When Ms. Fatoumata Binta Toure learned the results of a WHO/HRP-led study in four countries showing that more than one-third of women experienced mistreatment during childbirth in health facilities, she was not entirely surprised.
Read moreAt the Hasiya Bayero Paediatric Hospital in downtown Kano, the commercial nerve centre of northern Nigeria, Aisha Iliasu sits patiently among other women and children on a concrete bench in the waiting room. Two large posters providing tips for COVID-19 prevention are taped to the wall beside her.
Read moreIn an expanded pool of expertise, the World Health Organization (WHO) is supporting several African countries to coordinate the work of external emergency medical teams deployed to support the efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.
Read moreThirty-five-year old Salihu Umar was diagnosed with COVID-19 after returning from a six-day trip to London in March 2020. Although asymptomatic, he tested positive and underwent treatment. Having recovered and back with his family in the Nigerian capital Abuja, the father of three stresses the importance of getting tested especially after having travelled to an area affected by the virus.
Read moreWhat does it take Africa’s most populous country to curb the spread of COVID-19? When Nigeria reported its first case of the virus on 27 February 2020 it had only five laboratories in four states able to test for COVID-19. As infection spreads to more states the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is ramping up testing capacity. There are now 17 laboratories and plans are afoot to set up one each in all the 36 states. Widespread testing sits at the heart of Nigeria’s COVID-19 battle.
Read moreOblivious to the auspicious occasion, a bundle of children winced and gasped as they received their vaccinations. But in that moment, as they clung even tighter to their mothers, they became Kenya’s first children to receive the malaria vaccine through a historic pilot introduction programme initiated in Africa one year ago. Today, on this World Malaria Day, about 82 000[1] Kenyan children in pilot areas have received their first dose of the vaccine and are benefiting from the added protection against malaria.
Read moreAbidjan/Nairobi – “You can pray only if you are alive,” quips Abdallah Cissé Djiguiba, one of the grand imams in Cote d’Ivoire. Several African countries have banned gatherings and locked down cities and towns to suppres…
Read moreJuba – The World Health Organization (WHO) is working with South Sudanese health authorities to expand capacity and infrastructure at the Infectious Disease Unit in the capital Juba to help enhance the country’s emergenc…
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