HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria don’t just cause illness and deaths around the world, they decrease productivity and increase the risk of poverty in the communities and countries affected. Loss of income and the cost of healthcare have dramatic effects on the individual, as well as their family and community.
Here’s what you need to know about these three diseases:
HIV/AIDS
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) attacks and destroys the body’s immune cells making it difficult for the body to fight off...
Health
What is global health?
It’s a big year for global health so ONE is going to be talking about it a lot. But before we jump into the nitty gritty statistics or the importance of getting funding for the world’s most innovative partnerships, let’s talk about what global health actually is!
Global health is about improving people’s health worldwide, reducing inequality and, protecting societies from global threats, such as preventable diseases, that don’t stop at national borders.
So why is it important?
We...
Discrimination against sexual minorities in Kenya is costing the country up to US$1.3 billion annually, a report by a coalition of global businesses said, attributing the losses to missed tourism earnings, poor health and less employment of LGBT+ people.
The report by Open For Business – an alliance of big companies including tech companies Google and Microsoft and Deutsche Bank – estimated anti-gay attitudes were shaving off up to 1.7% of Kenya’s annual gross domestic product (GDP).
“A lot of the...
Sierra Leone has banned female genital mutilation (FGM) as part of a wider clampdown on initiation ceremonies by secret societies, a minister has confirmed.
With nine in 10 girls cut, Sierra Leone has one of the highest rates of FGM in Africa, according to U.N. data, and is among only a handful of African countries where the practice remains legal.
Girls are cut during initiations into powerful secret societies – known as the Bondo – which wield significant political clout.
The ban...
We first introduced you to Robinah in 2016, and now we’re catching up with her to see what her life has been like since she revealed her HIV status to her classmates and began her journey as an HIV/AIDS activist.
When Robinah Babirye was ten years old, her mother sat down with her and her twin sister Eva and told them they were both HIV positive. Robinah was devastated.
Now 25, Robinah sees that moment as a beginning, sparking what...
Temie Giwa-Tubosun was visiting Nigeria for the first time in 13 years when she realised blood is a big deal.
HIV/AIDS is a global health crisis that impacts the lives of millions of people a year, yet still many people don’t know enough about what it is, what it does to the body, and the best ways to prevent it. That’s why we’ve answered your most googled questions about HIV and AIDS, and added a couple extra in for good measure:
How many people alive today are living HIV or AIDS?
Around 37 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. That’s nearly...
Thirty years ago, HIV/AIDS swept the globe largely unchecked, and a diagnosis was seen as a death sentence. Two decades later, we’ve made amazing progress – AIDS-related deaths are down by half – but the good news makes the bad news worse.
This good news may be hiding a big problem. The incredible progress the world has made against AIDS has created a sense of complacency that is threatening our ability to end AIDS within our lifetime.
You might not know...
If you know anything about medicine, you may of heard about pioneers such as Louis Pasteur (developed germ theory) or Alexander Fleming (discovered penicillin). But what about the women who also laid the foundations for modern medicine? Meet 8 remarkable women who pushed the frontiers of science.
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689 – 1762)
Introduced smallpox inoculation
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu defied convention by introducing smallpox inoculation into Western medicine. While visiting the Ottoman Empire, she learnt about Turkish customs and witnessed...
There are lots of barriers standing between girls and education. School fees, uniforms, food and water, and safe travel conditions all play a role in whether a girl can go to school. But there’s another crucial factor that often gets overlooked: access to period products.
Women and girls living in poverty struggle to afford menstrual products. As a result, young girls often miss school during their periods. Some even resort to creating makeshift pads out of torn rags and old...