By Kelechukwu Iruoma Eme Okon was two months pregnant with her third child when she started attending antenatal care (ANC) at the Eyokponung Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Akwa Ibom State of southern Nigeria. This was her first time ever; having not attended ANC during her first and second pregnancies. During her first visit, she […]
By Alicestine October In 1947 the first black woman qualified as a doctor in South Africa. Her name was Mary Malahlela-Xakana. It took the country about 60 years after its first black male doctor started practicing for Malahlela-Xakana to don her stethoscope and practice medicine. Much, but not enough has changed since then. Today, medical […]
A review of evidence by researchers at the University of Bristol and the University of Edinburgh has suggested a possible new means by which chlamydia could lead to an increased risk of cancer and ectopic pregnancy. The hypothesis also provides a possible explanation for how pelvic inflammatory disease may be triggered in some women. The […]
A pair of researchers at Université Laval, Quebec claim that more effort should be made to develop plant-based vaccines. Hugues Fausther-Bovendo and Gary Kobinger have published a Perspective piece in the journal Science espousing the benefits of plant-based vaccines and suggesting how they might be made. As the world continues to grapple with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, researchers […]
For thousands of years, malaria was a mysterious illness affecting people across the globe. Even the name of the disease, ‘malaria’, derived from two Italian words meaning ‘bad air’, highlights the confusion around the transmission of this disease. It was only following the discovery of malaria parasites in the gut of Anopheles mosquitoes in India […]
