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Photo Stories

Traditional healers broaden health care in Ghana

For many years, traditional medicine has received limited consideration from medical experts demanding more scientific evidence. However, a growing number of African countries are demonstrating a renewed interest in this ancient art of healing. Traditional medicine backed with scientific methods, tools and guidelines can make a significant contribution to better access to medicines and achieving universal health coverage in Africa.
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Good handwashing habits for good health in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Butembo is a bustling city of around a million people in North Kivu Province in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and in a region known for growing tea and coffee. Since August 2018, it is also a region known worldwide for an outbreak of Ebola virus disease, the tenth and largest such outbreak in the country’s history.
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Following African nomads to find every child in need of polio vaccination

​​​​​​​When cases of wild poliovirus were detected in northern Nigeria in 2016, after more than two years without any reported case, the momentum for declaring the Africa region polio free was disrupted. A proactive response in the neighbouring countries of the Lake Chad Basin was quickly organized to overcome the immunization gaps, covering Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.
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Tracking Ebola to its last refuges in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Ending the tenth Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) means searching, sometimes at extraordinary lengths, for people who possibly may have been infected by someone they know but are afraid to be treated. Some people have taken to hiding in the forests; some keep moving to evade the health workers and World Health Organization (WHO) contact tracing teams, like NAME NAME above, trained to search for people who came into contact unknowingly with a person infected with the virus. The point is to monitor their health condition and get them the medical care they need as quickly as possible if symptoms should occur.
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How fighting Ebola is helping one hospital prevent other diseases in the Democratic ...

Kitatumba Reference Hospital nestles on a hill in Butembo, which has been fighting an Ebola outbreak for the past year. With more than 80 health workers infected with Ebola since the outbreak came to the city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, health facilities like Kitatumba are critical battle fronts. “This hospital was built in 1923, and many of the buildings are old, which makes it a challenge to maintain infection prevention and control standards,” says Dr Eugene Syalita Nzanzu, the Medical Director.
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WHO Malawi leads the health Sector’s response to the people severely affected cyclon...

Lilongwe 24 April 2019 - The torrential rains did not stop for three days and nights. It was on the fourth night that the walls gave way from the mud brick house that Eunice Sopo and her three children called home.

Parts of Mozambique and eastern Zimbabwe had been swept away before Cyclone Idai’s torrential rains hit Malawi, creating extraordinary flood conditions that swept away homes, crops and lives. At least 60 people died and approximately 87,000 have been displaced (source, OCHA).

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Surveillance is key in tackling Ebola

As the third largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Goma has more than 1 million people. It’s located on the shores of Lake Kivu in the Eastern part of the DRC, where Ebola has affected communities in North Kivu province (Butembo, Beni and Katwa). Alongside the Government, WHO and partners are jointly preparing Goma for any possible Ebola outbreak. They aim to protect Goma by stopping any spread of the virus.
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In the fight against Ebola, preparedness saves lives

Close to the border with the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where an Ebola outbreak continues, more than 100 community health volunteers in Cibitoke District, Burundi are having one of the more important discussions of their working lives: Dr Belyse Ndayimirije, a health promotion officer with the World Health Organization (WHO), advises them on how to prevent, detect and report suspected cases of the Ebola virus disease.
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Improving mpox diagnosis in DRC amidst the outbreak

Bukavu - The index case of mpox was reported in September 2023 in Kamituga, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Since then, the outbreak has spread to 32 out of the 34 health zones in South Kivu. Between 1 January and 9 December 2024, World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed 14, 572 mpox cases across 19 countries in the African Region, with 11,984 cases in the DRC alone. 

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