Previous Months

Birds maybe possible reservoir for Ebola virus. Researchers have speculated that birds maybe the elusive reservoir of Ebola virus, having noted the similarities between Ebola and avian retroviruses

Outbreaks in Africa  - January – June 2003 (including Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARS) There have been 11major outbreaks involving 5 diseases, over 17,000 cases and 1,556 deaths have been reported in Africa in the first 6 months of 2003.

Comment
The Fight against HIV/AIDS - A decidedly mixed picture but more good than bad. Good news and bad news from the HIV/AIDS front.

Comment
HIV “Superspreaders" - the need for education and behavioral change in the medical and pharmaceutical industry. Recent research also implicates unsafe medical practices, in helping to spread the HIV-1 virus in West Africa. The research suggests that needle transmission via vaccination campaigns in Guinea-Bissau in the 1960’s ....

SARS & HIV “Superspreaders” - most people who get SARS do not infect anyone else, but some individuals appeared to be responsible for transmitting the disease to dozens and sometimes hundreds of others. Such individuals are known as "superspreaders"......

Ever since a paper was published claiming that unsafe injections and needle practices are a significant route for the transmission of AIDS there has been controversy in the scientific establishment. But the story will just not go away, the controversy will not end. More and more evidence and research keeps coming to light supporting the claim that unsafe injections have played a significant role in spreading HIV/AIDS in Africa.

On April 25th, we will all celebrate Africa Malaria Day.

The theme for this year's event is:'Insecticide Treated Nets and effective malaria treatment for pregnant women and young children by 2005'

Disease surveillance, outbreaks and emerging diseases in Africa- Not always Out of Africa. For the past few weeks the world’s attention has been riveted by the emergence of yet another new disease to threaten mankind. But this time it is not from out of Africa

World Health Day April 7, 2003

Reducing maternal deaths is the challenge of the new millennium in the African region. In its Health for All Policy for the 21^st Century in the African region: Agenda 2020, the WHO Regional Office for Africa calls for a 50% reduction of maternal mortality by 2020. 

Women have been producing children from the beginning of time. Childbirth is one of the natural miracles of the world. But in Africa too often the birth of a child becomes an occasion for grief due to the death of the mother and /or baby.  Over 250,000 African women die from pregnancy related complications every year.

Famine Spreads in Africa: On a scale not seen in Africa in nearly two decades, famine is once again stalking the continent. According to estimates by the UN's World Food Programme (WFP), as many as 38 million Africans are living under the threat of starvation, and many will succumb if emergency relief does not reach them...

In Nigeria, youth account for over 30% of all HIV/AIDS cases in the nation. The rising HIV/AIDS epidemic amongst Nigerian youth prompted two young women Damilola Adebiyi and Fadekemi Akinfaderin to do something about it.

Opinion / Comment

Injections and needles may have contributed to the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa according to an article that recently appeared in the International Journal of STDs and AIDS. The story has ignited a storm of controversy. Some scientists rejected the findings of the research outright calling the study flawed.

Opinion / Comment
President Bush's pledge to increase funding by $15 billion for HIV/AIDS in Africa and overseas is a tremendous boost to the war against AIDS and a refreshingly welcome development against the backdrop of beating drums for the war against Iraq.

Malaria is a deadly plague that kills millions of African children every year and is a scourge must be fought and DDT is at the moment the cheapest and most effective tool.