The United States is providing critical health assistance, albeit with a significant caveat: broad access to surveillance data and rights to pathogen samples for pharmaceutical development, according to a recent assessment by Human Rights Watch. This evaluation scrutinizes seven bilateral health agreements established in late 2025 with Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Liberia, and Uganda. These agreements have sparked substantial concerns regarding the potential misuse of individuals' private health…

Despite dramatic leaps in medical science, Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) is still one of the world’s most prevalent birth defects—and it continues to test health systems with stark gaps in care. A new World Heart Federation report estimates CHD affected 2.3 million children in 2023, noting that survival has improved as diagnosis and treatment have advanced, even as deep inequalities persist, especially in low-income countries. According to the report, the specialists and pediatric heart programs required to diagnose and…

Wednesday June 3, 2026 Wajir, Kenya (AX) — Kenya’s Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale on Tuesday said the Somali community in Kenya has secured political freedoms and openings that, he argued, were previously out of reach under President William Ruto’s administration. Addressing a gathering in Wajir County, Duale mounted a strong defense of Ruto’s approach to northern Kenya and to the Somali community, saying generations had faced discrimination in schooling, public sector jobs, access to identity documents and…

A widening Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has drawn urgent promises of help from global and regional health leaders, with Africa CDC saying it intends to deliver a vaccine and treatment for the Bundibugyo strain before the year is out. "What we can tell you for sure, by the end of this year, 2026, Africa CDC will make sure that we have a vaccine and medicine against Bundibugyo," its Director-General Jean Kaseya said. At the same time, the head of the World Health Organization vowed to use "everything in…

Windhoek residents who turned on their taps to find brownish water are seeing the effects of a sudden strain on the city’s supply system, officials say. The city has linked the discolouration to an interruption in water supply from the Namibia Water Corporation following damage to the pipeline that feeds water from the Von Bach Water Treatment Plant to Windhoek. The disruption has led reservoir levels across Windhoek to drop significantly, and the city says the lower levels allowed residue that had settled at the bottom of…

Alarm over a growing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda intensified after the World Health Organization declared it a "public health emergency of international concern". The WHO said the outbreak, driven by the Bundibugyo virus, falls short of the threshold for a pandemic emergency. Even so, it warned that countries sharing land borders with the DRC face a high risk of further transmission. In a statement, the UN health agency said 80 suspected deaths, eight laboratory-confirmed cases and 246…

Wednesday May 13, 2026 Egyptian diplomats moved quickly after pirates seized a commercial cargo vessel with an Egyptian crew off the Somali coast, as Assistant Foreign Minister for Consular Affairs and Egyptians Abroad Ambassador Haddad El-Gohary laid out the steps taken to safeguard the sailors and push for their release. Speaking by phone on Al-Hayat TV, El-Gohary rejected claims that the pirates had singled out the Egyptian crew. He said such attacks are typically indiscriminate, with pirates boarding vessels before…

In a concerning development, Health Minister Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi addressed Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Health following the alarming confirmation of Hantavirus in a severely ill British national in South Africa. Additionally, the health minister reported on a woman who collapsed at OR Tambo International Airport and unfortunately succumbed to her condition in South Africa. Her husband, who also fell ill, later died in St Helena. Both individuals were among the passengers aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius, which was…

A shocking new survey highlights a distressing trend in Liberia: a staggering 90% of women reportedly use antibiotics monthly to address their menstrual issues. This revelation has alarmed health experts, who label the findings "frightening" and express deep concern about the potential for escalating antibiotic resistance within the nation. Antibiotic misuse has long been a significant issue plaguing Liberia's healthcare system. Health officials are increasingly worried that the very medications essential for treating…

Shielded from the freezing void outside their spacecraft, the Artemis II astronauts still face one of deep space travel’s most persistent threats: radiation. NASA is now waiting closely for data that could reveal how much exposure the crew endured and what it means for future missions. The four astronauts traveled farther into space than any humans before them, venturing more than 1,000 times farther from Earth than the International Space Station. In low Earth orbit, the planet’s magnetosphere helps blunt some of the…