Featured news

For sixteen years, Martin narrowly escaped death time and again. Today he describes himself as the phoenix reborn, alive and thriving, despite – or perhaps because of – living with HIV. At 24, this young man has already survived more hardships than most people face in a lifetime.

The much awaited Country Health Compact has finally taken off ground.  The Honourable Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Dr Isatou Touray, this morning, launched the Gambia’s Health Compact. The Health Compact paves the way for renewed and strategic partnership between the Government of the Republic of The Gambia and health development partners. This partnership is eventually expected to accelerate progress towards Universal Health Coverage, i.e. access to high quality and affordable health care that will lead to improved and equitable health outcomes for all Gambians. The Health Compact is guided by the principles outlined within the framework of the International Health Partnership Plus (IHP+), the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the 2008 Accra Agenda for Action.

A spike in malaria cases is threatening the health of people in parts of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where health workers are also battling an Ebola outbreak.  In response, a four-day mass drug administration (MDA) campaign was launched today in the Northern Kivu province town of Beni, with a target to reach up to 450 000 people with anti-malarial drugs combined with the distribution of insecticide-treated mosquito nets.

Moses “Supercharger” Nsubuga, a musician and radio host in Uganda, has been living with HIV since 1994. “I lived in denial for four years and did not want anyone to know that I had HIV”, he says. He points out that given the nature of his work, admitting his status meant risking the loss of his audience and being stigmatized. “However, living in denial didn’t help me at all. I fell sick, became weak, lost weight and could barely work”, he says.