Feature Stories

Dr Temidayo Fawole may have been at the WHO Regional Office for Africa in Brazzaville this week to attend training on the management and treatment of COVID-19 patients, but home – Nigeria – was never far from her thoughts.

Guinean anthropologist, David Niabalamou is so passionate about his job engaging with communities affected by Ebola that he’s learned two new languages in twelve months, earning him the affectionate nickname, David the Local, from colleagues. Having worked on the Ebola response in his native Guinea from 2014 to 2016, Niabalamou was keenly aware that language is key to earning people’s trust. 

“In some places they threw stones at us, but in others community leaders became engaged and fought alongside us for the survival of their people,” says Dr Freddy Banza, an epidemiologist and public health specialist with World Health Organization (WHO).

Home to one of Africa’s busiest international airline hubs, Ethiopia is bolstering preparedness to contain a potential outbreak of coronavirus disease, now known as COVID-19. Health authorities are tightening up surveillance, diagnosis, epidemic response coordination and public health education to swiftly detect cases and limit widespread infections. Ethiopia is among 13 African countries the World Health Organization (WHO) considers as top priority for COVID-19 preparedness due to direct links or a high volume of travel to China. No case has been reported in the continent. WHO is strengthening its support to countries to detect and manage suspect cases and ensure a robust response when the first case is detected.

From eating garlic to gargling with mouthwash, the public space is full of information about how to prevent coronavirus disease. However, much of this is misinformation. To counter this spread of harmful rumours, the World Health Organization (WHO) is organizing workshops in many African countries to inform media professionals on the facts about COVID-19.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has brought key health partners together to rally support for the critical functions needed in country offices to help African Members States achieve universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals.

She waited anxiously for a check-up at a local clinic. Merely a minute after being examined, Gisele* received the result of her cervical cancer test. Up to 8000 women are tested every year, mostly through a community-based screening programme in Madagascar, where cervical cancer is the deadliest type of cancer among women.

Five years ago, news that she had cervical cancer shattered Millicent Kagonga’s world. It upended her marriage, she was spurned by family and friends, and lost a child while undergoing treatment she could barely afford. Her agony seemed endless. But months of painful therapy stopped the spread of the cancer and the thirty-year-old mother of two has now taken on a fresh battle: helping patients and survivors of the disease cope better. We bring her story in her own words.

“Why is Ebola taking so long to end?” a man attending a community meeting outside Butembo town in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) wants to know.