Feature Stories

In late 2019, 68-year-old Meseret Belay, who lives in the Meshwalekiya neighbourhood of Ethiopia’s sprawling capital, Addis Ababa, suffered a severe stroke that left her unable to speak and paralysed on the left side of her body.

Nadja* was in the midst of planning her wedding two years ago when she learned that she was HIV-positive.

First meeting at 8:00am, last one at 7:00pm. In between, Hilda Wesonga untiringly goes from one village to another to sensitize communities on the current Ebola outbreak.

More than 14 African countries have reported cholera cases since January 2022. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this acute diarrhoeal disease is endemic in several provinces. Since the beginning of the year, more than 12 300 suspected cases have been reported, including 222 deaths, in 17 of the country's 26 provinces.

For several years many women across Guinea lacked access to screening services for cervical cancer—the most common cancer among women—especially in remote areas. A concerted push by the health authorities to integrate cervical cancer screening in sexual and reproductive health services, thousands of women now have the chance of early detection and adequate support.

Nathalie* looked upon her convalescent baby, hope slowly wiping away distress. Her 12-month-old boy had been admitted to St Luc Hospital in Kisantu, a town in the south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s capital Kinshasa, when initial treatment proved ineffective.

Soon after her emergency caesarean section procedure in 2021 in Phebe Hospital in Bong, Liberia, a young mother developed a far greater yet mystifying emergency: An infection developed where she had been cut during surgery to deliver her baby, and it was refusing to heal. 

Jonas, 43, a professional driver, was no stranger to long journeys and travel difficulties. But one particular trip in February 2022 will remain unforgettable.

South Africa has grappled with the continent’s largest share of COVID-19 infections since the onset of the pandemic. Throughout the crisis, the country ramped up pandemic control measures to effectively curb cases and deaths and protect people’s health. In support of South Africa’s efforts, WHO deployed a 35-member expert team to help bolster the response at provincial and district levels.

Since an Ebola outbreak was declared in Uganda on 20 September, health assistant Nyangoma Kirrungi has been on the frontline of the country’s response day in and day out, working as a contact tracer in Madudu sub-county, one of the areas affected by the outbreak.