global health

In recent years, the field of mobile health, or mHealth, has exploded. The power of cell phones and other mobile devices is being harnessed to improve health delivery systems worldwide. For instance, in Malawi, community health workers (CHWs) have been using text messages to improve drug adherence among HIV positive patients. And in India, a potentially disastrous cholera outbreak was avoided during a religious festival in 2001with the help of mobile tools.

By Melanie Andrews 75 Persons with Albinism (PWA) have been killed in Tanzania since 2000, according to UN estimations. UN officials have spoken about their fears that attacks will rise with the upcoming Tanzanian presidential election since politicians seek good luck from witch doctors.

Lecturio, a German tech company, has announced the launch of MEDI, a new Medical Education Development Initiative that aims to support medical capacity building in the developing world.

By Luciana Grosu Being old in Romania often equals being poor. Romania’s population is younger compared to other EU countries, nevertheless, it is aging rapidly. There are indeed elderly people who die of hunger, alone in their homes. We often hear about such cases, but there’s not much we can do about it”, admits Lisei Maria.

By Debora Di Dio Although the number of Ebola infections is slowing down, the crisis has created urgent needs in child protection, education, health and livelihoods across West Africa. In small rural villages, the children orphaned by Ebola remain vulnerable to stigmatization, hunger, malnutrition, and in some cases violence.

By Jasen Mphepo In Zimbabwe, a campaign initiated by the government and other development players for male circumcision has taken center stage in developing a mechanism to support the already existing strategies such as promoting condom use, promoting voluntary counseling and testing, abstinence and being faithful to one faithful partner. Male circumcision is not only good for HIV prevention but it also prevents from many other bacteria transmitting into women, experts say.

The Ministry of Health in Malawi has developed a radio drama serial to help tackle public health problems and promote better behaviour. Named Moyo ndi Mpamba!, the ‘edutainment’ radio drama programme combines the power of entertainment with education to address key issues of malaria, family and maternal planning, neonatal and child health, HIV and AIDS, water and sanitation.

lBy Aliza Amlani Forget about oil, occupation, terrorism or even al-Qaeda. The real hazard for Iraqis these days is cancer. As the Iraq War officially ends,...

Epidemics like Ebola cause a lot of deaths, displacements, and despair and they aren’t desirable for sure; but on a positive side, they also show us the ugly side of corporate capitalism and make it very clear who genuinely cares about the world and who doesn’t.

By Winston Mwale The Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) and four other human rights organisations, concerned with the coerced and forced sterilisation of women living with HIV/AIDS in Namibia, have requested the UN Human Rights Committee to raise this with the government of Namibia.