An initiative to boost yellow fever diagnostic capacity across Africa has ‘revolutionised’ diagnostics on the continent, one of the programme’s coordinating agencies, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, said today. The initiative is part of the implementation of the Eliminate Yellow Fever Epidemics (EYE) strategy and brings together different partners including WHO, UNICEF, CDC, the Institut Pasteur…
Antiviral drug Codivir shows promising effect against COVID-19
Codivir, a short synthetic 16 amino-acid peptide, derived from the HIV-1 integrase, was originally discovered at the Hebrew University in Israel. Code Pharma discovered that the peptide had a direct antiviral effect against SARS-CoV-2, the novel Coronavirus causing COVID-19. In-vitro studies conducted at the British virology research laboratory Virology Research Services in London then demonstrated…
An integrated approach required to improve health quality and outcomes in Africa
The global commitment to reach the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 include providing high-quality promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative, and palliative health services to all communities. However, a recent joint global report by the World Health Organisation, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the World Bank Group, found that quality of care, particularly in…
Graft negatively affecting Kenya’s maternal and infant health
By Gitonga Njeru charles.njeru@gmail.com Experts fear that corruption could reverse the gains made on maternal and infant deaths in Kenya. There has been widespread corruption in most government-owned facilities in the country and a few private hospitals. Documented cases of doctors, nurses and clinical workers being arrested for selling medicines and food supplements abound…
Hope for residents as Narok gets new sanitation system
Until late 2020, Narok had no sanitation system. The County had set aside a quarry near Narok town as a disposal area, but this was shut down in 2019 by the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) after the quarry got full and was spilling into the adjacent Enkare Narok River. However, this has now been rectified,…
West Africa’s first-ever case of Marburg virus disease confirmed in Guinea
Health authorities in Guinea have confirmed a case of Marburg virus disease in the southern Gueckedou prefecture. This is the first time Marburg, a highly infectious disease that causes haemorrhagic fever, has been identified in the country, and in West Africa. Marburg, which is in the same family as the virus that causes Ebola, was…
KMTC launches Kshs 14 million simulation laboratory
The Kenya Medical Training (KMTC), in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Gradian Health Systems has launched a Kshs 14 million Simulation Laboratory to train health workers for the country. The laboratory, the first of its kind in a Public Medical Training Institution, will help Kenya churn out critical care health workers needed in…
COVAX and World Bank to accelerate vaccine access for developing countries
COVAX and the World Bank will accelerate COVID-19 vaccine supply for developing countries through a new financing mechanism that builds on Gavi’s newly designed AMC cost-sharing arrangement. This allows AMC countries to purchase doses beyond the fully donor-subsidized doses they are already receiving from COVAX. COVAX will now be able to make advance purchases from…