Feature Stories

Marlène Seck has brought her infant daughter to the Philippe Maguilene Senghor Health Centre in Yoff, Senegal, to be vaccinated against hepatitis B. The baby cries as she receives her jab, but the tears are worth it: having received her first dose at birth, this is her third dose of the life-saving vaccine.

Dr Francis Manyinza, a senior clinician at the Migori County Referral Hospital in southwestern Kenya, wasn’t surprised when lifelong tobacco farmer Petalis Ouma sought medical care for his chronic cough and ever-worsening chest pains. 

Yole Monlwa, 22, vividly remembers the day he heard a radio broadcast on the importance of testing for leprosy. “At the time, I could not feel my hand, nor even move my fingers. I had had two ineffective treatments. I went with my parents to the hospital mentioned on the radio, and was told I had leprosy.”

“I came to take the COVID-19 booster dose and brought my baby for (childhood routine) immunization,” says Cacilda Manjate, a young mother waiting in a consulting room of the Matola II clinic just outside Mozambique’s capital Maputo. “For me taking the vaccine is important because I have a relative who died of COVID-19. I don’t want to lose anyone else in the family.”

Critical care patients in Lesotho will soon be spared a trip to South Africa to receive treatment. The country is on the verge of opening its first intensive care units in public hospitals.

Critical care patients in Lesotho will soon be spared a trip to South Africa to receive treatment. The country is on the verge of opening its first intensive care units in public hospitals.

Two years after the start of the pandemic, the Republic of Congo has begun to apply the genomic sequencing capacities developed in the fight against COVID-19 to other pathogens, including those responsible for malaria, tuberculosis or diarrhoeal diseases in young children.

A blood donor since 2018, Alfred Ndapanda had always considered his donations part of being a good citizen. But last year, the act hit closer to home than ever.

Like many countries, Senegal has seen a spike in social media usage during the COVID-19 pandemic. Eighty-two per cent of all Senegalese have a smartphone, and 58% are regular internet users.