Feature Stories

Overcoming COVID-19 at 99 years-old in Guinea

When Bagama Guehara walked out of Donka Hospital in Guinea’s capital, Conakry, on 7 July this year, leaning on a walking stick for support, she was met with a rapturous applause from the medical staff and fellow patients.

“It weighs you down,” Congo COVID-19 survivor recounts

Yaffa Fatoumata hoped that the fever and the sore throat she was suffering were just signs of a passing flu. However, when the symptoms persisted, the26-year-old legal assistant in Republic of the Congo’s Ministry of Communication decided to get tested for COVID-19. Two days after the test, her results turned out positive for the virus.

Surviving COVID-19 and fighting stigma in Uganda

Kampala – When 30-year-old Ugandan entrepreneur Laura Nagasha returned from a holiday in Dubai in March, Uganda was yet to register any confirmed cases of COVID-19, and Dubai was not on the list of high-risk countries for the virus. Nagasha was tired from a busy trip and had developed a slight cough, but felt fine otherwise. After her arrival she decided to stay with friends for a while rather than returning straight home to her parents. 

Combatting health worker infections in Nigeria

When Dr Mark Anthony makes his weekly rounds in Kaduna state, from public hospitals to private facilities, he is encouraged to see health workers protecting themselves, attending to patients with the right protective gear and performing the necessary hand hygiene. It gives him hope that the battle against COVID-19 will be won in his country.

Zambia’s COVID-19 home-based care relieves health facilities

Shortly after Zambia reported its first cases of COVID-19 in March 2020, the country’s National Public Health Institute launched intensive, targeted screenings for cases in high-risk populations and locations. In Nakonde, a town on the border with Tanzania, the screenings revealed a huge number of infections.

Pooling samples boosts Ghana’s COVID-19 testing

“We are pleased to inform you that after the recent COVID-19 test conducted, your results came out negative,” read a text message to Benedict Abbey. “Please do well to continue to strictly adhere to the precautionary protocols and we will get through this healthy and safe.”

Striving to keep health worker infections at bay

Accra – Evelyn Narki Dowuona bears a great responsibility at Ga East Municipal Hospital in the Ghanaian capital Accra, where, as in much of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has raised the risks of health care work. Drawing on more than 10 years of nursing experience, the quality and safety manager ensures that measures to curb infection are strictly observed.

“We want to cause no harm to the patients while giving them care. We also want to ensure that our staff are safe in their working environment,” she says.