Healthcare News in DR Congo

AU Summit: African leaders focus on eradicating malnutrition by 2025

Addressing malnutrition and stunting at the 33rd African Union Summit, it was noted that while African countries have made progress, more needs to be done to hit the United Nations malnutrition eradication targets by 2025...

10 Feb 2020

Fear spreads easily. That's what gives the Wuhan coronavirus economic impact

One way to count the cost of the Wuhan coronavirus is by how many people catch it, and then how many die. Another is the direct financial costs of public health measures to treat those infected and contain its spread...

By Ilan Noy 30 Jan 2020

Successful vaccination against measles in childhood should provide lifetime protection. Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Explainer: a history of the measles virus and why it's so tenacious

The measles virus has been a part of human life for thousands of years. A recent study suggests that it appeared about 4,000 years ago, originating from a virus affecting livestock...

By Matthew Ferrari 28 Jan 2020

Coronavirus does not look like a 'black swan' event - here are some reasons to be cautiously optimistic

The alarm is sounding again. The Asia financial markets were reasonably calm about the new coronavirus until the news of the lockdown of the whole city of Wuhan in China on 23 January...

By Zheng Wang 27 Jan 2020

New estimates show 14.8 million children globally are HIV-exposed but uninfected

In many countries with a high HIV prevalence, at least of children born to mothers living with HIV remain HIV-uninfected...

By Amy Slogrove & Kathleen M Powis 13 Jan 2020

Africa's genetic material is still being misused

Biodiversity - the variation in all living organisms - is one of Africa's richest assets. As a result, its genetic material is coveted by scientists, biotechnology companies and research institutes globally...

By Keymanthri Moodley 9 Jan 2020

6 ways to speed up the UN's health SDGs in Africa

In the last 20 years, there have been several extraordinary gains in addressing critical health challenges, from reducing maternal and child mortality by 45% and 58% respectively to decreasing new HIV infections by 40%...

By Mathieu Lamiaux 7 Jan 2020

#BestofBiz 2019: Healthcare

We've compiled our annual #BestofBiz 2019 lists across all our industries featuring our most popular articles, most-read contributors and brand press offices with the most views...

17 Dec 2019

Admire Dube, associate professor of pharmacy, University of the Western Cape

Using nanomedicine to fight TB

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the world's deadliest infectious diseases. It's massive, it's tricky, and treatment can be exhausting (and toxic). But there may be new hope for TB treatment on the horizon: nanomedicine.

By Nicklaus Kruger 6 Dec 2019

A Nigerian child receives a dose of the polio vaccine. EPA

Complacency could delay the final push to eradicate polio

Great strides have been made in the global effort to eradicate polio. Reported cases of wild poliovirus have decreased by over 99% from an estimated 350,000 cases in 1988 to 33 in 2018...

By Villyen Motaze & Melinda Suchard 5 Dec 2019

Communities can make - or break - strategies to curb HIV

Communities have long played a critical role in the fight against HIV. Their activism and advocacy have greatly influenced the response to HIV/AIDS over the past four decades...

2 Dec 2019

The drug is set to improve HIV treatment. Shutterstock

ARV breakthrough: trial in South Africa confirms effectiveness of new drug

A new antiretroviral drug regimen has been given the go-ahead by the World Health Organisation. This follows the preliminary results from studies that include an ongoing trial in South Africa...

By Michelle Moorhouse & Willem Daniel Francois Venter 29 Nov 2019

Clinical trials underway for adult TB vaccine

An ongoing clinical trial is underway to further evaluate a new tuberculosis (TB) vaccine candidate MTBVAC in an adult endemic population...

21 Nov 2019

6 pharmacy retail trends to watch in 2020

Global pharmaceutical sales are predicted to reach $1567.80 billion by 2023...

By Eben Esterhuizen 18 Nov 2019

TB is still a leading cause of death around the world. Sanjay Baid/EPA-EFE

We are gaining against TB but knowledge gaps remain

Important gains have been made in the global fight against tuberculosis (TB). Each year, fewer people are being diagnosed with the disease...

By Emily Wong, Al Leslie & Mohlopheni Jackson Marakalala 11 Nov 2019

Climate change could increase the threat of malaria in Central Africa

Central Africa is fighting to maintain momentum in its battle with malaria in the face of various health challenges, climate change and other threats...

23 Oct 2019

Unicef carers at a creche for children whose parents are being treated for Ebola. Building health infrastructure is crucial to stopping the next outbreak. Epa/ Hugh Kinsella Cunningham

Investing in health systems is the only way to stop the next Ebola outbreak

The ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) recently surpassed 3,000 infections...

By Emma Glennon & Freya Jephcott 22 Oct 2019

Robotic-assisted total knee replacements a first for Africa

A total knee replacement operation has been carried out using the state-of-the-art Mako robotic arm assisted surgery system for the first time in Africa...

10 Oct 2019

Many families in the DRC can’t routinely access preventive services. Shutterstock

Outbreaks of measles: compounding challenges in the DRC

An outbreak of measles that began in early 2019 in the southeast corner of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has now spread to all 26 provinces. Over 180,000 cases and more than 3,000 deaths have been reported...

By Matthew Ferrari 8 Oct 2019

#StartupStory: Curacel is tackling fraud in healthcare insurance

Curacel is a Nigerian startup that aims to fast track claims processing and detects fraudulent claims for health insurance companies in Africa...

By Evan-Lee Courie 4 Oct 2019

Ebola one year on: the wins, the setbacks, and the way forward

The last five years have witnessed the two biggest outbreaks of Ebola, first in West Africa and currently in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)...

By Shirin Ashraf & Emma Thomson 30 Sep 2019

A health worker spreading disinfectant at a health checkpoint in Goma, DRC. Patricia Martinez/EPA-EFE

Ebola survivors can pass on the virus: we're trying to understand what role sex plays

The current Ebola disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the second largest in history. It has been raging for over a year with no indication that it is nearing an end...

By Andrew L Webb, Brayden G Schindell, Jason Kindrachuk & Jia B Kangbai 27 Sep 2019

Professor Glenda Gray, president of the South African Medical Research Council. Photo: South African Medical Research Council

Hope for HIV vaccine being tested in South Africa

An HIV vaccine candidate - initially tested in Thailand, where it had modest effects - has shown potential in a study in South Africa...

By Elsabé Brits 23 Sep 2019

Tedros Ghebreyesus, embarrassed to only talk about Ebola. Salvatore Di Nolfi/EPA

Over 3,000 killed by deadly virus in Democratic Republic of the Congo this year - and it's not Ebola

Ebola outbreaks, such as the current one in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which has claimed 2,074 people's lives, are widely covered in the media. But another virus is ravaging the DRC with minimal publicity. That virus is measles...

By Jeremy Rossman & Matthew Badham 19 Sep 2019

The oral polio vaccine is most commonly used in the developing world, despite one big problem.
CDC/Alan Janssen, MSPH, CC BY

A newly designed vaccine may help stamp out remaining polio cases worldwide

Public health organisations around the world have been fighting for global eradication of polio since 1988. Through massive vaccination efforts, the incidence of polio has gone down 99% since then, with the virus eradicated from most of the countries on Earth...

By Patricia L Foster 18 Sep 2019

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