West Africa Doctors Network News Portal

Scientists may have finally found out why HIV infection is highest in sub-Saharan Africa, including Kenya, than other regions of the world.

The national fight against the spread of HIV/Aids, malaria and Tuberculosis (TB) has received over $63 million (approx Frw35 billion) grant support for the next two years.

Australian scientists yesterday identified a potential treatment to combat malaria, a global scourge, which kills about 300,000 Nigerians, mostly children below five years, annually.

Providing schoolchildren with anti-malaria drugs once per term improves academic performance while reducing rates of infection and anaemia.

Tanzania has started using Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) for Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) from July this year.

THE Zimbabwe Defence Forces has stepped up training of medical officers in the uniformed forces to augment Government efforts in the fight against malaria.

Prof. Francis Omaswa is scheduled to address the British Parliament next Wednesday.

THE World Health Organisation and the European Union have allowed Uganda to spray the DDT chemical, the water and environment minister has said.

Deputy High Commissioner at the British High Commission, Mr James Tansley, has commended the efforts of an international Voluntary Organization- Global Dream, in its consistent fight against malaria.

Malaria drugs worth of N21 million were released for free distribution by the Nasarawa state government yesterday.

The Federal Government and the United Kingdom will sign a £50m fund malaria project for five years in Nigeria .

THE Edo State Government has constituted a committee for the flag off of the newly approved free anti-malaria treatment for under-5 children and free antenatal care and anti-malaria treatment for pregnant women in the state.

Last month, the World Health Organization's governing body, the World Health Assembly (WHA), formally adopted a set of public policy recommendations for poor governments struggling with disease.

US Ambassador to Angola, Dan William Mozena last Thursday here reaffirmed his country's commitment to continue providing assistance to combat endemic diseases and reduce maternal-infantile death rate.

MALARIA IS a mosquito-borne disease that causes over 2.7 million deaths per year according to estimates by the World Health Organization. It is also a potentially fatal blood disease caused by a parasite that is transmitted to human and animal hosts by the Anopheles mosquito.

ZIMBABWE has already submitted a US$500 million application to fight HIV and Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria to the Global Fund under round 8.

Botswana, Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia, Mozambique and Zambia have drafted a joint proposal to the United Nations Global Fund to Fight HIV, Malaria and Tuberculosis for malaria, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional coordinator for malaria programmes, Lieutenant Colonel Kaka Mudambo, has said.

An Ilorin based pharmaceutical company, Elebe Pharmaceutical Nigeria Limited has pledged to collaborate with the Kwara State government in its bid to eradicate malaria.

Indo African Child Health Organisation (IACH), is the first Indian NGO in Africa and it is committed to reaching out to children in situations of child labour, abuse and poor health. It was in this light that the NGO, led by the Executive Director, Mr. Sameer Tembe, embarked on an intensive two-day malaria prevention campaign in partnership with Miss Malaika Ghana 2007, Miss Laurie Lawson, in Kakumdo in the Central Region.

A campaign to boost the use of impregnated bed nets to combat malaria was launched on 13 June in the Republic of Congo, where the disease is responsible for almost a quarter of all deaths of children under five.