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SOUTH AFRICA: Chakras and children

Twenty years into the pandemic, people are looking for new ways to live withHIV, and for some alternative medicine has become part of the answer. The TsaBotsogo Community Development and TrainingCentre, based in Dobsonville, Soweto, a sprawling township south ofJohannesburg, South Africa, works with teachers to identify vulnerable children in the community and refer them to thecentre’s trained volunteers for counselling. This year the organisation took 30of the children to camp for a week,...

KENYA: Cholera outbreak in Mandera

An outbreak of cholera in Kenya's northeastern district of Mandera has claimed the lives of six people, with the local hospital reporting that about 130 people had sought treatment at the facility during the past week. About 60 patients have been admitted to the hospital, a medical officer from the Mandera District Hospital, who asked not to be named, said, adding that the hospital had asked for more cholera treatment drugs from Garissa, the provincial capital of the Northeastern Province...

LIBERIA: Lassa fever prevention failing

Medical officials in a rural hospital say efforts to prevent outbreaks of Lassa fever, a hard-to treat-disease transmitted by rats, are failing because of a lack of investment in health services and public information. "There are a few health talks and jingles on the radio, but not enough awareness about Lassa fever. Prevention is important because the prognosis of the disease is not very good,” said Jefferson Sibley, a specialist in viral diseases at Phebe Hospital in Bong county, northern...

BURKINA FASO: Some $450 million in medicines for “neglected” diseases

Pharmaceutical companies have pledged some US$450 million worth of medicines to Burkina Faso to fight “neglected” diseases that blind or otherwise debilitate millions of people in the country, according to the health minister. Nearly 4,000 health workers are being deployed throughout the country to prepare for drug distribution and other education and prevention activities, health officials say. The nationwide programme takes on five of what the World Health Organization (WHO) calls “neglected...

Africa's leaders must fulfil pledge to cut appalling child death rate

Today, on the day that the AU-EU summit opens, more than 13,000 African children under the age of five will die, most from easily preventable illnesses, Save the Children said. Save the Children called on African leaders to fulfil their promises made in Abuja in 2001 to spend at least 15% of their annual budgets on health. Martin Kirk, Save the Children's Head of Campaigns and Advocacy, said: "Almost five million children under the age of five die each year in sub-Saharan Africa. "The majority...

The Importance of Healthy Eating, From Cradle To Old Age

Have you ever heard the saying' You are what you eat'? In some sense, this is true, because if you eat unhealthy foods you are prone to be an unhealthy person. The foods we ingest are extremely important to our ability to grow, maintain function, and prevent illness. Therefore, if you value your health, you should learn as much about healthy eating as possible. Healthy eating is important from the day we are born. As a child, we grow quite rapidly and this is due in part to the foods we eat....

Peruvian crater caused by meteor

Peruvian scientists confirmed on September 20 that the crater found Saturday in the Puno region, of Peru by local villagers and blamed for a mass illness affecting 200 people was likely caused by a meteorite. Jose Ishitsuka of Peru's Geophysics Institute, found a 3-inch magnetic fragment that contained iron, which is common in all rocks from space. The impact also registered a magnitude 1.5 earthquake, equivalent to 4.9 tons of dynamite exploding. Jay Melosh, an expert on impact craters and...

Meteorite blamed for mysterious illness in Peru

On Saturday a meteorite slammed into a field outside of Carancas, near Lake Titicaca in the Puno region of Peru on the border of Bolivia. It emitted a sweet but noxious odor. It has now been blamed for a mass illness of "nausea, vomiting, digestive problems and general sickness," according to a local health department official, Jorge López. "Boiling water started coming out of the crater and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby. Residents are very concerned," said López. Police...

DRC: Typhoid confirmed in western Kasai Province

Five cases of typhoid fever have been confirmed in Kampungu, western Kasai Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where investigations for Ebola are ongoing, a UN World Health Organization official said. "We are seeing multiple causes for the reports of illness and death," Gregory Hartl, WHO communications advisor, said on 20 September. "We are not able to say what proportion is suffering from what disease," he added. "The response is complicated because we are dealing with...

CHAD: Floods hit refugees and displaced in east

Heavy rains in eastern Chad have caused rivers to overflow, washing out several camps for Chadians displaced by inter-ethnic fighting and refugees from Sudan’s Darfur region. “It’s already an enormously difficult situation and the heavy rain this year as well as the degradation of the roads have hindered our work,” said Nicolas Kaburabouyou, head of protection for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) at the Goz Beida refugee camp in southeastern Chad. The worst hit area is Koukou, which is the site...