Category Archives: Global health

Record rise in attacks on healthcare workers leaves ‘millions at risk’ – UN

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Increase in violent conflict combined with effects of climate crisis make outlook bleak for world’s poorest people, says report

Attacks on healthcare workers have reached a record high according to a UN report that predicts a “bleak outlook” for the world’s poorest people due to intense armed conflict and the climate emergency.

The number of highly violent conflicts has risen to 41, from 36 in 2018, causing deaths, injuries, significant displacement and hunger, the UN’s global humanitarian overview 2020 report found.

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Global heating driving spread of mosquito-borne dengue fever

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Record numbers across Asia and Americas infected as rising temperatures extend disease to places once seen as safe

Rising temperatures across Asia and the Americas have contributed to multiple severe outbreaks of dengue fever globally over the past six months, making 2019 the worst year on record for the disease.

In 1970 only nine countries faced severe dengue outbreaks. But the disease, which is spread by mosquitoes that can only survive in warm temperatures, is now seen in more than 100 countries. There are thought to be 390 million infections each year.

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South Africa begins rollout of cutting-edge HIV drug

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Introduction of three-in-one pill hailed as a ‘game-changer’ in efforts to treat 7.7 million South Africans with HIV

South Africa has begun rolling out a state-of-the-art antiretroviral drug in a “game-changing” bid to drastically reduce the number of people living with HIV.

The distribution of the new three-in-one pill, timed to coincide with World Aids Day on Sunday, is eventually expected to treat the 7.7 million South Africans who have HIV, accounting for 20% of the global prevalence of the disease.

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Angola’s war is over and now it faces up to an HIV legacy – in pictures

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A long civil war ended in 2002 but disasters, poverty and food insecurity have allowed Aids-related deaths to rise by more than 33% in the past decade. The number of new HIV infections is also on the rise and too many pregnant women are not getting access to medicines to protect their babies

All photographs by Cynthia R Matonhodze for the UNDP

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Ebola health workers killed and injured by rebel attack in Congo

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World Health Organization chief warns violence will harm efforts to deal with Ebola outbreak

Four health workers fighting the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been killed and five injured in an attack by rebel militia, the World Health Organization has said.

The attacks occurred early on Thursday morning in the restive east of the vast central African country.

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Ebola staff in Congo on lockdown after angry residents storm UN camp

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Evacuation of responders in face of violent protests demanding protection from militia killings raises fears disease will spread

Ebola responders are on lockdown in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after angry residents stormed a UN peacekeepers camp in protest at fatal militia attacks on civilians, the World Health Organization has said.

On Tuesday, the WHO evacuated 49 non-essential staff out of the 120 people working on the epidemic in the city of Beni in North Kivu, one of the recurring Ebola hotspots.

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New UNAids chief vows to stamp out sexual misconduct and abuse of power

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Winnie Byanyima says known cases of sexual harassment were ‘tip of the iceberg’ as she pledges to restore trust in organisation

The new head of scandal-hit UNAids has vowed to transform the agency’s culture to safeguard staff not only from sexual harassment – which she called “the tip of the iceberg” – but any abuse of power by those at the top.

Winnie Byanyima said she would draw on lessons learned following allegations of sexual misconduct at Oxfam, of which she was international executive director until earlier this year, to address problems at the UN agency.

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Children bear the brunt as the world’s biggest measles epidemic sweeps Congo

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Children under the age of five account for 90% of deaths as disease claims 5,000 lives in less than a year

More than 5,000 people, mostly children, have been killed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in what is currently the world’s biggest measles epidemic.

Measles, which is preventable through vaccination, has spread to all 26 provinces of the country, which is also battling a 15-month-long Ebola epidemic.

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Uganda recalls a million faulty condoms

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Charity takes action after holes are discovered in two batches of Life Guard condoms

The charity Marie Stopes International is recalling more than a million condoms in Uganda, after officials raised concerns that they were prone to breaking.

The charity began the recall of packets of Life Guard condoms after the National Drug Authority found they contained holes and did not meet quality standards. More than half of the affected products have since been recovered.

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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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