Will Nigeria's new government fix the health system →
Nigeria's health system has not received the attention or finances it needs to address the country's disease burdens. Will the new government address the problems? Read more.
Looking for new funding models to address an ancient problem →
The global tuberculosis response has consistently suffered funding shortages, which contributed to the disease surpassing AIDS in 2014 as the world’s leading infectious killer. Now — in a bid to end the pandemic by 2035 — a new strategy is looking to alternative funding sources and new spending models that will help officials better take advantage of the available resources. Read more.
The growing burden of NCDs in Nigeria →
While Nigeria's health system focuses on combating infectious diseases, a growing tide of non-communicable diseases in the burgeoning middle class threatens to eliminate health gains. Why isn't this issue being tackled? Read more.
Quest for tuberculosis vaccine begins as scientists aim to beat disease by 2035 →
When her son Luluto was born 16 years ago, Yoliswa Qaku was eager to have him vaccinated against tuberculosis. Once he received the injection, she thought, he would be safe from the disease for the rest of his life. She learned earlier this year that this was never the case.
PEPFAR strategy shift aims to get ahead of Mozambique epidemic →
Mozambique is at the outset of recalibrating its HIV response, following a global shift in approach by one of the primary donors to the country’s AIDS response — the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Read more.
Mozambique struggles to contain HIV epidemic among young women →
At their first meeting, the group of 30 young women just eyed Nousa Winica warily. When she asked a question, they hurriedly dropped their gaze. It would be, she quickly realized, a struggle to earn their trust.
Winica spent the first few of their weekly gatherings sticking to light subjects – what chores they did, their favorite classes, even the weather – just to make the girls, pooled from one of the poorest neighborhoods in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, comfortable sharing with her and with each other. Eventually, she started peppering the conversation with questions about HIV. What did they know about the disease? Could they explain how it was spread? What steps could they take to avoid getting infected?
After weeks of dragging answers out of them to the most banal questions, she was shocked at their interest in the topic. “They receive it with some kind of happiness,” she said. “Most of them have someone at home in the family who is sick. They have some questions about the disease.”
Video killed a star charity: The downfall of Invisible Children →
It’s been nearly four years since Jason Russell sat down for a talk with his then-five-year-old son Gavin and sparked an international discussion. The father-son chat sets up "KONY 2012," a half-hour-long advocacy video for Invisible Children. Russell co-founded the group after a 2003 trip to northern Uganda exposed him and two friends to the atrocities the warlord Joseph Kony was perpetrating in the region. The video’s unexpected success catapulted Russell to global fame, but also cast Invisible Children as an archetype in an emerging debate about the nature of humanitarianism and the possible harms it might cause.
Even now, nearly a year after the organization handed control of its programs in northern Uganda over to local staff members and left the region, the community there is still grappling with the questions raised in the wake of the video’s release. There is deeply felt gratitude for the work the group did, but an uncertainty about what legacy they leave behind.
Emmanuel Gasakure →
Cardiologist and former Dean of the then National University of Rwanda's Faculty of Medicine. Born in Butare, Rwanda, on April 13, 1958, he died in Kigali, Rwanda, on Feb 25, 2015, aged 56 years. Read more.
South Sudan unexpectedly drives Uganda and Sudan's détente →
When Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni took a surprise mid-September trip to Khartoum to meet his Sudanese counterpart, Omar al-Bashir, it solidified the unexpected rapprochement in what had been one of Africa’s thorniest relationships. Two of the continent’s longest-serving leaders, Museveni and Bashir have spent much of the past two decades sniping at one another publicly as each secretly worked to destabilize the other’s government. Read more.
Uganda's test and treat HIV program hauls in fishermen →
Last year, the Ugandan government began rolling out test and treat within communities at high risk, called “key populations” – people who maintain high HIV transmission rates, but are often difficult to reach. In Uganda, this means sex workers and long-distance truck drivers, as well as people living in the highly transient fishing communities – where HIV rates are often more than double the national prevalence of 7.2 percent. Read more.
Can South Sudan's leaders get peace right the second time? →
When South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, inked a new agreement in late August to end his country’s 20-month conflict, he seemed to be following a pattern the two warring sides had set in reaching or recommitting to an earlier deal to cease hostilities: Temporarily stave off international and regional pressure by signing, then allow it to collapse under the weight of continued fighting. True to form, clashes have continued into September, with each side accusing the other of attacks. Read more.
A victory on the path to maternal healthcare in Uganda →
Irene Nanteza went into labor late on the morning of May 5, 2011. It was her fourth pregnancy, so she and her husband, David Mugerwa, were prepared. By 1:30 p.m. she was checked into the maternity ward at nearby Nakaseke Hospital, one of the best medical facilities in central Uganda. And when the nurse on duty looked in on Nanteza just before her shift ended at 3:30 p.m., she noted that, “everything looked normal.”
Six hours later, her uterus ruptured, Nanteza and her unborn baby were both dead.
Violence in Burundi triggers refugee crisis →
Political turmoil in Burundi has caused tens of thousands of people to flee their homes, many to refugee camps in neighboring countries. Read more.
For Burundi refugees, a shift to long-term temporary status →
As political violence has increased following Burundi’s presidential vote late last month, at least a thousand people continue to flee the country each week — necessitating the continuation of emergency response that has gone on for months. With few of the refugees prepared to return imminently, aid agencies are attempting to implement long-term assistance strategies for the displaced Burundians. And they are doing it all amid a significant funding shortfall. Read more.
McLeod Ernest Chitiyo →
Leading pathologist in Zimbabwe. He was born in Old Umtali Mission, Zimbabwe, on Nov 30, 1932, and died in Harare, Zimbabwe, on March 2, 2015, aged 82 years. Read more.