Africa

Millions at Risk for Disease in War-Torn Sudan

Pavan Kulkarni / Peoples Dispatch Nov 21, 2023 Rawia Kamal, a health activist displaced after the paramilitary attacked her home, recounts the travails of being in war-torn Sudan with looming threat of diseases. Dig deeper ( 8 Min. Read )

1st Malaria Vaccine Tried Out in Babies in 3 African Nations

CARA ANNA and LAURAN NEERGAARD /The Associated Press Jan 16, 2020 Spread by mosquito bites, malaria kills more than 400,000 people every year, two-thirds of them under 5 and most in Africa. Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )

World’s First Malaria Vaccine Approved

Roisin Davis / Truthdig Jul 25, 2015 After 28 years of development, European regulators have given the green light to the world’s first malaria vaccine. The disease killed an estimated 584,000 people in 2013, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Save Us From Our Frankensteins, Genome-Editing Scientists Urge

Staff / Truthdig Jul 19, 2014 A new laboratory technique enables biologists to "edit" the genetic makeup of entire species for purposes ranging from the benevolent to the nefarious, with the "potential to cause ecological mayhem," Antonio Regalado reports in MIT Technology Review. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Malarial Mosquitos Are Flying Higher

By Tim Radford, Climate News Network Mar 15, 2014 With many higher regions warming due to climate change it's likely that mosquitoes carrying malaria will enlarge their territories. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

On the Verge of Genocide

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Nov 23, 2013 "Militias in the Central African Republic are slitting children's throats, razing villages and throwing young men to the crocodiles" as malaria and AIDS wreak parallel horrors, The Guardian reported Friday. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Artemisinin: A Scientific Saga of International Intrigue

Staff / Truthdig Jan 17, 2012 Savvy Truthdig readers (as if there were any other kind) already know that the drug business is highly political here in the States, but the story of the Chinese malaria remedy artemisinin takes it up several notches on the international stage with a saga spanning several decades. Oh, and Chairman Mao is also involved. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Massive Malaria Vaccine Trial Begins

Staff / Truthdig Nov 7, 2009 A new vaccine trial is underway in Africa in an attempt to control malaria, a disease that not only kills 1 million people every year, but also makes 300 million seriously sick. If the trial results come back positive, a worldwide vaccine could be available as soon as 2012. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Privatizing Health Care in the Third World

Staff / Truthdig Jun 19, 2009 For only $5 a month, you too can undermine a developing country's health infrastructure. Since 1990, foreign funding for "development assistance" has quadrupled, offering medical resources to the poor but also luring local health care workers away from government hospitals and toward more lucrative private companies. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )