Health extension workers in Ethiopia have had a measurable impact on interconnected challenges such as child marriage, teenage pregnancy, and school dropout.
As diabetes progresses, insulin injections become the only treatment option. But the transition from oral medication to injectable insulin is often a bumpy one.
Unless special attention is given to conflict and HIV the war will undermine the achievement of the 2030 goals to end AIDS, discrimination, and new infections.
Pregnant women and mothers of infants are at a higher risk of experiencing depression because of increased pressures they face economically, in their relationships, with their families, and socially.
Relying on donor funding means that the funder ultimately determines the health priorities. This is one reason why many programmes in Africa focus on a single disease such as HIV.
Men can practically help their partners access care by assisting with the costs of attending clinical appointments such as transportation, health insurance, and meals while on route to the clinic.
Where there are not enough health workers to deliver medical care, one solution is to move certain tasks to less specialised health workers, a process called task-shifting.
Health surveillance assistants provide services in village clinics, mainly by assessing signs and symptoms in sick children. An electronic community case management app could make their job easier.
In the wake of COVID-19, researchers can become trusted figures of authority who can re-appropriate their networks, skills and knowledge to better the lives of vulnerable populations.
South Africa’s disaster management plan targets the most vulnerable. But it needs to respond in a more deliberate way when it comes to people with disabilities.
To contain COVID-19, African countries cannot rely just on doctors and nurses, who are already in short supply and at high risk of infection in the workplace.
Professor and PhD programme convenor, Division of Disability Studies, and co-lead of Inclusive Practices Africa, Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town