By Gitonga Njeru in Thika, Kenya The Ministry of Health in Kenya has announced that it will set up a task force responsible to reduce deaths associated with drowning, especially with cases involving young children under the age of ten. Health Cabinet Secretary, Cecily Kariuki confirmed that most of the deaths involve children under…
Roche expands its Global Access Programme
Roche announced on Tuesday that the Global Access Program is expanding beyond HIV, to include Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), Hepatitis B and C (HBV and HCV), and Human Papillomavirus (HPV) for low- and middle-income country programs where the disease burden is the highest. The expansion of the Global Access Program highlights Roche’s commitment to improve access…
WHO lauds Rwanda’s Ebola preparedness efforts
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Thursday commended Rwanda on its ongoing Ebola preparedness efforts and confirmed that no cases of Ebola have been reported from the country to date. “Rwanda has been proactive and engaged in Ebola preparedness at all levels since the outbreak was declared almost one year ago in neighbouring Democratic Republic…
HIV response: Pathway to success revealed
By Henry Opondo Campaigns to encourage HIV testing, particularly among groups that are most affected, free and easy access to treatment at the time of diagnosis with HIV and scale-up of evidence-based HIV prevention, such as voluntary medical male circumcision, pre-exposure prophylaxis and harm reduction have been attributed to lowering of HIV incidences and mortalities…
New studies inform WHO’s decision on the use of dolutegravir in women of childbearing age
The safety of the HIV treatment drug, dolutegravir (DTG), during pregnancy has been one of the most urgent questions in global health for the past year. At the 22nd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2018) last year, data from the Tsepamo study in Botswana suggested that the use of DTG in early pregnancy may be linked…
ECHO study finds high rates of HIV and STIs among young women in 4 African countries
Henry Opondo New evidence from eSwatini, Kenya, South Africa and Zambia presented at the 10th IAS Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2019) in Mexico show high rates of HIV incidence overall among young women in these countries. The highly-publicized Evidence for Contraceptive Options and HIV Outcomes (ECHO) trial, which just a few weeks ago finally…
Ebola response, too little, too late!
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has called on the Director-General of the World Health Organization Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to demonstrate resolute leadership on Ebola or resign. The call, coming shortly after the WHO finally declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on July 17 wants the…
Somalis urged to vaccinate children against polio
Somalia and Puntland health authorities rolled out a polio campaign yesterday to vaccinate more than 940 000 children under 5 years of age to stop an ongoing outbreak of a strain of poliovirus. The campaign runs from 24 to 27 June 2019, with support from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s…