Managing emotions better could prevent pathological ageing

Negative emotions, anxiety and depression are thought to promote the onset of neurodegenerative diseases and dementia. But what is their impact on the brain and can their deleterious effects be limited?  Neuroscientists at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) observed the activation of the brains of young and older adults when confronted with the psychological suffering of others.   The…

How Rwanda is Using Artificial Intelligence to Improve Healthcare

An innovation that is addressing procurement constraints is making drug stock-outs and shortage of medical equipment in health facilities in Rwanda a thing of the past.  Viebeg Technologies, a venture capital-backed Health Tech company, is helping to expand access to affordable health care in Central and East Africa by aiding healthcare facilities in procuring supplies…

A new all-oral, six-month treatment regimen is safer and more effective at treating multidrug-resistant tuberculosis

A new all-oral, six-month treatment regimen is safer and more effective at treating multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) than the current options, according to results of a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) study published in the New England Journal of Medicine today. These findings come from MSF’s TB PRACTECAL, the first-ever multi-country, randomized, controlled clinical trial to…

Panoramic Trial Finds Molnupiravir Does Not Reduce Hospitalisation

Researchers from the University of Oxford released findings from a clinical trial investigating the effectiveness of the antiviral treatment molnupiravir against COVID-19 – the first treatment tested in the ongoing PANORAMIC trial. In their paper published in The Lancet, they reported that molnupiravir did not reduce hospitalisations or deaths among higher risk, vaccinated adults with…

African Leaders and Global Health Experts Convene in Rwanda for the 2nd International Conference on Public Health in Africa, CPHIA 2022

The 2nd International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA 2022), in Kigali, Rwanda, at the Kigali Convention Centre kicks off today with African Heads of State, ministers of health, and leading researchers and scientists scheduled to give remarks during three days of official sessions. The conference, which is taking place from 13-15 December, is…

THE LANCET: One in eight deaths in 2019 linked to bacterial infections, the second leading cause of death globally

Common bacterial infections were the second leading cause of death in 2019, and were linked to one in eight deaths globally, according to an analysis published in The Lancet. There were 7.7 million deaths in 2019 associated with 33 common bacterial infections, with five bacteria alone connected to more than half of all deaths. The…

COVID-19 burden lessens in Africa, vigilance crucial as year-end season begins

While Africa is witnessing its lowest level of new COVID-19 cases since the onset of the pandemic, a recent four-week rise—the first such sustained increase in four months—underscores the criticality of maintaining vigilance as the end-year holiday seasons sets in. The continent recorded a four-week long rise until 20 November, but the number of new…