Africas Archives - Mediarabe

Train Faith Leaders to Tackle Africa’s Mental Health Needs

October 14, 2020

Africa, Headlines, Health

Opinion

In countries like Malawi, there are simply not enough mental health professionals to go around. The local faith community can help fill this void. Credit: Unsplash /Melanie Wasser.

BLANTYRE, Malawi, Oct 14 2020 (IPS) – The world is actually in the throes of two pandemics. The first is COVID-19. The second is the wave of stress and anxiety, depression and substance use it has unleashed around the world. Most mental health disorders are treatable.

This so called “second pandemic” is raging in poor and wealthy countries alike. But across Africa, and in much of the Global South, people facing mental health crises have nowhere to turn.

The reason is that governments and aid agencies are not making the investments needed to provide these services. In the lead up to “World Mental Health Day,” the World Federation for Mental Health recently released new statistics on the share

South Africa’s Biovac in talks to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines

October 14, 2020

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| Health Article

By Wendell Roelf and Alexander Winning

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – A South African company part-owned by the government is in talks with the global COVID-19 vaccine distribution scheme and pharmaceutical companies to produce some of the vaccines the country needs to protect itself against the disease.

The Biovac Institute, a Cape Town-based joint venture between the government and private sector, could produce up to 30 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines per year, depending on the technology involved, Chief Executive Morena Makhoana told Reuters.

Depending on whether the vaccines require a one- or two-dose regimen, that could be enough for a quarter or half of South Africa’s population.

“We need to look at who is likely to get to the finishing line and who has the technological fit,” Makhoana said, when asked which vaccine candidate Biovac might partner with. “Discussions are happening and we are fairly confident that … we will

Puzzled scientists seek reasons behind Africa’s low fatality rates from pandemic

September 29, 2020

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| Health News

a person in a blue chair: A health worker walks between beds at a temporary field hospital set up by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Khayelitsha township near Cape Town

© Reuters/MIKE HUTCHINGS
A health worker walks between beds at a temporary field hospital set up by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Khayelitsha township near Cape Town

By Alexander Winning

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Africa’s overburdened public health systems, dearth of testing facilities and overcrowded slums had experts predicting a disaster when COVID-19 hit the continent in February.

The new coronavirus was already wreaking havoc in wealthy Asian and European nations, and a United Nations agency said in April that, even with social-distancing measures, the virus could kill 300,000 Africans this year.

In May the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that 190,000 people on the continent could die if containment measures failed. Yet as the world marks 1 million COVID-19 deaths, Africa is doing much better than expected, with a lower percentage of deaths than other continents.

The continent’s case fatality count stands at 2.4%,

Puzzled Scientists Seek Reasons Behind Africa’s Low Fatality Rates From Pandemic | World News

September 29, 2020

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| Health Article

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Africa’s overburdened public health systems, dearth of testing facilities and overcrowded slums had experts predicting a disaster when COVID-19 hit the continent in February.

The new coronavirus was already wreaking havoc in wealthy Asian and European nations, and a United Nations agency said in April that, even with social-distancing measures, the virus could kill 300,000 Africans this year.

In May the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that 190,000 people on the continent could die if containment measures failed. Yet as the world marks 1 million COVID-19 deaths, Africa is doing much better than expected, with a lower percentage of deaths than other continents.

The continent’s case fatality count stands at 2.4%, with roughly 35,000 deaths among the more than 1.4 million people reported infected with COVID-19, according to Reuters data as at late Monday. In North America, it is 2.9% and in Europe 4.5%

Hard-hit countries such

Help Africa’s Contribution to Global Health

September 27, 2020

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| Global Health

Sept. 9, 2020 3:49 pm ET

A student had his temperature checked at a school in Lagos, Nigeria, on Aug. 26.

Photo:

akintunde akinleye/Shutterstock

“Sub-Saharan Africa Masks Scope of Crisis” (Aug. 31) provides a powerful glimpse into the devastating impact of Covid-19. U.S. investments in Africa over the past several decades have saved millions of lives and created healthier communities. But the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has warned that if such programs continue to be disrupted by the pandemic, deaths from these three diseases could as much as double.

It’s time we recognize that global health security is national security. The ability of other countries to prepare for and respond to outbreaks directly affects our own health security and compels us to rethink how we approach development assistance, cooperation, innovation and international organizations. In its next emergency Covid-19 supplemental bill, the U.S. Congress must reaffirm America’s

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A student had his temperature checked at a school in Lagos, Nigeria, on Aug. 26.