prevent death and promote a healthy future for both mothers and children.