Mpox crisis hits the DRC hard; hospitals overwhelmed. Javier Guzman, Director of Global Health Policy at the Center for Global Development discusses response delays and solutions.
A recent study shows that Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia are increasing in Africa at the same rate as the ageing population. People with dementia behave strangely and lose their memory. In Zambia, this neurological condition has long been associated with witchcraft. An organisation called Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementia in Zambia has been working to raise awareness, hoping to draw the attention of the authorities to the condition and avoid stigmatisation of the patients.
Franco-Beninese Bola Bardet is the founder and CEO of Insurtech/HealthTech Susu. She is developing her start-up covering Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon. Susu is a digital e-health platform that provides the African diaspora with healthcare for their loved ones residing on the continent. Services offered by Susu include preventive care, medical coverage in the country of residence and abroad, monitoring of chronic diseases and logistical support services to beneficiaries.
Last month, Yaoundé became the second city in Cameroon after Douala to benefit from the services of the Clinic-Home digital platform. Without leaving home, the Clinic-Home platform facilitates home medical consultations, teleconsultations, laboratory tests, medication delivery, nursing care or physiotherapy. This innovation was set up four years ago by Dr Philippe Ohandja, founder and medical director of E-Santé (E-Health) Cameroun.
Malaria is one of the most dreaded diseases in Africa. Artemisia, a shrub that can be cut several times a year to make herbal teas, seems to be an effective remedy with great healing properties. Sosthène Massamba Kolela, founder of the Agria Loango educational farm near Pointe Noire in Congo, has made it his mission to promote the virtues of this plant.
In Benin, many people choose to treat themselves with plants. According to the Beninese, the ancestral know-how of traditional African medicine should not be neglected in medical research in general.
