1. WHO Africa

Feature Stories

Equipping Tanzanian health workers with skills for critical care

Health care workers across Africa are boosting their emergency response skills to tackle COVID-19. Much is still being learned about the pandemic as measures are reinforced to contain rising infection in many countries in the continent. “We were in completely unchartered territory,” says Dr Abel Musa, a critical care specialist at a hospital in Zanzibar, after a recent online training.
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Nigeria drives routine immunization amid COVID-19

At the Hasiya Bayero Paediatric Hospital in downtown Kano, the commercial nerve centre of northern Nigeria, Aisha Iliasu sits patiently among other women and children on a concrete bench in the waiting room. Two large posters providing tips for COVID-19 prevention are taped to the wall beside her.
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‘Let’s fight this together,’ urges Nigerian COVID-19 survivor

Thirty-five-year old Salihu Umar was diagnosed with COVID-19 after returning from a six-day trip to London in March 2020. Although asymptomatic, he tested positive and underwent treatment. Having recovered and back with his family in the Nigerian capital Abuja, the father of three stresses the importance of getting tested especially after having travelled to an area affected by the virus.
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Expanding COVID-19 tests in Africa’s most populous nation

What does it take Africa’s most populous country to curb the spread of COVID-19? When Nigeria reported its first case of the virus on 27 February 2020 it had only five laboratories in four states able to test for COVID-19. As infection spreads to more states the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is ramping up testing capacity. There are now 17 laboratories and plans are afoot to set up one each in all the 36 states. Widespread testing sits at the heart of Nigeria’s COVID-19 battle.
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Malaria vaccine pilot in Africa one year on: new vaccine could boost Kenya’s malaria...

Oblivious to the auspicious occasion, a bundle of children winced and gasped as they received their vaccinations. But in that moment, as they clung even tighter to their mothers, they became Kenya’s first children to receive the malaria vaccine through a historic pilot introduction programme initiated in Africa one year ago. Today, on this World Malaria Day, about 82 000[1] Kenyan children in pilot areas have received their first dose of the vaccine and are benefiting from the added protection against malaria.
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Enhancing COVID-19 response in South Sudan

Juba – The World Health Organization (WHO) is working with South Sudanese health authorities to expand capacity and infrastructure at the Infectious Disease Unit in the capital Juba to help enhance the country’s emergency response to COVID-19.

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Religious leaders join COVID-19 fight in Africa

Abidjan/Nairobi – “You can pray only if you are alive,” quips Abdallah Cissé Djiguiba, one of the grand imams in Cote d’Ivoire. Several African countries have banned gatherings and locked down cities and towns to suppress the spread of COVID-19. With places of worship shut, virtual platforms are not just linking churches and mosques with their congregation but providing space to convey health and safety messages on the virus.

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