Malaria
Why the final push to eliminate malaria in SADC is so difficult
Dr Jaishree Raman is a Principal Medical Scientist and the head of the Laboratory for Antimalarial Resistance Monitoring and Malaria Operational Research at South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases. Malaria exerts a huge public health burden on communities within…
Malaria Progress Under Threat
By Hannah Zhihan Jiang South Africa is edging closer to eradicating malaria but experts warn that drug resistance now poses a significant challenge to progress made in the last twenty years. The World Malaria Report 2022 confirms South Africa recorded…
Malaria vaccine: the road has been long and tortuous, but we’re getting there
A vaccine candidate, called R21, has been shown to be up to 80% effective at preventing malaria in young children, according to the latest trial results. This follows from a study published in 2021 from the same team at Oxford…
Major boost to South Africa’s Aids, TB and Malaria programmes
The Global Fund has donated R8.8-billion to South Africa to fight HIV/Aids, tuberculosis, and malaria. The grant, which runs for three years from April 2022 until March 2025, gives a major boost to the country’s efforts to eradicate these diseases.…
NCDs: ‘World has lost focus during COVID-19 pandemic’
A global health advisor believes that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have lost ground as the world continues to grapple with COVID-19 two years on. The impact of losing sight of the fight against diseases like tuberculosis and cancers will be felt…
Malaria vs COVID-19: Shared symptoms cause havoc
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has raised a red flag that many malaria cases are being misdiagnosed as COVID-19. This is as South Africa enters its peak malaria season. Both have non-specific early symptoms like fever, chills, headaches,…
Climate change: An ideal breeding ground for malaria
Climate change could pose huge obstacles in the fight against malaria given heavy rains and high temperatures – perfect conditions for the deadly disease to flourish. An article in the United Nations’ UN Chronicle, titled ‘Climate Change on Malaria –…