Healthcare Challenges and Trends in Africa Bring Opportunities for Innovation to Improve Health
Africa is the second largest continent by population size, home to over 16% of the world’s population. For years, the continent has experienced healthcare infrastructure challenges, including too few doctors or specialists, with only 0.2 physicians for every 1 000 people, equivalent to 1/10th of the available doctors elsewhere in the world. This has a negative […]
The Blood Bank Boom: How Private Investment is Transforming Africa’s Blood Supply
Many of us have witnessed firsthand the devastation caused by blood shortages in African communities. Despite advances in blood transfusion and its critical role in saving lives and improving health outcomes, many African nations continue to face challenges in ensuring adequate and safe blood supply. According to the World Health Organization, developing nations have unequal […]
From Diagnosis to Debt: “The Impact of Cancer Treatment on African Households”
Cancer has a far-reaching impact, affecting millions of people and causing nearly 10 million deaths worldwide in 2020, which accounts for about one in every six deaths. [i]. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that Africa, home to over 1.4 billion people, which makes up 18% of the global population, is particularly susceptible to HPV […]
Reducing the Cancer Burden Amongst Men
Cancer is the third leading cause of death in Kenya and causes over 27,000 deaths each year (Globocan, 2020). This is despite 30-50% of cancers being preventable through vaccination, risk reduction, screening and early detection which would markedly reduce the burden of cancer (WHO, 2021) Among Kenyan men, the leading cancers are prostate cancer (21.9 […]
Diabetes – An Urgent Need for Multilateral Efforts to Provide Access to Treatment and Health Education
To have or not to have sugar? World Diabetes Day (WDD) takes place on November 14 and was created in 1991 by International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization in response to growing concerns about the escalating health threat posed by diabetes. WDD became an official United Nations Day in 2006 and is reaching a […]
Connecting the Dots for Men’s Health Through the Global Health Connector Partnership
The digital health is health landscape in Africa is growing at an exponential rate, with Sub-Saharan Africa being an implementation hub of digital health innovations as a tool towards health systems strengthening on the continent. The COVID-19 pandemic proved a pivotal time for the scale-up of digital health innovations, with the overloading of the already […]
“You can’t act if you don’t know”: Empower African Medical Professionals with Health Systems Knowledge
Medical professionals spend hundreds, if not thousands, of hours in pre-clinical and clinical settings prior to joining the workforce. While this is vital, we noticed that many are not aware of the wider health ecosystem in which they operate in that is how the various stakeholders, roles and responsibilities contribute to the work environment. In […]
World Mental Health Day: Let’s Make Mental Health a Global, and an Everyday Priority
World Mental Health Day is a global event that aims to promote and raise awareness about, and eradicate stigma associated with mental health conditions. It was first observed in 1992 and it is commemorated every year on 10th October. The theme of the day this year is to make mental health and well-being for all […]
Revolutionise: Boosting Africa’s Infectious Disease Surveillance and Response Capabilities
Infectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, are diseases caused by pathogenic microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. Some of these diseases can easily be spread from one individual to another, directly or indirectly. The major infectious diseases causing morbidity and mortality in Africa include malaria, HIV/ AIDS, acute respiratory tract infections, diarrhea, […]
Pharmacists United in Action for a Healthier World
25th September was chosen as the date for World Pharmacists Day as a memorial of the formation of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) which occurred on the same day in 1912. FIP is the global body that represents pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists. The day was chosen to recognize the role that pharmacists play in society […]
