Feature Stories

Ouagadougou – Pierre Ouedraogo, who has worked at the Neerwaya cinema in the capital Ouagadougou for some 30 years, never tires of extolling the benefits of the ban on smoking in public places. Now his establishment offers a healthier environment for everyone, especially those with respiratory conditions, allergies or smoke sensitivity.

The ban on smoking in public places and on public transport, which has been in force for over 10 years, has made a big difference, he says.

Every year more than 400 million tons of plastic are produced globally and an estimated 19–23 million tons end up in lakes, rivers and seas. However, less than 10% of the world’s annual plastic production is recycled.

Mishana* was taken ill at Bujunangoma Hospital in Kagera, a region in north-western Tanzania, in mid-March. The facility had just been designated as an isolation centre for suspected cases of a then yet-to-be-confirmed outbreak of an infectious disease that had been reported in the region.

When small-scale Kenyan farmer Nancy Achieng made the switch from tobacco farming to high-iron beans just over a year ago, she joined the ranks of hundreds of her peers who today are collectively earning annual net incomes six times higher than previously.

When Malawian journalist Suwira Wanda participated in a recent training to sensitize the national media organizations to misinformation, she learnt for the first time that it is possible to be asymptomatic for cholera, but still infect others through contaminated water.

In the early months of 2023, village chief Dyson Chamizi and his brother were taken ill at Nathenje Health Centre, a facility near their home some 40 kilometres from Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital. Both had cholera, which is extremely virulent, but easily treatable.

In his wheelchair, armed with a loudhailer, community volunteer Abednego Afreh goes from door to door in his neighbourhood, quelling the fears of his fellow Ghanaians as he urges them to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

While Ghanaian mother Charity Kesewaa Damoah has nursed her eight-year-old son through several debilitating bouts of malaria, his 14-month-old brother, John, is living proof of the benefits of the first malaria vaccine recommended to prevent the disease in children, she believes.

Africa’s Lake Victoria is the world’s second largest freshwater lake and its largest tropical lake. This awe-inspiring ecosystem supports a stunning variety of bird, aquatic and animal species. Unfortunately, the same ecosystem is also an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes that carry malaria.

In April 2019, Gilimbeta took her daughter Lusitana to a rural health facility on the outskirts of Lilongwe, Malawi, for vaccination. At the time, she did not realize that her infant daughter was being written into history:  the 5-month-old was the first child to receive the world’s first malaria vaccine (RTS,S/AS01 or RTS,S) as part of the WHO-coordinated Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme.