Latest news with #healthcrisis
Al Arabiya
a day ago
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Former Nigerian president Buhari is buried as thousands pay respects
Former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari was buried Tuesday in his northern hometown as thousands of people lined the streets to say goodbye. Buhari died aged 82 on Sunday in London after battling an undisclosed illness that kept him out of public life since he handed over power in 2023. Current President Bola Tinubu and several regional leaders attended. Senegal's President Bassirou Faye described Buhari as a leading figure in Nigerian and African political life. Buhari ruled Africa's most populous nation twice as a military dictator and democratic president and was one of the country's most influential figures. His presidency was marked by a prolonged health crisis that led to long medical trips abroad. His legacy includes a widespread clampdown on human rights, isolationist economic policies, and escalating insecurity. He first came to power in a coup in 1983 and was ousted two years later. He then won presidential elections in 2015 and 2019, making him the second-longest Nigerian leader.
Associated Press
a day ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Former Nigerian president Buhari is buried as thousands pay respects
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari was buried Tuesday in his northern hometown as thousands of people lined the streets to say goodbye. Buhari died aged 82 on Sunday in London after battling an undisclosed illness that kept him out of public life since he handed over power in 2023. Current President Bola Tinubu and several regional leader attended. Senegal's President Bassirou Faye described Buhari as a 'leading figure in Nigerian and and African political life.' Buhari ruled Africa's most populous nation twice as a military dictator and democratic president and was one of the country's most influential figures. His presidency was marked by a prolonged health crisis that led to long medical trips abroad. His legacy includes a widespread clampdown on human rights, isolationist economic policies and escalating insecurity. He first came to power in a coup in 1983 and was ousted two years later. He then won presidential elections in 2015 and 2019, making him the second-longest Nigerian leader.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Cholera outbreak strains health system at a mining camp in Congo
STORY: :: Lomera, DRC :: June 18, 2025 A cholera outbreak has infected more than 600 people at an artisanal gold mine in South Kivu province, overwhelming local health services and exposing severe sanitation challenges in the conflict-hit eastern Congo. Many patients, like Riziki Bachoke, described severe symptoms and were treated at this makeshift center run by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). "I have been here for two days, suffering from diarrhea. I was brought here in a critical condition. I also had dizziness, but when I arrived here, they examined me before giving me medication. I took syrups and serum. After three days, I feel good. I am strong and I say thank you very much." Cholera is a bacterial infection caused by consuming contaminated water or food. It can kill within hours if untreated. Aid workers and health officials warn of recurring outbreaks without proper sanitation infrastructure, clean water, and long-term healthcare investment. Earlier this year, North Kivu recorded over 600 suspected cholera cases and 14 deaths in one month, raising concerns about similar trends in South Kivu's informal settlements like Lomera. :: Katana, DRC :: July 2, 2025 Dr. Justin Bengehya of the South Kivu Provincial Health Division reported 5,360 cases and 28 deaths across the province since early 2025. The epidemic has raged in Lomera for nearly two months, he says, and most of those affected are miners and small traders. The World Health Organization (WHO) has flagged rising infectious disease risks in eastern Congo amid ongoing displacement and violence.
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Hospice cuts patient numbers: 'We are so desperately sorry for the unavoidable suffering'
Totara Hospice says it has to cut patient numbers by about 100 a month to adequately provide services. Photo: RNZ An Auckland hospice is being forced to cut the number of people it cares for in their final days by almost a third. Totara Hospice gets $8.8 million dollars from the government - but that does not even cover the wage bill, so it fundraises on top of that. Faced with a shortfall of millions, chief executive Tina McCafferty sounded the alarm bell to try and ward off cuts. But with no solution in sight, McCafferty told Checkpoint that cuts in numbers had started this week. "We have between 420 and 450 patients and families in any one month, and what we are having to do is cut that back to about 320, 330 at the moment, and there may be further cuts. "We are so desperately sorry for the unavoidable suffering and distress that this will cause." McCafferty said patients who need help with palliative care should contact their general practitioner, or their age-care provider. "We don't want to put that burden on healthcare partners, and particularly not on patients and families, but we must have safe staffing and safe services with the allocated funding and allocated resources that we have." Health Minister Simeon Brown told Checkpoint that Health NZ had increased funding to the hospice sector by 3 percent this year, as part of the government's increased spending on health. Brown said their own financial reporting showed the government contributed 84 percent of the organisation's funding, which was higher than the 50 to 55 percent for most hospices. But McCafferty disputed those figures. "We are funded $8.89m from the government, but clinical wages alone are just over $12 million, and when you put the cost of clinical services on top of that, then you are looking at funding being around 56 percent for services and we just can't ask the community to bridge a gap of that size anymore. "I think there is a bit of a disconnect between what the minister has been told by his officials. If the minister thinks that an $8.89m contract is 84 percent of $12m of clinical wages, then he has been advised incorrectly." She said health providers in New Zealand were facing a "disempowered and broken system". "So whatever is going on inside Heath NZ needs to be sorted by its board, by its Crown observer, by its new chief executive, because in the midst of what appears to be chaos, we meet with people who are trying to do a great job, but they say they can't do anything. "People are suffering and what we need is appropriate and sustainable funding to meet the needs of palliative and end of life patients." But Brown also said the hospice will need to explain why it has chosen to reduce services, despite increased investment. He said the government has asked Health NZ and Hospice NZ to work on a sustainable funding approach for providing vital palliative care. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
South China Morning Post
5 days ago
- Health
- South China Morning Post
Trump's aid cuts risk reversing decades of HIV progress, warns UNAids
The UN has warned that the halt of US foreign aid is a 'ticking time bomb' that could undo decades of progress in the fight against Aids. According to a new report from the UNAids agency, approximately 31.6 million people were on antiretroviral drugs in 2024. Deaths from Aids-related illnesses had dropped by more than half since 2010, totalling 630,000 that year. However, the report cautions that infections are likely to rise as funding cuts have led to the closure of prevention and treatment programmes. The United States has been the world's biggest donor of humanitarian assistance, but President Donald Trump's abrupt slashing of international aid in February sent the global humanitarian community scrambling to keep life-saving operations afloat. 'We are proud of the achievements but worried about this sudden disruption reversing the gains we have made,' UNAids executive director Winnie Byanyima said ahead of the report's launch in Johannesburg. The agency in April warned that a permanent discontinuation of PEPFAR, the massive US effort to fight HIV/Aids, would lead to more than six million new infections and an additional 4.2 million Aids-related deaths in the next four years. Trump's foreign aid cuts will strain responses to health crises worldwide: WHO This would bring the pandemic back to levels not seen since the early 2000s. 'This is not just a funding gap – it's a ticking time bomb,' whose effects are already felt worldwide, Byanyima said in a press release. Over 60 per cent of all women-led HIV organisations surveyed by UNAids had lost funding or had to suspend services, the report said. In a striking example, the number of people receiving pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) drugs to prevent transmission in Nigeria fell by over 85 per cent in the first few months of 2025. The 'story of how the world has come together' to fight HIV/Aids is 'one of the most important stories of progress in global health,' Byanyima said. 'But that great story has been disrupted massively' by Trump's 'unprecedented' and 'cruel' move, she said. 'Priorities can shift, but you do not take away life-saving support from people just like that,' she said. Demonstrators protest against cuts to American foreign aid spending, including USAID and the PEPFAR programme to combat HIV/Aids in Washington earlier this year. Photo: AP Crucial medical research on prevention and treatment has also shut down, including many in South Africa, which has one of the highest HIV rates in the world and has become a leader in global research. 'Developing countries themselves contribute very much towards the research on HIV and Aids, and that research serves the whole world,' Byaniyma said. In 25 out of 60 low- and middle-income countries surveyed by UNAIDS, governments had found ways to compensate for part of the funding shortfall with domestic resources. 'We have to move towards nationally-owned and financed responses,' Byaniyma said, calling for debt relief and the reform of international financial institutions to 'free up the fiscal space for developing countries to pay for their own response'. Still, the global HIV response built from grass roots activism was 'resilient by its very nature,' she said. 'We moved from people dying every single day to now a point where it is really like a chronic illness,' she said. 'There is no question that the investment has been worth it and continues to be worth it. It saves lives.'
