Month: August 2025

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Aug132025

Escape the neglect: Eliminating NTDs in a changing world

Amref Health Africa, with support from the Gates Foundation, hosted a powerful virtual forum exploring how African countries can safeguard and accelerate progress against NTDs amid evolving health challenges.


The event brought together leading voices in global health—including Dr. Githinji Gitahi (Amref), Dr. Ebere Okereke (the Reaching the Last Mile Fund), Dr. Clarer Jones Mwansasu (Tanzania MOH), Dr. Solomon Zewdu (the END Fund), and Onome Dibosa-Osadolor (UNICEF)—to highlight country leadership, program integration, and innovations in co-financing as key drivers toward sustainable NTD elimination.


With insights from across the continent, the webinar underscored that while NTDs continue to impact millions, African-led strategies and partnerships are paving the way for a future free from these diseases.

Aug82025

Kenya eliminates sleeping sickness as a public health problem

In a landmark achievement, Kenya has been officially validated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as having eliminated human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), commonly known as sleeping sickness, as a public health problem—making it the 10th country to do so. This accomplishment follows years of sustained efforts—including enhanced surveillance across sentinel sites, tsetse fly control, strengthened laboratory diagnostics, and community-centered interventions—that have kept new indigenous cases at bay for over a decade. Though the disease still exists in the environment, Kenya is now transitioning to a vigilant post-validation surveillance phase, ensuring rapid detection and response to any potential resurgence.

Aug72025

With hope in their hearts and medicine in their hands

Meet Kadija (16) and Hajara (17), two determined girls changing lives in their Kano community. 
As community-directed distributors for the Reaching The Last Mile Fund, implemented through Sightsavers International, they walk for hours under the sun, distributing medicine, educating families, and reaching even the most remote homes.


“We don’t do it for the money,” Hajara says. “We do it because our people need us.”
Together, they’ve helped protect hundreds from diseases like river blindness and lymphatic filariasis. However, their dream extends beyond medicine distribution: They aspire to become medical doctors.
“One day,” Kadija says, “we want to be the ones our community calls when there is a health emergency.” 
They may be young, but their steps are bold. Their journey is just beginning, and it’s filled with hope, service, and a dream to heal even more.

Aug52025

Nigerian PhD scholar wins prestigious French science award for river blindness research

Oluwadamilare Dauda, a final-year PhD scholar at Osun State University, received the Young Scientist Award from France’s National Veterinary School of Toulouse. This honor recognizes his cutting-edge research into blackfly transmission of onchocerciasis (river blindness). The award also enabled Dauda to deepen his expertise alongside global vector specialists during a summer program in Toulouse—highlighting the importance of international collaboration in infectious disease control.