Feature Stories

Harare ‒ Juliet Chikono, a resident of Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, is now relieved since she is among the more than 2.1 million Zimbaweans who were vaccinated against cholera in the single dose reactive campaign to curb the latest outbreak of the disease that has been reported in all of the country’s 10 provinces.

 “Our community has seen its share of challenges recently and I am taking steps to stay safe,” she says. 

Dakar – Awa has never forgotten the day of her circumcision, at just nine years of age. « They cut me with a knife, without anaesthetic, with just a piece of cloth in my mouth to muffle my screams," she recalls. 

Now, aged 25 and living in Kolda in the south of Senegal, Awa has become an activist against female genital mutilation (FGM), any procedure involving the partial or total removal of a woman's external genitalia, or any other injury to the female genital organs that is performed for non-medical reasons.

Abuja ‒ Adenike Olayemi says Nigeria’s cervical cancer screening programme saved her life: “I cannot imagine what could have happened if I had not done the screening and gone for treatment.”

Olayemi, 43, who lives in Ondo State, was among 667 women who tested positive for the human papillomavirus (HPV) and underwent treatment to avert cervical cancer during a campaign in 2023, funded by the Susan Thompson Buffet Foundation and supported by World Health Organization (WHO) in the African Region.

Lusaka – Zambia has the third highest burden of cervical cancer in the world, with an incidence rate of 65.5 per 100 000 women and a mortality rate of 43.4 per 100 000 women in 2020. Despite being a preventable and treatable disease, cervical cancer accounts for about 23% of all new cancer cases in the country. The peak age at diagnosis is between 40-49 years.

Juba – In South Sudan, 19 of the 20 neglected tropical diseases are endemic, posing a huge health threat. More than 12 million people are at risk of infection from these diseases that can cause severe pain, disabilities and deformities among other devastating impacts.

Lusaka ‒ Imeldah Chulu lives near Matero level 1 hospital in Lusaka District, Zambia. The hospital houses one of the six community-based cholera treatment units in the district, adding to the two bigger cholera treatment centres at the National Heroes Stadium and Levy Mwanawasa University Teaching Hospital. 

Luanda – With ongoing cholera outbreaks in neighbouring countries, Angola is stepping up preparedness measures to effectively respond to potential emergence of the disease in the country.

Harare – Forty-six-year-old Goodluck Moyo* from Chitungwiza, a town just outside the country’s capital, Harare, started feeling unwell after his day shift at work. “I suspect it was the water I drank while at work,” he says. “I got worse rapidly. I was rushed to the 24-hour clinic in my area, where I was put on a drip.” He was later referred to the cholera treatment centre at Chitungwiza General Hospital for further treatment.