Feature Stories

Until recently, Cindy Frederic was among the less than 100 000 Mauritian adults still unvaccinated against COVID-19. Living with a COVID-19 comorbidity, she was anxious about how the vaccine might affect her health.

When Kenya’s Ministry of Health set its sights on reaching 10 million people with the COVID-19 vaccination by the end of 2021, many people like Lilian Anyango were not afraid of the myths circulating about the harm it could cause.

Asma* recalls the long journeys between her parents’ home in Mbour, a coastal city in western Senegal, and the Aristide Le Dantec Hospital in the capital Dakar, where she was being treated for leukaemia. It was a journey she came to know by heart. Diagnosed at age 16, she spent three long years in intensive treatment, followed by another five years of monitoring for any potentially life-threatening relapse.

Neglected tropical diseases affect millions of people across Africa, yet the efforts to eliminate them and alleviate the suffering they cause receive little national attention. Professor Nicholas Midzi, an expert in preventive chemotherapy of neglected tropical diseases and the Director of Zimbabwe’s National Institute of Health Research, analyses factors contributing to low priority to these diseases and how to reverse the trend.

Preventive treatment of neglected tropical diseases (NTD) has saved many lives across Africa. However, obstacles persist as these diseases often affect impoverished communities in rural areas, conflict zones and hard-to-reach regions. These diseases are also almost absent from the global health agenda. Dr Paul Emerson, Director of the Atlanta-based International Trachoma Initiative, discusses ways to improve treatment and apply lessons for effective prevention and control.

Though separated by 100 km, Aitta Kébé and Maimouna Tamba are fighting for the same cause. They are both Bajenu Gox, striving to ensure that Senegalese women and girls enjoy a life free from gender-based violence.

Over the past decade, significant progress has been made in the elimination, control and eradication of neglected tropical diseases in the African region, where all but one neglected tropical disease (Chagas) are prevalent.

Cabo Verde has fully vaccinated more than 40% of its population against COVID-19, reaching the end-of-year World Health Organization (WHO) global target aimed at widening vaccination and helping to turn the tide against the pandemic.

Africa is expected to experience the highest increase in diabetes globally. The number of people suffering from the disease is predicted to rise to 55 million by 2045—a 134% spike compared with 2021. At 70%, the continent also has the world’s highest number of people who do not know they have diabetes. Dr Bernadette Adeyileka-Tracz, Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Diabetes Africa, a non-profit organization working to improve the health of Africans living with diabetes, explains the challenges in diabetes prevention and care in the continent.

Senegal, like many African countries, is bearing an increasing heavy diabetes burden. While efforts are being made to improve prevention, care and treatment, Professor Maïmouna Ndour Mbaye, head of the Internal Medicine unit, Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar and director of the country’s national Diabetes Centre, notes that stepping up diabetes control in Senegal starts with a strong national programme. The response must involve all the sectors of the society up to individuals who have a crucial prevention role by adopting healthy practices.