Health

Reimagining Education with Imagination

By Yasmine Sherif
The month of May marks mental health awareness month or mental health awareness week in several countries around the world. Many people will be reading posts and blogs about the importance of getting more sunshine and exercise to avoid the blues, about ways to deal with the stress of the pandemic, about dealing with everyday challenges that disrupt our striving for happiness.

COVID-19 Brings Fresh Challenges to Nigeria’s Leprosy-affected

By Sam Olukoya
People affected by leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, are often stigmatised. In countries like Nigeria, many of them end up as beggars due to the psycho- and socio-economic problems they face. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought fresh challenges for them and life is getting increasingly difficult. Sam Olukoya in Lagos takes a look at how people affected by leprosy in Nigeria are faring in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It Takes a Community to Defeat COVID-19

By Shubha Nagesh and Ifeanyi Nsofor
The media is awash with the devastating news of deaths and sufferings due to COVID-19 coming out of India. What most media outlets overlook is the way Indian communities are rallying to save lives, reduce sufferings and stop the current wave of the pandemic.

India Under Siege From Covid-19: The Worst Yet to Come

By Sania Farooqui
The Coronavirus infections and deaths in India recorded a daily high on Monday, 10 May, with 366,161 new infections and 3,754 deaths as reported by the Indian health ministry, taking India's total tally to 22.66 million with 246,116 deaths. Experts have raised a flag stating India's actual figures could be far higher than what is currently being reported.

One Health Approach Key to Tackling Africa’s Challenges

By Olanike Adeyemo
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that global health challenges cannot be solved only by health sector interventions.

US Support for Vaccine Waiver Welcome, but More Needed

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Thanks to President Biden, the US now supports a suspension of intellectual property (IP) rights to increase vaccine supplies. However, without vaccine developers sharing tacit technical knowledge for safe vaccine mass production, it will be difficult to rapidly scale up vaccine output.

How to Assess the Willingness of US to Suspend Patent Protection on Vaccines?

By Riccardo Petrella and Roberto Savio
The news of the Biden Administration's willingness to lift intellectual property rights protections in the case of the Covid-19 pandemic has sent the world into turmoil, even though in recent days this willingness had become increasingly airy.

The Illusion of Digital Inclusion in the Post-COVID World

By Kaveh Zahedi
We are living through a decisive moment. The COVID-19 pandemic’s devasting impact is reaching every corner of the world. As we look back at this period, we will see history divided into a pre-COVID and a post-COVID world.

Africa Goes Digital

By Cristina Duarte
In rebuilding after COVID-19, policymakers must invest in innovative technology to leapfrog obstacles to inclusive development. Africa has enjoyed strong economic growth for most of the 21st century, mainly because of robust global demand for primary commodities.

Dr Aqsa Sheikh: Transgender Doctor Injecting Hope During COVID Pandemic

By Mariya Salim
When Dr Aqsa Sheikh Tweeted and asked if she was the only transgender person to head a vaccination centre, it seemed extraordinary that in a country with 1.3 billion people, that this could be true.

How West African Leaders Can Tackle Youth and Gender Inequities

By Ifeanyi Nsofor, Adaeze Oreh, and John Lazame Tindabil
Recently, both Republics of Benin and Chad held their 2021 national elections. These countries are among thirteen countries on the continent billed to elect new political leaders in 2021 alone. This is a good opportunity to improve conditions on the continent. Indeed, the COVID-19 pandemic has magnified other issues on the continent like youth unemployment that better leadership could help improve.

High-Dose Vitamin D Supplements Significantly Reduce ICU Admissions & COVID-19 Deaths

By Sunil J. Wimalawansa
There is considerable evidence that vitamin D reduces the risk and severity of COVID-19 (Mercola 2020 ; Wimalawansa, 2020). More than 50 clinical studies have published confirming that high doses of vitamin D administered early in persons with COVID-19 significantly reduce complications and the need for ICU admissions.

COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Kicks Off in Africa’s Most Populous Country

By Leon Usigbe*
Since the COVID-19 vaccination began in the US in mid-December 2020, Africa had been looking forward to its turn. For Nigeria, that time came on 2nd March 2021 when the first batch of 3.9 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine arrived in the country from the Serum Institute of India.

UN Women Launches New Programme to Foster Economic Participation in Care Industry

By Eugenia Shevchenko, Lotte-Marie Brouwer and Minji Kwag*
The lockdowns and illnesses brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have dramatically increased the need to care for children, the elderly and the sick. And in societies where gender inequality and biased norms persist, most of this burden has fallen on women, many of whom have had to leave their regular jobs with no idea of when they can return.

A Year Later, COVID-19 Continues to Show the Fragility of Food Security

By Mario Lubetkin
More than a year after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, food and nutrition security continues to show its fragility.

A Free & Accessible Vaccine is Just out of Reach for Palestinians

By Laila Barhoum
We were able to keep the coronavirus at bay for five months in Gaza, the densely populated Palestinian strip of land surrounded by Israel that I call home. But the Coronavirus doesn’t respect walls or artificial borders. While preparations were made for the pandemic to inevitably breach a blockade so few Palestinians can, we waited for it to come for us. And it did.

Why Variants are Most Likely to Blame for India’s COVID Surge

With more than 300,000 new COVID cases a day and hospitals and crematoria facing collapse, Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called the situation in India “beyond heartbreaking”.

State of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka: Are Government Policies Effective in Controlling it?

By Sunil J. Wimalawansa
The SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19) affected the entire world; many died, millions got sick, and the misery continues. Second and third waves of SARS.Cov-2 infection are devastating most countries.

Addressing the Impact of COVID-19 on Infants and Young Children

By Erum Mariam
Conventional wisdom is that the health of young children is not at great risk from COVID-19, but, in the Global South, the space constraints imposed on young children by the pandemic pose a significant risk to the stimulation on which brain development thrives. Early childhood development is further jeopardized by the pandemic’s impact on caregivers.

Pathogens, Public Health, & Political Will: Why Sustained Leadership is Critical

By Joy Phumaphi and Sarthak Das
The occasion of World Malaria Day amidst a global pandemic warrants an examination of the intersection between our decades long battle against the world’s oldest known fever and the newest known pathogen fueling a global pandemic.

On World Malaria Day, We Must Step Up Efforts to Combat Malaria

By Hervé Verhoosel
Despite its 229 million cases and 409,000 deaths in 2019, malaria is an overlooked epidemic. The emergence of COVID-19 has thrown health systems into disarray and forced countries to shift their focus from malaria to the pandemic response, threatening to reverse 20 years of malaria gains.
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