Feature Stories

Lusaka ‒ Imeldah Chulu lives near Matero level 1 hospital in Lusaka District, Zambia. The hospital houses one of the six community-based cholera treatment units in the district, adding to the two bigger cholera treatment centres at the National Heroes Stadium and Levy Mwanawasa University Teaching Hospital. 

Luanda – With ongoing cholera outbreaks in neighbouring countries, Angola is stepping up preparedness measures to effectively respond to potential emergence of the disease in the country.

Harare – Forty-six-year-old Goodluck Moyo* from Chitungwiza, a town just outside the country’s capital, Harare, started feeling unwell after his day shift at work. “I suspect it was the water I drank while at work,” he says. “I got worse rapidly. I was rushed to the 24-hour clinic in my area, where I was put on a drip.” He was later referred to the cholera treatment centre at Chitungwiza General Hospital for further treatment.

Lusaka – As the cholera outbreak in Zambia continues to expand rapidly, efforts are being stepped up to halt the spread of disease and save lives. A vaccination campaign is currently underway targeting 1.5 million people, including children, health workers and people at high risk of infection in the worst affected areas.

Brazzaville ‒ Widespread flooding due to unusually heavy rainfall in the Republic of Congo has left more than 336 000 people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. The floods have also damaged health facilities and schools and submerged swaths of farmland.

Yaounde – Nicole, 28, from Bertoua in eastern Cameroon, will never forget that day in 2019 when her doctor at Batouri Catholic Hospital told her she was HIV-positive. She had gone for a medical check-up a few days previously after feeling ill, but HIV was the furthest thing from her mind. She froze, she recalls, wondering how it was possible. But as the shock began to wear off, the doctor informed her of her options, including treatment.

Bujumbura – "I'm diabetic and life here is very hard, very complicated," complains Jean Ndimurirwo, 68, who has lived in the Maramvya camp for displaced people, near Bujumbura in Burundi, since being driven from her home by floodwaters three years ago. 

Bamako – “He punched me, kicked me, hit me with objects and insulted me. I was only 12, married off by my parents to a 55-year-old man who already had two wives. By the time I escaped four years later, I had already suffered two miscarriages,” says the young woman, who today credits World Health Organization (WHO) training for helping her become a “voice for the voiceless” in her community.

Niamey – Mariam, a mother of five living in Kantché, a rural community in Niger's southern Zinder region, remembers the difficult time she went through earlier this year when two of her five children were hospitalized at the same time. “First, it was my nine-year-old son who came home with a strong cough, complaining of a sore throat. He coughed all night and it only got worse. He was finally hospitalized at the Kantché health centre, where his 11-year-old sister also fell ill and, in the end, both were lying there fighting the deadly disease.

Banjul – Two years ago The Gambia carried out an analysis to better tackle the threat of antimicrobial resistance. The analysis, the country’s first of its kind, revealed a rising trend in multi-drug resistant tuberculosis as well as growing pathogen resistance to commonly prescribed antibiotics. Babanding Sabally, Director of National Pharmaceutical Services in the Ministry of Health, explains the measures being undertaken to address this public health problem.