Category Archives: Global health

Wiping out the daughters: Burkina Faso’s controversial mosquito experiment

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A radical experiment to genetically modify a strain of mosquito in order to stop them breeding malaria-carrying daughters is one of the latest efforts to tackle the deadly scourge of malaria

At 6.30am five-year-old Osman Balama and his mother reach the state hospital of Bobo-Dioulasso, the second-largest city in Burkina Faso. He hasn’t been feeling well for a few days and his mother is worried that he has contracted malaria. The waiting room is already full of mothers and grandmothers with young children on their laps, all with the same tired look as Osman.

“The rainy season has started,” says Sami Palm, head of the clinic. “That means more mosquitos. I’m certain that almost everyone here has malaria.”

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Rabies breakthrough offers fresh hope in battle against deadly virus

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New research raises hopes of oral vaccine for dogs, the chief source of transmission to humans

Researchers have discovered a way to stop rabies from shutting down critical responses in the immune system, a breakthrough that could pave the way for new tools to fight the deadly disease.

Rabies kills almost 60,000 people each year, mostly affecting poor and rural communities.

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Why is the world losing the fight against history’s most lethal disease?

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Easy to catch but hard to diagnose, TB is almost as deadly today as it was 150 years ago. Better, cheaper drugs are a priority

Tuberculosis has killed more people than any other disease in history. Last year, 1.5 million people died from TB and 10 million more acquired it. A shocking one-quarter of the world’s population is infected. That’s not much better than 1993, when one-third of the world was infected and the World Health Organization declared TB a global emergency. We are losing the battle.

Earlier this month, experts gathered in Hyderabad for the 50th Union World Conference on fighting the disease. When the first such gathering was held in 1867, TB was the leading cause of death in industrialised nations. Today, it still ranks in the top 10 worldwide. Why, despite all the progress in medicine and public health over the past 150 years, is TB still the most common and lethal of all infectious diseases?

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‘Geography is a problem’: slowing the silent spread of HIV in the Amazon

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A team of doctors and volunteers are travelling by boat to treat and educate indigenous communities at higher risk of Aids

As the serpentine Amazon river meanders through a sea of jungle, a little red boat speeds across its muddy brown waters. Powered by two outboard motors, the vessel carries a cargo of volunteers, medics and nurses, an awning, and dozens of HIV screening tests.

The first stop is Nueva Vida Yahua, an indigenous village 40 minutes down the Nanay river from Iquitos. The women are dressed in red skirts and grass tops worn draped over their shoulders, the men in long grass skirts and headdresses made from blue macaw feathers.

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Cuba’s secret deal to monetise medics working in Qatar

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Most of the money earned by Cuban doctors working in Qatar goes to their national government. But while some feel exploited, others tell a different story

Drive west from Doha’s glistening glass towers, past two World Cup stadiums still under construction and out into the desert, and you’ll eventually reach a small hospital surrounded only by sand and shrubs.

At its entrance hang two flags rippling in the scorching breeze: one of Qatar, the other of Cuba.

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Pakistan accused of cover-up over fresh polio outbreak

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Source claims government plans secret vaccinations after 12 children fall prey to disease

Officials in Pakistan have been accused of covering up an outbreak of the most dangerous strain of polio and planning a covert vaccination programme to contain the disease.

According to a source in Pakistan’s polio eradication programme and documentation seen by the Guardian, a dozen children have been infected with the P2 strain of polio, which causes paralysis and primarily effects those under five.

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Prisoners may be denied life-saving HIV treatment in UAE, campaigners say

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Human Rights Watch warns non-national detainees were denied drugs and kept isolated by staff who ‘knew nothing about HIV’

Prisoners in the United Arab Emirates who are HIV-positive but not from the country may have been denied regular access to life-saving treatment, Human Rights Watch has warned.

On Monday the organisation claimed that non-national prisoners in at least one major UAE jail have seen delays, interruptions or a complete freeze on their access to antiretrovirals – drugs that suppress the activity of the HIV infection.

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Antibiotic price drop could stop millions from developing tuberculosis

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New agreement secures 66% reduction in cost of rifapentine, which prevents ‘latent’ TB from becoming active

The price of a drug crucial to prevent tuberculosis is to be slashed by two-thirds in a deal that could stop millions from developing the disease.

TB is the leading cause of death from infectious disease worldwide, killing 1.5 million people a year, according to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) global TB report.

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‘They paid a guy to kill me’: health workers fight homophobia in Uganda

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A lesbian activist in a rural town has developed a new strategy to reach those most at risk of HIV

Maria Nantale is enjoying a beer at a rickety wooden bar after a long day’s work. “Forty people tested today,” she reflects. “Found three positives. One of them is in denial. She has run away.”

Twice a week, from dawn until dusk, Nantale holds an “outreach” in the town of Mbale, population 76,000. The aim is to combat HIV among those most at risk: LGBT Ugandans, drug addicts and sex workers.

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‘They were all killed in front of my eyes’: the brutal cost of war in Afghanistan

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In a country where decades of conflict have taken a profound toll on mental health, professional support is scarce

Human Rights Watch has raised alarms over the lack of mental health support in wartorn Afghanistan, where more than half of the population is experiencing psychological distress.

The advocacy group said that, despite the high prevalence of psychological and mental health conditions, the Afghan government is failing to provide adequate help, with fewer than 10% of the country’s population receiving assistance.

HRW cited a 2018 EU survey that said the overwhelming majority of the country’s population (85%) have seen or been involved in at least one traumatic event in their lives.

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Simple eye care could improve sight of more than 1 billion people – report

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Operation could have corrected vision of many ‘overnight’, while 800 million struggle because they lack access to glasses, according to WHO

More than 1 billion people are needlessly losing their sight because of a lack of simple eye care, according to a landmark report on vision by the World Health Organization.

The research has revealed a wide inequality gap for sight and eye conditions. Rates of blindness in low- and middle-income countries are up to eight times higher than in wealthy countries, with people living in rural areas, ethnic minorities, women and older people suffering disproportionately.

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Narendra Modi to face down critics by hailing Clean India scheme a success

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Prime minister’s announcement of an end to open defecation in India marred by claims of coercion and violence

Narendra Modi is to declare that his flagship sanitation programme has ended open defecation in India, amid accusations that the scheme has sparked violence and abuse.

India’s prime minister will make the announcement on Wednesday at an event in his home state of Gujarat, attended by 20,000 village chiefs and international dignitaries, according to the government.

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Alarm over cases of disease with Ebola-like symptoms in Tanzania

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World Health Organization frustrated by lack of clinical data sharing, while Tanzania insists its tests show disease is not Ebola

Several unexplained cases of a disease with Ebola-like symptoms in Tanzania have prompted an extraordinary statement from the World Health Organization questioning the response of the country’s health authorities.

WHO warned that lack of information over the cases, including clinical data, possible contacts and potential laboratory tests performed for differential diagnosis of the patients had not been communicated, leaving it unable to assess the potential risk.

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Climate emergency poses major threat to future global health, say top medics

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Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene fears medical impact of failure to prepare for global heating over next 25 years

The climate crisis represents the biggest threat to the future of global health over the next quarter of a century, according to a survey of top medical professionals.

The vast majority of members of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, some of whom are responsible for significant discoveries in tropical diseases that plague poorer countries, believe governments and health bodies are failing to prepare adequately for the medical impacts of global heating.

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Experts warn world ‘grossly unprepared’ for future pandemics

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Dire risk is compounded by climate crisis, urbanisation and lack of sanitation, says global monitoring board

It sounds like an improbable fiction: a virulent flu pandemic, source unknown, spreads across the world in 36 hours, killing up to 80 million people, sparking panic, destabilising national security and slicing chunks off the world’s economy.

But a group of prominent international experts has issued a stark warning: such a scenario is entirely plausible and efforts by governments to prepare for it are “grossly insufficient”.

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US attack on WHO ‘hindering morphine drive in poor countries’

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Claims have hurt efforts to help people around world in acute pain, say palliative care experts

An attack on the World Health Organization (WHO) by US politicians accusing it of being corrupted by drug companies is making it even more difficult to get morphine to millions of people dying in acute pain in poor countries, say experts in the field.

Representatives of the hospice and palliative care community said they were stunned by the Congress members’ report, which they said made false accusations and would affect people suffering in countries where almost no opioids were available.

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Former minister arrested over alleged mismanagement of Congo Ebola funds

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Oly Ilunga detained in connection with $4.3m allocated for fighting the deadly virus

The former health minister for the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been arrested over the alleged mismanagement of $4.3m (£3.4m) dedicated to the Ebola response.

Oly Ilunga, who resigned as health minister in July having been removed from leading the Ebola response by President Félix Tshisekedi, has denied any wrongdoing.

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Indonesia takes steps to improve protection of mental health patients

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National agencies granted greater power to enforce existing laws banning practices such as shackling

Indonesia is stepping up efforts to protect people with mental health conditions by affording national agencies new powers to monitor and close down institutions found to be abusing patients.

The country’s human rights commission and its witness and victim protection unit are among the agencies empowered to monitor facilities to check they don’t contravene a 1977 government ban on “pasung” – shackling or detaining patients in confined spaces.

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Hundreds of children die in Philippine dengue epidemic as local action urged

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Health ministry calls for greater efforts to deal with mosquito-borne disease at village level as death toll reaches four figures

The Philippine health ministry has urged local officials to ramp up efforts to combat dengue fever after the death toll from the epidemic reached 1,021.

The young have born the brunt of the outbreak, with children under the age of 10 accounting for more than a third of the deaths recorded in the eight months up to August, when a national epidemic of the mosquito-borne disease was declared.

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History shows it will take more than technology and money to beat malaria

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Hopes of eradicating the disease by 2050 will fail unless we tackle the poverty and weak governance that allow it to thrive

The Lancet Commission on malaria eradication received widespread attention this week with its claim that the disease could be eradicated by 2050. This would be a very welcome achievement, as malaria currently kills about 435,000 people – predominantly children – each year.

The report argues that the key to eradicating malaria is the application of existing and new technology, coupled with £1.6bn extra annual funding. Unfortunately, this solution is unlikely to be successful because it fails to address the underlying causes of malaria: grinding poverty and state incapacity.

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