Feature Stories

Glorious Erhuanga is rarely ill, she says. Which is a good thing because she does not care much for medical drugs. And because, by her own admission, she is an abuser of drugs. “I do abuse drugs in the sense that I don’t completely do the course. If you feel strong enough, you stop. But your illness is not gone completely, they [pathogens] hide in your body,” she explains.

Vanessa Carter nearly lost her face to antibiotic resistance.

She likely acquired a bacterial infection while in hospital during one of many complicated facial surgeries. None of the many doctors she had in the first six years of those surgeries ever mentioned antibiotic resistance to her. Because she was oblivious to the dangers of stopping an antibiotic drug or even an antibiotic ointment after a couple days when it appeared to not be working, she sees herself as part of the complication – back then. 

Now, she is a force for common knowledge.

Brazzaville – About two thirds of countries in the African region do not have reliable data on births, deaths, and causes of death, a recent World Health Organization (WHO) assessment found. The absence of this crucial information complicates effective health responses and policy-making in region.