1. WHO Africa

Feature Stories

No community too remote for Mali doctor

“A patient is a patient,” says Dr Mahamadou Diawara. “Our job is to go where people are who need health care.” For Dr Diawara, a surgeon deployed by World Health Organization (WHO) in eastern Mali, this dedication to reaching patients anywhere has extended to many living under crisis conditions.
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Barriers to mental health care in Africa

Kampala – Poor access to mental health care in many African countries due to low government investment is one of the major hurdles to prevention and care services. On average African governments allocate less than 50 US cents per capita to mental health, well below the recommended US$ 2 per capita for low-income countries. Christina Ntulo, Country Director of StrongMinds Uganda – an organization working for better access to mental health care – discusses the implications of underinvestment and how to overcome the challenges.

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Helping to break mental health care barriers in Kenya

In a previous stint as a chemistry teacher Dr Gladys Mwiti could not help but notice flagging performance among her students. She would later discover that the underachievement was largely due to unresolved trauma from poverty, domestic violence and abuse.
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GAVI's contribution to the COVID-19 response to pandemic

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, has played a critical role in helping African countries secure lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines. It has also supported national efforts to maintain vaccination campaigns for other vaccine-preventable diseases during the pandemic.
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Boosting medical oxygen supplies in the Democratic Republic of Congo

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.”
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