newsheaven

By Anthony Adongo Apubeo Bolgatanga, April 05, GNA – Professor Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), has urged stakeholders in the Upper East Region to be vigilant and increase surveillance for Cerebro Spinal Meningitis (CSM). He called for intensified awareness creation among residents to ensure that they were abreast with the signs, symptoms and precautionary measures to help in the prevention of the spread of the disease and early detection for timely treatment. Professor Akoriyea made the call during an engagement with the Upper East Regional Coordinating Council in Bolgatanga as part of a working visit to the region since his assumption into office earlier this year. In the early part of 2025, the country recorded its meningitis cases in the Upper West Region and as at February, 16 persons had lost their lives to the disease out of the total 173 suspected cases. Additionally, in the Upper East Region, two perso...

The Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) has instructed schools to conduct bag searches for e-cigarettes when the next semester begins in May, citing growing concerns over vaping among students. Obec's deputy secretary-general Tee Pawangkanant, said the directive was introduced during the E-Cigarette Control Policy Committee meeting chaired by Vice Minister of Education Phitsanu Phonlathee. The measure is part of the committee's efforts to strengthen school regulations regarding e-cigarettes. Schools are required to search for e-cigarettes and, if necessary, confiscate and destroy any found during inspections. In addition, Obec is launching a public awareness campaign to educate students on the dangers of vaping and the potential legal consequences. Mr Tee said the initiative will help support long-term enforcement measures in schools. The regulations are set to be implemented before the start of the semester in May, with schools working ...

The total number of people now affected by cholera in the country has hit 70, with one more person losing their life, raising the total number of deaths in the country to six. This is according to the latest report by the Ministry of Health.Out of the two additional cases, one was reported in Nairobi County, while the additional death was recorded in Migori County.Within the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health has also established that a four-year-old female toddler from Kibra was the first confirmed case of cholera in the county. The toddler's case was first reported on March 14.The child lives in Gatwekera village, Sarangombe Ward, in Kibra Sub-county.“No death has been reported in Nairobi over the last 24 hours. The total number of deaths reported since the beginning of the outbreak is one. No referrals have been made,” said the MOH statement.Also Read: Alarm as cholera kills five in Nairobi, Kisumu and MigoriThe sub-counties that have reported cases are Roysambu (1), Kasarani...

US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has advised taking vitamin A to fight measles. A Texas hospital is now treating children with toxic levels of the supplement in their bodies. This article may be potentially distressing to parents with children. West Texas has been gripped by a measles outbreak for the past several weeks and as a result of misinformation passed on by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., it now faces a second, related health problem: Vitamin A toxicity — or hypervitaminosis A — in infants and children. The situation appears to be the direct result of bogus medical information pedaled by the vaccine-skeptic secretary himself. Kennedy recently said that although the measles vaccine is the best defense against the highly contagious and potentially fatal infection, he emphasized that getting inoculated was a "personal choice." Kennedy, whom President Donald Trump appointed to be t...

Residents of Bayelsa State heaved a sigh of relief as the World Health Organisation (WHO) recently commenced mass vaccination against cholera. Several communities in the state had been recently ravaged by cholera allegedly due to unavailability of potable water, thereby forcing residents to drink from polluted river sources. The most cholera-affected communities in Bayelsa State include; Nembe in Nembe LGA, Amassomma in Southern Ijaw, some communities in Ogbia, among others. While residents claimed there were casualties, the state government said no life has been lost to the disease outbreak. Residents of the Obololi community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area recently ravaged by oil spill said the spill had caused severe water scarcity and increased the risk of a cholera outbreak. What is cholera? Cholera is a food and water-borne disease caused by the ingestion of the organism, vibrio cholera, in contaminated water and food. Water is usually co...

In a powerful collaboration to reduce maternal and child mortality in Nigeria, the Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas (ANPA), in partnership with the Lagos State Government, has commenced a weeklong intensive capacity-building training for health workers across Lagos State, marking ANPA’s 30th anniversary with impact and purpose. Apart from reducing maternal and child mortality, the training also aims to improve emergency medical response, and boosting chronic disease management in public health facilities. The training exercise, which began on Thursday, April 3, 2025, brings together healthcare professionals from secondary and primary health facilities across the state to upskill in critical areas including obstetric emergencies, trauma response, life-saving interventions, and the management of chronic kidney disease. Kicking off the programme was a comprehensive training on Obstetrics Emergencies, specifically Postpartum Hemorrhage (PPH), held a...

Arieli Foundation for Maternal and Child Health, founded by Dr. Natasha C. Oyibo on December 8, 2023, is making bold strides in tackling one of the world’s most pressing health crisis—maternal and child mortality. With women and newborns in underserved communities facing preventable deaths daily due to limited healthcare access, the Foundation is expanding its global mission to bring health, hope, and opportunity to those most in need.Headquartered in Abuja, Arieli Foundation has expanded its footprint beyond the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to Nasarawa, Kaduna, and Niger States—and is poised for greater continental and international impact. Through strategic partnerships with governments, international NGOs, and global health organizations, the Foundation is advancing a comprehensive approach to maternal and child healthcare. This includes workforce development, mobile clinics, menstrual health education, nutrition programs, mental health support, clean water initiatives, and AI-...

Morocco has seen a 35 percent decline in new HIV infections between 2010 and 2023, according to a recent report by Frontline AIDS . This decrease stands in sharp contrast to trends across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), where the overall number of new infections has risen significantly. The report attributes Morocco’s progress to a strong national commitment to HIV prevention, including the development of a comprehensive new strategy to combat sexually transmitted infections, despite challenges in healthcare access in rural areas. While Morocco has managed to reduce new infections, the report paints a much grimmer picture for the broader region. Egypt recorded an increase of more than 600 percent in new HIV cases over the same period, while Lebanon and Tunisia saw respective increases of 79 and 59 percent. Across the MENA region as a whole, new infections rose by 116 percent, with more than 22,000 cases registered between 2010 and 2023. This figure accounts for r...

EXPLAINER: How health advisories work in Nigeria On 10 March 2025, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) issued a health advisory after a 31-year-old doctor who returned from the UK died from Lassa fever . Nigeria had reported 113 deaths from Lassa fever in 2025, at time of publication. This was 18.7% of confirmed cases, across 14 states. The country has faced yearly outbreaks since 2015. (Read our factsheet on Lassa fever here .) In February 2025, the NCDC also warned Nigerians and other travellers of the Sudan strain of Ebola found in Uganda and other regions, even though no case had been reported in Nigeria at the time. In January, the health agency issued an advisory about the Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) - a respiratory virus that can cause anything from mild cold symptoms to serious illness,...

A “health intelligence centre” launched by the health ministry on Thursday, April 2, will be capable of monitoring some health services in real time, in addition to consolidating data from various facilities and communities in order to conduct analysis and inform policies. Dubbed “Rwanda Health Intelligence Centre,” the hub employs people ranging from medical doctors, data scientists, software developers and programmers. It is located in Kiyovu in the building that houses Rwanda Utilities Regulation Authority (RURA). ALSO READ: $4 billion needed to digitalise healthcare in Rwanda and other low, middle-income countries The centre’s work ranges from tracking the use of public equipment like ambulances and hospital fridges, to the collection of data on medical procedure outcomes in hospitals so as to take relevant steps in terms of decision-making. It comprises several departments, such as a data warehouse that stores and monitors various types of data, including patient care informatio...

Health is “a vast field of action” for Franco-Moroccan cooperation, which is now gaining new momentum, Morocco’s Minister of Health and Social Protection Amine Tehraoui said, at the kick-off of a scientific day on the evaluation of health cooperation between Morocco and France. At this meeting, attended by diplomats and members of the scientific and medical realms of both countries as part of the “Franco-Moroccan Health Day”, organized jointly by the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco and the National Academy of Medicine of France, the Minister highlighted the excellence of relations between Morocco and France, particularly in the fields of health and scientific research. Recalling that His Majesty King Mohammed VI and French President Emmanuel Macron, on the occasion of the latter’s recent state visit to the Kingdom, jointly expressed their keenness to strengthen the strategic partnership between Morocco and France, including in the field of health, Tehraoui deemed the action o...

Health experts have stepped up efforts to address challenges and barriers that hinder adolescents’ access to reproductive health services. Through the Step Up to Access campaign, the experts seek to ensure that legislators, policymakers and the community are able to reach a consensus on what could be the most progressive laws as far as age of consent to reproductive healthcare is concerned. The Step Up to Access is a campaign across five countries of Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Youth Advocates Executive Director Tatenda Songore has said the five countries are the point of focus based on the fact that they have a high burden of teenage pregnancies, child marriages, and are facing the triple threat of high HIV infections, Gender Based Violence and teenage pregnancies. “We are bringing together these countries to address one of the biggest issues that has been on the table whereby adolesc...

READ MORE: RFK Jr wants to pull fluoride from US tap water, experts push back At least 25 million Americans live in dental deserts - areas where dentists are scarce and residents face skyrocketing rates of tooth decay, emergency surgeries, and chronic health problems. Dentists warn these issues will only worsen with the removal of fluoride from drinking water, which has reduced tooth decay and cavities for over 80 years. Roughly 230 counties across the US lack a sufficient number of dentists to cater to the number of people living there, and most have removed or are considering removing fluoride from their water. Robert F Kennedy Jr, the current head of the Department of Health and Human Services, has often promoted unproven claims that the common cavity preventative is dangerous. The controversy surrounding fluoride stems from a meta-analysis of dozens of studies showing children exposed to higher fluoride levels had lower IQ sc...

Hong Kong recorded 365 new HIV cases in 2024, with the youngest infected individual aged 14, health authorities have said. The Department of Health announced on Thursday that the city saw a decline in the number of new HIV infections for the ninth consecutive year. In 2024, health authorities received reports of new HIV cases from 297 males and 68 females aged between 14 and 89. A total of 312 people reported they were infected through sexual contact, with 216 cases involving homosexual or bisexual contact and the remaining 96 cases through heterosexual contact. The newly recorded cases last year put the city’s HIV infection toll since 1984 at 12,403, said Bonnie Wong, consultant for the Special Preventive Programme at the Centre for Health Protection’s Public Health Services Branch. “The prevalence of HIV infection among the general public in Hong Kong remained at 0.1 per cent, well below the global average, demonstrating the effectiveness of AIDS contr...

A grocery store located in Ontario, Canada, recalled ground beef owing to the chance that it included bits of plastic. What's happening? K-Tilbury Food Market Ltd. initiated the recall of the beef in early March. The specific meat products were distributed to a Foodland location in Tilbury, Ontario. according To the nearby branch of Inside Halton. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has advised individuals to examine their food items and discard any contaminated ground beef. "Avoid using, selling, serving, or distributing the problematic products," stated in their notification. read Individuals were likewise advised to consult with a healthcare professional if they thought they had ingested the product. Inside Halton explained the CFIA classified this as a Class II recall, suggesting a "moderate risk that eating the recalled food could result in short-term or non-serious health issues." Why do food recalls because of plastic contamin...

The Minister of Health of the Republic of Liberia, Dr. Louise M. Kpoto, will on today, April 2, 2025, lead a distinguished panel tasked with screening candidates for the prestigious role of Regional Director for the World Health Organization (WHO) African Region. As an esteemed public health leader and First Vice President of the 74th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa, Dr. Kpoto brings unparalleled expertise, integrity, and strategic vision to this critical selection process. This high-stakes appointment comes at a time of mounting global health challenges, including declining donor funding and the urgent need for sustainable health investments across the continent. The newly appointed Regional Director will be pivotal in shaping Africa's public health strategies, driving universal health coverage, and strengthening resilience against emerging health threats. Four distinguished nominees, each endorsed by their respective Member St...

Over 50 countries, cities, and organizations pledged new commitments on Thursday to tackle air pollution, protect public health, and help halve its deadly impacts by 2040 - a goal backed by a petition from 47 million health professionals, patients and advocates demanding clean air be made a public health priority. The Second WHO Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health co-hosted by the World Health Organization and Colombia, in the city of Cartagena, brought together over 700 participants from 100 countries - including heads of state, ministers, scientists, and civil society groups -- to accelerate action to curb what's increasingly described as a full-scale health emergency. "It is time to move from commitments to bold actions," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. "To achieve clean air, we need urgent actions on all fronts: financial investment in sustainable solutions, such as in clean energ...

Authorities warn measles cases will rise Dozens of exposure sites listed READ MORE: Urgent health warning issued amid fears of disease outbreak Three new measles cases have been recorded in Western Australia , amid grave fears the outbreak will worsen. There are now eight cases of the highly contagious disease across the state, days after more than a dozen exposure sites were identified across the state's south-west, including Bunbury Regional Hospital. Two new cases were recorded at Bunbury Regional Hospital while the other has been confined to Perth 's Hakea Prison. More than 40 exposures sites have been listed across Perth and the state's south-west in the past three weeks. Health officials expect cases to rise. 'The bad news is that measles is really infectious, in fact it may be the most infectious disease known to humans,' WA Health acting director of communicable diseases Paul Effler said...

According to the D.C. Department of Health (DC Health), a measles case has been identified in someone who traveled to Washington, D.C., via an Amtrak train. DC Health stated that an individual traveled through several areas while infectious, specifically aboard the southbound Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 175 and at Union Station on March 19. Additionally, they visited a MedStar Urgent Care facility in Adams Morgan, D.C., on March 22. press release on Tuesday. DC Health mentioned that they are presently endeavoring to notify individuals who were present at those sites that they might have experienced exposure. FURTHER: Measles vaccination rates are rising in certain regions heavily affected by outbreaks: Authorities report Public health authorities are clarifying that individuals deemed "non-immune" face the highest risk of contracting infections. This category encompasses persons who remain unimmunized either through vaccination or previous exposure to measle...