Health + Medicine – Views & Research

Man pushing an elderly person in a wheelchair

Health progress in Africa leaves more people living with disabilities: rehabilitation is the next challenge

Ukachukwu Abaraogu, University of the West of Scotland

Child resting their head on their arm, which is on an open book on a table

Power cuts and sleep: students link loadshedding to anxiety, disrupted rest and lower marks

Joshua Davimes, University of the Witwatersrand and Karine Scheuermaier, University of the Witwatersrand

A small child on a woman's lap gets a polio vaccine dose in her mouth from a dropper held by someone wearing blue gloves

Millions of children aren’t getting vaccinated: how mapping tools can help find them

Ann Muthoni Njogu, Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp; Carlo Federici, Bocconi University, and Peter M Macharia, Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp

Fridge-free vaccines could reach more people, but there are still practical challenges in African settings

Charles Shey Wiysonge, Stellenbosch University; South African Medical Research Council and Chinwe Juliana Iwu-Jaja, Stellenbosch University

A woman holds a young child on her lap while another woman aims a dropper at the child's open mouth

South Africa’s HPV vaccination drive to protect girls from cervical cancer is working – what we know after 10 years

Dorothy Nyemba-Machemedze, University of the Witwatersrand and Sinead Delany-Moretlwe, University of the Witwatersrand

Person's arm with blood pressure cuff and monitor

Blood pressure rising: over 50% of Nigerians we tested had hypertension and over 65% didn’t know it

Amam Mbawkem, University of Lagos

Good gut bacteria vs bad: what we learnt about antibiotic resistance from a community in Nairobi

Eric Ng'eno, University of Kansas

Study of 20,000 Nigerians explores the links between drug use, climate change and poverty

Abdullahi Abdulwahab Yakubu, Ahmadu Bello University

A dirt road with a motorcycle on it, heavy clouds in the sky and houses and buildings in the distance.

Snakebites are a far bigger problem than we knew: new study maps the hidden dangers

Dileepa Ediriweera, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Why do some children become seriously ill with COVID? The answer may lie in their genes

Negusse Tadesse Kitaba, University of Southampton; Heather Zar, University of Cape Town, and John W Holloway, University of Southampton

A child receives a swab to test for covid. He is being held by his father, who is wearing a face mask. A female health worker is performing the swab. She is also wearing a face mask.

Child covering their face with their hands

‘Lazy, weak, bewitched’ – how stigma stops Uganda’s children from getting help, and what schools can do about it

Lydia Namatende-Sakwa, African Population and Health Research Center

Nigeria faces the world’s highest projected death toll from super El Niño heat: what could save lives

Michael Greenstone, University of Chicago and Tamma Carleton, University of California, Berkeley

A Nigerien farmer walks through a dry area that is only dotted by two very drought-resistant tree species that barely have any leaves.

79 deaths a day: South Africa’s diabetes crisis needs a new strategy

Patrick Ngassa Piotie, University of Pretoria

A person checking their blood sugar levels

Listen, understand, repeat: the circular approach to good communication in a health crisis

Herkulaas MvE Combrink, University of the Free State

Person wearing a mask over their mouth and nose and looking at a phone

Biokineticists fight disease using exercise science: how to bring their skills to rural patients

Gudani Goodman Mukoma, University of Venda

A woman walking on a deserted rural road

A young child with head tipped back and mouth open to receive drops from a small bottle held by an adult

Vaccination rates are falling in Africa, but a new strategy aims to turn things around. Five things it needs to get right

Charles Shey Wiysonge, Stellenbosch University; South African Medical Research Council

Young South Africans move for work and opportunity. What happens to their health when they do?

Carren Ginsburg, University of the Witwatersrand; Chantel Pheiffer, UMass Boston; Mark A. Collinson, University of the Witwatersrand, and Michael White, Brown University

Landscape with hills, trees and homesteads

Teenage girls may know how to prevent pregnancy – that doesn’t mean they have the power to do it

Deevia Bhana, University of KwaZulu-Natal

Can an ancient virus be brought back to life? What 500-year-old smallpox DNA reveals

Aris Katzourakis, University of Oxford

Blue gloved hand holding a vial of smallpox vaccine in front of the monkeypox virus graphic on a monitor

From split livers to machine perfusion: the 20-year evolution of liver transplants in South Africa

Jerome Loveland, University of the Witwatersrand

Surgeons working on a a patient in an operation theatre

More than just a healthcare issue: the hidden barriers facing pregnant women with disabilities in Lagos

Obasanjo Bolarinwa, York St John University and Abdul-Aziz Seidu, James Cook University

Ageing with HIV: global report highlights the need to prepare health systems

Luicer Anne Ingasia Olubayo, University of the Witwatersrand and Francesc Xavier Gomez-Olive Casas, University of the Witwatersrand

Detailed close-up of an elderly woman's hands crafting with red thread

DRC’s Ebola epidemic could be the worst in history: 4 things that could help end it

Yap Boum, Mbarara University of Science and Technology and Marie Roseline Belizaire, Universidad de Alcalá

Zambia’s national health insurance cuts costs for older people, but funding gaps limit its potential – study

Malizgani Paul Chavula, University of Zambia and Cosmas Zyambo, University of Zambia

Alcohol’s hidden calories: product labels could help fight obesity in South Africa

Siphiwe Dlamini, University of the Witwatersrand

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Health research insights

African genomics research is growing: what countries are doing to connect genetic data and healthcare

Mohamed Zahir Alimohamed, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences

Ocean, desert rainfall and a parasitic disease: researchers connect patterns

Adrià San José Plana, Barcelona Supercomputing Center-Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS); Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) and Xavier Rodo, Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal)

Mountainous desert landscape with patch of green in the valley

A tax on sugary drinks in Egypt could reduce disease and save US$1.8 billion in healthcare costs: modelling study

Lennert Veerman, Griffith University and Yohani Dalugoda, The University of Queensland

Two glasses, one containing a green liquid and the other an orange liquid

The higher your body fat percentage, the less accurate your smartwatch is at measuring calories you burn when exercising – new study

Jason Kostrna, Florida International University

two men putting smartwatches on a man wearing mask sitting on a bike

What helps women eat well? Control over money, time and decisions matters

Lydia O'Meara, Cornell University and Paula Dominguez-Salas, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Women at a street market among displays of food items

More health research insights

Health challenges

People walk across a flat garbage dump with smoke rising from the garbage

African countries could save billions by cutting air pollution and greenhouse gases at the same time

Chris Malley, University of York; Caroline Sawe, University of York, and Kevin Hicks, University of York

Sexual assault survivors’ stories may shift over time – a psychologist explains why it doesn’t mean they’re lying

Michele Patterson Ford, Dickinson College

A Banner saying 'Protect students, not rapists" hangs on the outside of a stone college building

Vaccine hesitancy can’t be boiled down to a single factor: what we learnt in South Africa and Brazil

Camila C. Matos, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC); Charles Shey Wiysonge, Stellenbosch University; South African Medical Research Council, and Marcia Thereza Couto, Universidade de São Paulo (USP)

A person receives an injection with a needle in their upper arm

Respectful maternity care starts with improving hospital culture: lessons from rural South Africa

Tanya Doherty, South African Medical Research Council and Christiane Horwood, University of KwaZulu-Natal

Health workers in a meeting around a table with notebooks; a 'newborn' doll is on the table too

Money, food and survival: what drives paid sex among young mums in 3 African countries

Anthony Idowu Ajayi, African Population and Health Research Center; Beryl Nyatuga Machoka, African Population and Health Research Center, and Caroline W. Kabiru, African Population and Health Research Center

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Mind and body

Can social media bans protect young people’s mental health? Early research suggests that bans aren’t the answer

Ari Lightman, Carnegie Mellon University

How a simple group therapy programme is helping depressed teen mothers in Kenya

Manasi Kumar, New York University; Anne Obondo, University of Nairobi; Caleb Othieno, Maseno University, and Obadia Yator, University of Nairobi

‘Is all my struggle going to be wasted?’ Ghana study explores how mothers feel about early births

Puleng Segalo, University of South Africa and Jacob Owusu Sarfo, University of Cape Coast

Pregnant and parenting teens in Nairobi’s informal settlements: the hidden mental toll of stigma

Anthony Idowu Ajayi, African Population and Health Research Center; Caroline W. Kabiru, African Population and Health Research Center, and Vallery Obure, African Population and Health Research Center

Ghanaian celebrities are dealing with mental illness stigma behind closed doors – why speaking up matters

Lyzbeth King, Ohio University and Mary Kiura, Purdue University Fort Wayne

Health + Medicine – Views & Research – The Conversation

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