BBC In a major step in the fight against Ebola, the World Health Organization (WHO) has approved the world’s first ever vaccine against Ebola. The drug, called Ervebo and manufactured by MERCK pharmaceuticals, was being used in an experimental phase in the Democratic Republic of Congo. ‘ But now the WHO says there is sufficient
By Mashonaland East Correspondent A Mudzi gold panner is battling for life in hospital after he was shot on the shoulder by a fellow panner for demanding back his $50 he had lent the gunman to buy beer. The shooter is now facing attempted murder charges and is on the run after police launched a
By Bulawayo Correspondent GOVERNMENT has deployed student doctors to help attend to patients as the crisis started by a strike action by junior doctors continued to affect Bulawayo’s major hospitals, Mpilo and United Bulawayo Hospital (UBH). The government this week dismissed 77 doctors who have defied its directive to end their crippling job action which
Bloomberg About half of the Zimbabwe’s 14 million people lack reliable access to enough food as a result of the worst regional drought in almost 40 years, according to the Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube. The situation is compounded by cyclone-induced floods earlier this year and an economic collapse that have left the southern African nation
AP The World Health Organization says more than 7 million cases of malaria have been reported in Burundi this year. Officials blame the outbreak on factors including the lack of protective bed nets, problems with medicines and climate change. The U.N. health agency says malaria has killed nearly 2,700 people this year in the East
News24 This year about 12 million of the world’s children will be married before they turn 18. UNICEF figures suggest about 18% of them will be boys and about 82% girls. Child marriage is widespread across developing countries, cultures and religions. It violates the rights of children and has widespread and long term consequences. It
By Leopold Munhende SUSPECTED Zanu PF youths Thursday stoned and smashed the windscreen of a hearse carrying late Harare vendor and police brutality victim, Hilton Tamangani in Chitungwiza. The youths are said to have waylaid the vehicle in the satellite town’s Zengeza suburb where they pelted it with rocks and bricks, smashing its windscreen and
BBC To get the best out of your daily blood pressure medication, take it just before you go to bed, say researchers. It’s a simple tip that could save lives, they say in the European Heart Journal. The pills offer more protection against heart attacks and strokes when taken at bedtime rather than in the
BBC Scientists have been working on the male contraceptive pill for almost half a century. Yet despite encouraging news reports, an over-the-counter version is not just around the corner. Lack of funding and presumed disinterest from men means that one has never been mass produced. Instead, women are still generally expected to take responsibility for
BBC Fatty tissue has been found in the lungs of overweight and obese people for the first time. Australian researchers analysed lung samples from 52 people and found the amount of fat increased in line with body mass index. They said their findings could explain why being overweight or obese increased asthma risk. Lung experts
AP Pope Francis is calling for lifestyle and dietary changes to address the paradox of a world in which people suffer from malnutrition in some areas and obesity in others. In a message Wednesday for the U.N.’s World Food Day, Francis lamented the “distorted relationship between food and nutrition” that he blamed on the world
BBC A rare and unfortunate sequence of events allowed a deadly type of malaria in gorillas to “jump” species and attack humans, according to scientists. Hundreds of thousands of people die from malaria every year and Plasmodium falciparum – the type the researchers studied – accounts for most cases. African great apes were the original
AFP Efforts to halt an Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo have made “significant progress”, with the virus now contained to a far smaller and mainly rural area, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday. “We have put the virus in the corner,” Michael Ryan, the executive director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme,
HEALTH TIMES YOUTHS should be involved in the planning and implementation of Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) interventions if Zimbabwe is to address the unfinished business affecting young people, a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) official has said. Speaking on the side-lines of a two day International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Youth
Health Times PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has said parliamentarians should expedite the tabling of the Medical Aid Services Bill. He said this while presenting the State Of The Nation Address (SONA) and official opening of the second session of the Ninth Parliament on Tuesday. “The Medical Aid Societies bill will pave way for the establishment of
Health Times The unavailability of these ‘baby cards’ has deprived mothers access to critical growth monitoring information, plunging the health of babies in jeopardy. Health Ministry’s Family Health Director Dr Bernard Madzima told this publication the importance of these cards. Madzima said that the cards monitor the weight, the height, the vaccination schedules whether they
CNN Two women a day are dying unnecessarily from heart attacks in England and Wales because of a gender gap in awareness, diagnosis and treatment, a leading health charity says. The British Heart Foundation (BHF) released research on Monday that estimates that more than 8,200 women died between 2003 and 2013 as a result of
BBC Olaparib could become a revolutionary treatment for prostate cancer – the first genetically targeted drug for fighting the disease, say experts. The precision medicine is already used by the NHS for ovarian cancer and has been called a game-changer by cancer doctors. A cancer conference heard how, in trials, it slowed tumour growth in
AFP Twelve people in the United States have died from vaping-related illness, health officials have said on Thursday, reporting 805 cases of lung injury associated with e-cigarette use. The latest toll was reported by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, which said the specific substance causing the illnesses has not yet been identified. However,
BBC More than 800,000 children are to be targeted for vaccination in the Democratic Republic of Congo, after a measles outbreak killed more than 3,500 people this year. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Congolese government aim to carry out the emergency programme across the country in slightly more than a week. The WHO
