Giving Life to the Vulnerable and Underserved in Hard-to-reach Ethiopia
Africa CDC staff In 2022, 61-year-old Mr Mebrhatu Gebreegziabher received his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic, and as a pensioner residing in the remote, hard-to-reach area of Agebe village, Tanqa Milash woreda, Tigray Region in the northern part of Ethiopia, he looked forward to receiving a second dose to further protect […]
The legacy of Cold Chain Equipment Optimization in Africa
COVID-19 health response lasts the mile on the continent | By Africa CDC staff In 2021, faced with the possibility of receiving up to 900 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to vaccinate 70% of Africa’s population, Dr John Nkengasong, the then Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), tasked his […]
Outreach campaigns increasing access to reproductive health services for Kenyan women
By Sharon Atieno In her fourth month of pregnancy, Lilian Clinton, 35, a resident of Naningoi village, Kajiado county near Nairobi, Kenya had started experiencing severe headaches and difficulty in breathing. Work that she would do comfortably, became too difficult and strenuous. She would spend most of her time sleeping. A community health promoter (CHP) […]
Programme at the Core of Intervention against Cancer causing Virus
School girls in Kenya display their human papillomavirus (HPV) cards after vaccination | By Sharon Atieno It is almost 5pm in the evening, when we arrive at Oiti Glory Comprehensive School, Kajiado county, nearly 100km to the southeast of Nairobi. A team of health workers from the county government of Kajiado is packing their tools […]
From Hesitancy to Confidence
How community engagement changed vaccine uptake in Abuja community | Lara Adejoro In the early days of Nigeria’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign, one barrier proved more stubborn than supply chain logistics: public trust. From urban centres to rural communities, skepticism, misinformation, and historical grievances left many unwilling to get vaccinated. When the vaccination began in March […]
Woman Embarks on Farming after Losing Cows to Drought
By Diana Meneto For decades, the Maasai community has solely relied on livestock keeping as their source of income. This, however, has been greatly affected by climate change which has brought about frequent and severe droughts leading to water scarcity and pasture loss, which have caused loss of numerous livestock. Severe loss of livestock especially […]
Targeted Medical Outreaches Boosting Healthcare Services in Kajiado
By Diana Maneto In the sleepy Intinyika village in Kajiado Central constituency, we find Lilian Sision, a mother of four humming lullabies to her one-month-old, soothing her for an afternoon nap. Sision, though a mother of three other children, sees her fourth child as a miracle due to what she underwent when she was pregnant. […]
Rural mothers find hope in Kajiado’s Maternal Health Revolution
By Tebby Otieno The chirping of birds at dawn has become the soundtrack to hope for mothers across rural Kenya. In villages where the nearest hospital requires a day’s journey and cultural beliefs can prove deadlier than disease, a quiet revolution is unfolding—one motorcycle ride, one knock on the door, one saved life at a time. […]
Door-to-Door Mobilisation Under SLL Brings Healthcare Closer to Children and Elderly in Gokwe
By Michael Gwarisa From a distance, a thick cloud of dust rose above the Mopane-strewn horizon on the southern side of Muchohwe Primary School, deep in Chief Chireya’s territory in Gokwe North. Minutes later, a white twin-cab vehicle emerged, prompting cheers and ululation from the gathered community. The vehicle carried more than just people. It was […]
Counting Saved Lives during COVID-19 Vaccination in Nigeria
By Ojoma Akor Kashima Iziaq Yusuf was convinced to get vaccinated for COVID-19 in 2021 because of the sensitization exercise carried out by the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS) in Karshi community of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria. She narrated that she was initially hesitant to take the COVID-19 vaccine due to […]