Feature Stories

Fast-spreading misinformation online is hard to measure, but the 10 organizations and 10 African fact-checking groups that make up the Africa Infodemic Response Alliance are working to track and debunk dangerous myths on the pandemic and COVID-19 vaccines. 

Ghana’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout has been hailed as exemplary for its planning, speed and high-level leadership, but dig a little deeper and there are yet more crucial lessons in working with far-flung communities and building up trust in the vaccines. 

Around 7.7 million African children missed out on vital first doses of Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis, Measles and Polio vaccines in 2020. The nearly 10% rise in missed vaccinations on the previous year in Africa was driven by disruptions to health services by the COVID-19 pandemic, new data by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World health Organization (WHO) show.

A public health professional with an MPH from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Dr Fiona Braka has worked for World Health Organization (WHO) for the past 18 years supporting countries, including her native Uganda, Ethiopia and Nigeria, to build capacity to deliver vaccines. She is now bringing her vast experience in polio eradication and broader immunization to support the continent’s fight against disease outbreak emergencies and humanitarian crises.

Lagos – When Zainab Olowoyo got COVID-19, she was one of thousands of people residing in the populous Lagos State whose case was not severe enough for her to be sent to the nearest isolation unit. Instead, Olowoyo received hospital-level care in her own home through a Home-Based Care programme implemented by the state government in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO). She had a smooth recovery and was cleared of the virus within 10 days.

Constane Sigu was watching television at home one evening in Bulawayo in southwest Zimbabwe when the Ministry of Health and Child Care’s (MoHCC) advertisement for its new Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine (TCV) campaign caught her attention. 

The Paz Flor mall is usually packed with shoppers browsing for bargains or sitting down to enjoy a meal, but as Angola’s rollout of COVID-19 vaccines ramps up, the vibrant space in the nation’s capital has been converted to serve up life-saving vaccines.

With over 20 years of experience in mass immunization drives and rapid-response planning across Africa, World Health Organization (WHO) Immunization Officer Dr Messeret Shibeshi is aiding 20 East and Southern African countries in rolling out life-saving COVID-19 vaccines.

The Ebola outbreak that erupted in Guinea in early 2021 was declared over on 19 June, just four months after the first cases were confirmed in a rural community in the south of the country. Banking on the lessons learned from the deadly 2014–2016 outbreak as well as a growing national expertise, a prompt response was mounted, helping to curb widespread infection. Minister of Health Honourable Dr Rémy Lamah explains what it took to halt the virus and the challenges met.