Jim Taylor, University of KwaZulu-Natal and Mark Graham, University of KwaZulu-Natal
In South Africa, a group of citizen scientists who test water quality and log the results on a specialised app have helped keep the water supply for 4.3 million people clean.
The graves of victims who died from cholera in Chingwele Cemetery in Lusaka. Zambia is one of the countries at the epicentre of a devastating outbreak in southern Africa. Luke Dray/Getty Images.
The world’s stockpile of cholera vaccines has run dry, bad news for cholera-ravaged southern Africa. Why is this and what is being done to address vaccine shortages in Africa?
Children and women run in a cloud of dust at the village of El Gel, Ethiopia. Climate change has pushed the Horn of Africa into a catastrophic drought.
Photo by EDUARDO SOTERAS/AFP via Getty Images)
Good legislation has been undermined by poor planning, limited investment and governance, but recent water reports suggest the government recognises the scale of the problems.
The report shows decline in the status of the country’s water supply.
Michele Spatari / AFP via Getty Images
The primary reasons for the systemic collapse include poor operation, defective infrastructure, the absence of disinfection chemicals, and lack of monitoring.
Preventing cholera is more than just making sure your hygiene practices are in order.
Michele Spatari / AFP via Getty Images
The current cholera outbreak is not necessarily an issue with potable water. It’s the result of a combination of factors including dysfunctional and non-compliant wastewater treatment works.
This whirlwind tour of social history describes how infectious diseases have shaped humanity at every stage. It suggests reducing inequality will give us our best chance of surviving future plagues.
Countries around the world were not prepared to respond to COVID-19.
Andrew Wasike Shimanyula/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
A new global dataset shows there is no clear global increase of infectious disease outbreaks over time. And it can suggest which countries would most likely be affected by an outbreak.
Tolerant bacteria are dormant until an antibiotic threat has passed, then reemerge to conduct business as usual.
Christoph Burgstedt/Science Photo Library via Getty Images
Antibiotic resistance has contributed to millions of deaths worldwide. Research suggests that any bacteria can develop antibiotic tolerance, and possibly resistance, when pushed to their limits.
People warm themselves at a fire in front of buildings destroyed by the earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey.
Petros Giannakouris/AP/AAP
The human population has doubled in 48 years, and worsening climate change has left the world facing serious health risks, from infectious diseases to hunger and heat stress.
Moina Spooner, The Conversation and Ina Skosana, The Conversation
Natural disasters associated with climate change put people at risk of injury and death, and alter the prevalence and distribution of illnesses and infectious diseases.
Floods have hit 27 of Nigeria’s 36 states this year.
Sodiq Adelakun/AFP via Getty Images