ANTANANARIVO, 10 August 2011 (IRIN) – About a third of Madagascar’s 20 million people do not have access to water for washing and most of the rest share unsanitary toilet facilities, according to a July 2011 World Bank Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP) report. The threat of diarrhoea and other diseases is particularly acute in some of the poorer suburbs of the capital Antananarivo. “There is no formal waste disposal for the moment in Antananarivo,” Sylvie Ramanantsoa, a representative from Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) in Madagascar, told IRIN, and raw sewerage tends to end up downstream in... Continue Reading
By Adewale T Akande – Driving is a very demanding activity that requires a serious responsibility, attitudes with physical and mental abilities for safety. The most important steps to be taken in order to stay out of trouble on the road are to; continously observe the roads around you, anticipate what may happen that could be a risk to you and other road users, and respond by taking appropriate quick step or action before the risk increases. Driver’s attitudes on the road determines his safety and others around. Alcohol and drugs are among the most causes of fatal road accident... Continue Reading
MBABANE, (PlusNews) – Organizations fighting HIV/AIDS in Swaziland were at first incredulous at reports that hundreds of impoverished HIV-positive rural residents were eating cow dung to give their stomachs something to digest before taking their antiretrovirals (ARVs). “It seemed too sensational to me when I first heard it, but then an MP stood up in parliament and said it was in his area that people on ARVs were doing this,” said Wandile Khoza, an AIDS activist in Swaziland’s central commercial hub Manzini. “It has come to this; the food insecurity most Swazis are experiencing has come up against the world’s highest... Continue Reading
By Correspondent Chinyere Ogbonna – Nigeria has recorded a major medical breakthrough by performing successful kidney transplantation. The medical feat was achieved by a team of surgeons of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi Araba, Lagos the commercial nerve centre of the nation. It was the second successful kidney transplantation in Nigeria, by Nigerians. An official source at the LUTH told newsmen that the four-hour operation “went very well”, noting that the kidney recipient “was responding positively” at the hospital. Shout-Africa.com gathered information that the authorities in LUTH would make a formal announcement of the medical breakthrough at a... Continue Reading
By Shout-Africa Correspondent – Three conventions were signed with the District Hospital of Cité des Palmiers, Douala V Municipality and the local community during its first ordinary assembly July 19. Community health insurance schemes are growing in importance in low-income settings, where health systems based on user fees have resulted in significant barriers to care for the poorest members of communities. In Cameroon, plans are underway to introduce a national Social Health Insurance scheme. The creation of the government-initiated Mutual Community of the Health District of Cité des Palmiers, MUSADI, by the community of Douala V in 2009, to promote... Continue Reading
