LAGOS — While at dinner recently at a restaurant in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, I observed a mismatched couple. The man appeared to be at least 60, but was dressed in skinny jeans and a skin-tight sleeveless top, with a large gold chain and dark sunglasses, though it was after eight in the evening. His companion, …
Poverty, poor health and overcrowding are some of the many challenges facing communities in Kenya’s urban slums, or informal settlements. Jane Otai knows these issues firsthand. Raised in a slum in Nairobi, Jane is now a senior program advisor for global health nonprofit Jhpiego, where she helps educate women and girls on reproductive health and …
A Canadian man returning from Liberia recently alarmed health officials with fears that he might have the Ebola virus. Although in good health when he traveled, the man was admitted to the intensive-care unit in Saskatchewan with classic symptoms of the disease. That health scare, and others in recent weeks, were a wake-up call to …
Climate change is closely associated with adverse human health impacts(1). Amongst the raft of options to reduce current and projected impacts is massive scale environmental engineering to reduce the rate of global warming – often referred to as geoengineering. The potential health benefits of such intentional environmental manipulation should be taken seriously as increasing numbers …
The ubiquity of mobile phones and decreasing cost of SMS are beginning to transform health care systems in some of the most impoverished regions of the world—places such as Kibera, Nairobi, Africa’s largest urban slum. But even as Kenya’s mobile penetration is nearing 80%, better access to health information doesn’t always translate into more health …