In many African countries, drinking tea affords the opportunity to take a break in the day, to relax and to connect with what is going on in the world. Here are this week’s headlines that caught our attention to pair with your morning or afternoon break in the day.
Hospice
All Africa: South Africa: Hospice Gives Hope
31 October
A profile of the non-governmental organisation, Golden Gateway Hospice, and how they offered hope to one young girl living with HIV.
Health-e: Hospice Saved My Life
7 November
Discusses the other side of the hospice experience: patients who receive quality care and go on to live longer lives. Audio file included.
Pain Management
Health-e: Global Pandemic of Untreated Cancer Pain
1 October
During the recent European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) event in Vienna, an international survey reveals that governments’ failure to ensure adequate access to pain-relieving drugs is leaving hundreds of millions of cancer patients to needlessly suffer.
Research and policy
All Africa: Africa: What Keeps Unpaid Care Off Development Agendas?
29 October
Researcher and blogger, Rosalind Eyben, unpacks the reasons why unpaid caregivers in Africa have not made the global development agenda.
Cancer
Health-e: Breast Cancer Screening Reduces Deaths, Increases Overdiagnoses
31 October
This summary of an article in The Lancet includes a panel of experts explain how breast cancer screenings save lives through early detection, but also lead to overdiagnoses.
Health-e: 170 Million Years of Healthy Life Lost Due to Cancer in 2008
16 October
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) study reveals for the first time the global impact of cancer as a result of lost lives, and emphasizes the role of primary prevention in reducing the burden (summary of study published in the The Lancet).
HIV and AIDS
Aidsmap: Death Rates Elevated At All CD4 Counts Below 500 in Sub-Saharan Africa
6 November
Study reveals significantly higher death rates amongst HIV-positive people with CD4 counts below 500, and proposes that, “expanding treatment beyond eligibility thresholds of 200-250 would have a substantial impact on mortality.”
Aidsmap: Traditional Risk Factors Predict Neurocognitive Impairment in People with HIV
31 October
French study discovers that neurocognitive impairments in people living with HIV are not directly linked to HIV infection.
Country highlights
Nigeria: Leadership: Nigeria Loses N80bn Annually To Oversea Medical Trips
11 July
The Nigerian Senate Committee on Health urges Ministry of Health to increase health expenditure, refine data collection strategies, and renew the confidence of Nigerian people to defer Nigerians from seeking medical treatment overseas.
South Africa: All Africa: South Africa: Academy to Improve the Health Service
7 November
South Africa introduces new specialised training in health care management for all incoming hospital executive employees.
Uganda: New Vision: I Sacrificed a Clinic to Save Lives
15 October
Touched by the dire situation of people living with HIV in Kawempe, Uganda, Dr. Samuel Guma, the director of Kawempe Home Care, closed the doors to his clinic in Bweyogerere, Uganda, sold all his stocked medicines, and opened a centre in Kawempe to, “save lives.”
Zimbabwe: All Africa: Zimbabwe: First Patient Cured of Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis
Medecins Sans Frontieres
31 October
After more than two years of treatment, Tuberculosis patient, Mary Marizani, is the NGO’s first patient in Zimbabwe to beat multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, although the need to develop treatment with fewer side effects and quicker recovery time is still an urgent matter.
Human Interest
North Devon Gazette: Russ sets sights on Africa
7 November
Russell Johns, the motorcyclist from North Devon, United Kingdom has rolled out on a 15,000 mile journey from the United Kingdom to South Africa to raise money for hospice, stopping to visit African hospices during his journey.
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