Brazzaville – Following rigorous technical assessments, five African countries have successfully stopped the spread of polio, marking an important milestone in efforts to protect children from this virus and advance towards eradication. Teams from the Independent Outbreak Response Assessment (OBRA) conducted separate assessments between January and June 2026, reviewing disease surveillance, laboratory and epidemiological data….
WHO explained that the transmission was interrupted through targeted vaccination campaigns, epidemiological investigations and expanded environmental surveillance. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed the closure of poliovirus type 2 outbreaks in five African countries following assessments that found transmission had been interrupted. The countries are Burundi, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, the Republic of Congo and Uganda,…
The Ebola outbreak that emerged in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and crossed into neighbouring Uganda may have been killing people for weeks before the alarm was raised. When Médecins Sans Frontières investigated in May 2026, it reported that at least 55 people had died since the beginning of April. On May 17, the…
The first half of 2026 has been marked by three different disease outbreaks: Ebola, hantavirus and, in Australia, diphtheria. Each has exposed vulnerabilities in how we detect, communicate and respond to infectious disease outbreaks. Each of these outbreaks has its unique challenges. But a common thread has been distrust in health care or a lack…
Cruise ships are convenient floating hotels by which to see far-flung parts of the world – but as an epidemiologist, I know they are also everything an infectious pathogen could want: thousands of strangers packed into enclosed spaces for days or weeks, sharing dining rooms and high-touch surfaces such as elevator buttons and handrails, breathing…
When the world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, another crisis quietly grew behind closed doors. Reports from around the globe suggested that violence against women and girls was increasing. Governments, nongovernmental organizations and advocates began referring to the phenomenon as a “shadow pandemic.” To determine whether these headlines and informal…
Cruises are sold as floating holidays, but they are also useful for understanding public health. Cruise ships are carefully designed places where many people live, eat, relax and move through the same shared spaces for days at a time. They show how easily illness can spread when people are packed into a single interconnected environment….
Kampala, Uganda — The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has revealed that 21 countries had, by Friday, declared measles outbreaks–an alarming development given that the disease is highly preventable through vaccination. Speaking to journalists during a press briefing, Prof. Yap Boum II, the Deputy Head of the Africa CDC Mpox Response,…
This article was supported by One Health Hub. Across Africa, One Health is endorsed at the top but often breaks down where outbreaks start, writes Albert Ansah. [NAIROBI, SciDev.Net] Despite political endorsements and global frameworks, Africa’s One Health approach continues to falter at the local level, where weak coordination, limited resources and poor governance often…
A new year might mean new viral threats. Old viruses are constantly evolving. A warming and increasingly populated planet puts humans in contact with more and different viruses. And increased mobility means that viruses can rapidly travel across the globe along with their human hosts. As an infectious diseases physician and researcher, I’ll be keeping…
