Feature Stories

In 2018, World Health Organization (WHO), working with the Democratic Republic of the Congo health authorities and other health partners, set up a programme to monitor the health of Ebola survivors and support them in their recovery.

In her small office at University Clinics of Kinshasa, nurse Agnès Bisilwala has her eyes trained on a row of large gas cylinders. “In the past, three or four days could go by without enough medical oxygen for our COVID-19 patients in intensive care,” she says. “Many of them were unable to maintain their oxygenation and succumbed to the virus.”

Alioune Samb works as a butcher at the bustling Grand Dakar market in the heart of the Senegalese capital. “Before, we weren’t conscious of the potential dangers of our behaviours and the poor sanitation of the market,” he admits.

Beatrice Banya of Bong County, Liberia, knew that something was wrong. For over two years, the 34-year-old mother of two had been noticing her urination patterns changing. Hospital after hospital failed to provide relief until, finally, a nurse at CB Dunbar Hospital encouraged her to undergo a screening for cervical cancer.

As one of the first-ever female urologist surgeons in sub-Saharan Africa, Dr Médina NDoye regularly faces students’ astonishment at her choice to embrace a “male speciality”.

Officials in the Department of Health in Free State Province in South Africa beam with pride when talking about their response to COVID-19. Leadership, innovation, and partnerships, they say, have been key to effectively tackling the pandemic and placed the province among those with the highest vaccination coverage in the country.

As director of a national network of women living with HIV in Zimbabwe, Tendai Westerhof was used to challenging stigma.

A well-known goalkeeper and football coach both in his native Senegal and across West Africa, Lamine Thiare uses his considerable influence to transmit a simple message to young people: “Do not smoke!” he warns them emphatically.

Dr Rirhandzu Norah Mongwe is on the frontlines of Limpopo Province’s COVID-19 vaccination response.

Marthe Apuwa Mbila is a single mother of two children living in Lusengo, a remote area of the Democratic Republic of Congo.