When Dr Regis Ondze arrives at work each morning at the Albert Leyono Municipal Clinic, a low-slung beige building with ornate white balustrades near the banks of the Congo River, he finds himself on the frontlines of his country’s fight against COVID-19.
Read moreGildo Sereia walks purposefully through the streets of Maianga, a populous neighbourhood on the outskirts of Angola’s capital Luanda, passing between rows of pastel-coloured cinderblock homes and dispensing succinct advice to residents on hand hygiene or how to wear masks correctly.
Read moreFour months ago, Musa Adonicus Sambala declared himself a nonsmoker. But hours after deciding to kick the habit he bought himself a pack of 20 cigarettes and smoked 18 in six hours. He smoked compulsively. Inside remorse and self-pity burned him, he says.
Read moreMuch earlier in her life, Martha Kombe, now 24, watched someone close to her fight lung cancer and lose. Since then she has made a vow to help people avoid the agony that comes with such a painful disease.
Read moreTwenty-one-year-old university student Sidi Bolle grew up being warned against smoking. He has never taken a drag on a cigarette, he says. “Tobacco kills, voila,” comes a ready response as to why he is leading a student association of antismoking campaigners.
Read moreOn an overcast morning on the outskirts of the Kenyan city of Kisumu, which perches on the edge of Lake Victoria, a queue of commuters receives a spritz of hand sanitizer before boarding a minibus taxi, known locally as a matatu, to head into town.
Read moreBenin has set up a COVID-19 testing centre at the main airport in the capital Cotonou to boost early detection and containment of the virus. Unlike many countries in the region, Benin’s airspace has remained open since the outbreak began. Land borders were shut, however.
Read moreHealth care workers across Africa are boosting their emergency response skills to tackle COVID-19. Much is still being learned about the pandemic as measures are reinforced to contain rising infection in many countries in the continent. “We were in completely unchartered territory,” says Dr Abel Musa, a critical care specialist at a hospital in Zanzibar, after a recent online training.
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