For more than a decade, Zimbabwe's healthcare system has been in a state of collapse. Hospitals have been without basic supplies, and health workers regularly strike over unpaid wages and poor working conditions. With Robert Mugabe forced out of the presidency in November after 37 years in power, there are now crucial questions about how quickly the new administration can turn the health system around – or whether it will. Read more.
Specialist in tropical medicine and health administration who was founder of the Yemen Red Crescent Society. Born in Sana'a, Yemen, on Feb 26, 1941, he died from complications after heart surgery in Sana'a on Aug 31, 2017, aged 76 years. Read more.
Surgeon and chairman of the University of Nairobi's Department of Human Anatomy. Born in Nairobi, Kenya, on Aug 3, 1965, he died of cancer in Nairobi on Aug 29, 2017, aged 52 years. Read more.
Angola's economy has been devastated by a global collapse in oil prices and the country's health sector is suffering as a result, with widespread shortages of critical medicines and supplies. The health system had experienced uneven development in the wake of a decades-long civil war that ended in 2002, but the government and its partners had made advances in improving access to health services and reducing the spread of communicable diseases. Those accomplishments are now at risk. Read more.
Zambia is moving forward with mandatory HIV testing for all patients who visit government health facilities, according to Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya. The move appears to contradict WHO recommendations against mandatory or coerced testing. And it has sparked an outcry among international and local HIV activists, who are pushing the government to reverse its decision. Read more.
South African HIV and gender rights activist. Born in Wattville, South Africa, on July 21, 1971, she died from pneumonia in Johannesburg, South Africa, on July 10, 2017, aged 45 years. Read more.
The Ukrainian government is looking to shoulder more of the burden of the response to its HIV epidemic in the midst of a complicated health care overhaul. Read more.
Outbreaks of infectious diarrheal diseases in Yemen, Somalia, and Ethiopia are devastating communities already suffering from conflict, drought, and potential famine, global health officials have warned. Read more.
On May 12, officials declared an outbreak of Ebola virus disease in a remote area of the northern DR Congo. The WHO reported 37 cases of infection, including one confirmed and three probable deaths from EVD. The outbreak triggered a response involving more than 13 international agencies and could prompt the roll-out of an Ebola vaccine candidate, pending government approval of its use. Read more.
Leading Ugandan psychiatrist and advocate for health professionals. Born in Jinja, Uganda, on Oct 25, 1957, she died from colon cancer in Chennai, India, on Feb 4, 2017, aged 59 years. Read more.
An interview with Patrick Phiri, the health coordinator for the Malawi Red Cross, who is based in the country's capital, Lilongwe. Read more.
Gambia's new president has stated that maternal and child health will be his first priority and experts are hoping for a new focus on health in the country. Read more.
It has been more than 6 months since the last diagnosis of Ebola in Guinea, Sierra Leone or Liberia. The three west African countries suffered nearly all of the more than 28,600 diagnosed cases and 11,300 deaths during the outbreak that began in December 2013 in a Guinean village.
Although the outbreak has ended, the scale of the epidemic collapsed these countries' health systems, while unleashing new medical crises. The capacity to treat even basic illnesses is now limited, while health needs of Ebola survivors stretch the services that do remain. With Ebola having killed health workers at a disproportionate rate, the years-long efforts to rebuild the health systems are only just beginning. Officials in all three settings acknowledge that the task ahead is immense.
For millions of patients, HIV has been transformed into a highly treatable, chronic condition thanks to the development and distribution of increasingly sophisticated combination therapies. These advances have come with another unanticipated outcome, though. Researchers and health workers now worry they may lose patients they have saved from AIDS-related illnesses to non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cervical cancer, depression, and diabetes. Read more.
An interview with Claire Reading, a British midwife who is on her second mission with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), serving as a midwife supervisor at a primary care health clinic in the remote South Sudanese town, Bentiu. Read more.