The real burden of the disease is way underestimated. Not all the labs in the country are included in the tally an only a few can conduct COVID-19 tests.
Although there is no evidence yet that it affects COVID-19 vaccines, schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease, has been associated with lower vaccine immunity for several vaccines.
Rural Eastern Cape
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The African evidence community has built strong relationships across traditional boundaries. This has allowed researchers to mobilise quickly and effectively to improve policy outcomes.
A baby scale hangs on a tree branch during a malnutrition screening session in Ifotaka, southern Madagascar.
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Michelle J. Groome, National Institute for Communicable Diseases; Adrian Puren, National Institute for Communicable Diseases e Harry Moultrie, National Institute for Communicable Diseases
Communities with high vaccine coverage rates are likely to see lower case numbers, hospitalisations and deaths related to COVID-19 compared to those with poor vaccine coverage.
Emmanuel Osodi/Majority World/Universal Images Group via Getty Images.
Current approaches to expand renewable energy in Ghana are not inclusive of the rural poor.
Women fill plastic shopping bags with light polyethelene plastics to make soccer balls from re-used plastics in Cape Town. Women bear the brunt of joblessness in South Africa.
EFE-EPA/Nic Bothma
Racial and gender disparities in access to work are entrenched features of the South African labour market.
A researcher prepares reagents for testing the samples for the COVID-19 coronavirus at the laboratory of Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)
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Countries must be encouraged to distribute essential healthcare provision - like diagnosis - to where people most need them and where they can be accessed more easily.
mRNA technologies for vaccine production is gaining more prominence
Lulama Zenzile/Die Burger/Gallo Images via Getty Images
Thanks to the collaborative efforts of governments, funding agencies, academia, biotech and pharmaceutical companies, large-scale manufacturing of mRNA drug products is becoming a reality.
South Africa recorded an increased number of teenage pregnancies during COVID-19.
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Dr Kim Jonas, South African Medical Research Council
An increase in the adolescent pregnancy rate strongly suggests challenges with accessing sexual and reproductive healthcare services for this vulnerable age group.
Creating a set of classification and grading rules for each agricultural product has proved cumbersome and added to costs of production.
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To rebuild lost credibility, the South African government can start by listening to social partners and the business sector and implementing less financially costly policies
One tissue donation can save or improve the lives of more than 65 people. So it’s important to unpack and address the reasons South Africans are reluctant to register as tissue and organ donors.
Andrew Gibbs, South African Medical Research Council
Understanding why men may be less likely to get a COVID-19 vaccine is crucial for designing effective vaccination campaigns.
By better communicating how vaccines boost the immune system’s long term “memory”, manufacturers could address vaccine hesitancy.
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At the heart of the issue for school children, parents, caregivers and teachers is to confront from a very young age the question of sex, sexuality and gender.
Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand
Principal Medical Scientist and Head of Laboratory for Antimalarial Resistance Monitoring and Malaria Operational Research, National Institute for Communicable Diseases
Professor and Programme Director, SA MRC Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science - PRICELESS SA (Priority Cost Effective Lessons in Systems Strengthening South Africa), University of the Witwatersrand