Unhealthy food corporations use various tactics to undermine public health policies aimed at tackling the scourge of non-communicable diseases like diabetes and obesity.
Household air pollution in Nairobi is primarily driven by fuels burnt for cooking and lighting.
EPA/Dai Kurakawa
Kanyiva Muindi, African Population and Health Research Center and Blessing Mberu, African Population and Health Research Center
Research in Kenya’s capital found average levels of hazardous solid and liquid particles in the air within households were three times more than the WHO recommended maximum level.
A canoe ride on a flooded street in Ajegunle, a densely populated area in Lagos, Nigeria.
EPA/George Esiri
Although the number of children conceived through in vitro fertilisation born with abnormalities remains extremely low, a recent study in Kenya shows that the risk of genetic disorders is higher.
Precision medicine matches patients with interventions, rather than just matching treatments to illnesses.
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People with the same condition can respond differently to the same treatment. This is why personalised treatment is so important in all fields of medicine, including psychology.
Rwandan girls were targeted in the country’s successful HPV vaccination programme.
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Rwanda’s vaccination programme for girls against HPV, the most common sexually transmitted disease was a huge success, thanks to implementation science.
New reports that stopping antibiotics when you feel better is better for you could do more harm than good. But it has reopened the debate on how long antibiotics should be used.
There is value in including different populations in genetic research studies as has been shown in a study on exfoliation syndrome, which leads to glaucoma.
The WHO recommends donor human milk as the next best infant feeding option.
Saul Martinez/Reuters
Human milk banks play an important role in ensuring the safe supply of breast milk. This is made available to babies whose mothers are unable to breastfeed.
In many parts of Africa rodents often cause crop losses.
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Agricultural pests are one of the key factors affecting small holder farmer production. Focus is normally put on invertebrate pests, but rodents can do severe damage to crops as well.
Contraceptives lie at the heart of proper family planning but in Nigeria uptake has been slow.
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Nigeria must reduce its population growth to increase the quality of life for people in the country. A better knowledge of contraceptives can help achieve this.
Scientists estimate that by 2020, non-communicable disease will account for almost 70% of the total disease burden.
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Cholera is caused by a lack of access to clean drinking water and unhygienic conditions. Misuse of antibiotics makes it difficult and expensive to treat outbreaks.
If not treated properly, hypertension can lead to strokes, heart attacks or kidney failure.
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The best cure against a snakebite is to avoid being bitten at all. Here is what you need to know about snakebites, antivenom, and what you need to do if bitten.
South African health authorities educate the public about breastfeeding but without supportive legislation and strong communication, it will never be normalised.
A malaria vaccine will be piloted in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi to assess its suitability.
Siegfried Modola/Reuters.
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