In rural Ghana, only 18% of patients believe elephantiasis is a disease. Some others think it is caused by curses or even rain. Only by understanding local beliefs can it be treated effectively.
A woman watches over a child with malaria at a hospital near Abidjan.
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The past two years have seen groundbreaking advances in the fight against malaria with the development of two vaccines. But demand far exceeds supply, so rollouts need to be carefully managed.
Africa bears the heaviest burden of antimicrobial resistance, a phenomenon fuelled largely by poverty, But there are encouraging signs that the continent is taking action to fight it.
Acinetobacter baumannii is a multidrug-resistant pathogen.
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Antimicrobial resistance is an epidemic that kills close to 5 million people annually. The solutions are complex and must take into account the needs of the poor.
Open sewage at Kenya’s largest slum, Kibera, in Nairobi.
Photo credit: Chiba Yasuyoshi/AFP via Getty Images
Hellen Gitau, African Population and Health Research Center; Blessing Mberu, African Population and Health Research Center; Kanyiva Muindi, African Population and Health Research Center, and Samuel Iddi, African Population and Health Research Center
The impact of housing quality extends beyond health to education and subsequent economic outcomes, particularly for children.
It’s crucial that medical professionals learn to collaborate.
Katleho Seisa
Countries that have adopted clear food labels have seen the health benefits. Researchers explain how a new system to alert South African consumers to unhealthy choices was developed.
Xhosa boys undergoing ulwaluko, one of three rituals covered in the study.
Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images
The three flu pandemics of the 20th century originated from birds, making it critical to fight bird flu. Breakthroughs in gene-editing chickens show promise for eliminating the disease in the future.
A wasteland of concrete and rubble, the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes and artillery bombardments in Gaza City
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Kristen Choi, University of California, Los Angeles
Children have constant access to media coverage of armed conflicts, terrorist attacks, mass shootings and other brutal acts. This makes it tough for them to develop a sense of hope for the future.
Pollution is affecting fishing in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP.
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Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand
Principal Medical Scientist and Head of Laboratory for Antimalarial Resistance Monitoring and Malaria Operational Research, National Institute for Communicable Diseases
Professor and Programme Director, SA MRC Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science - PRICELESS SA (Priority Cost Effective Lessons in Systems Strengthening South Africa), University of the Witwatersrand