<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



An undiagnosed disease outbreak in southwest Congo causing flu-like symptoms has now infected more than 400 people since October, health officials said Sunday, and reportedly killed 143 people since October, disproportionately affecting children under the age of five—as health officials have struggled to address the disease in the remote Kwango province.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



Between Oct. 24 and Dec. 5, the World Health Organization&nbsp;<a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2024-DON546" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">recorded</a>&nbsp;406 cases of the disease, which causes fever, headache, cough, running nose and body aches, particularly affecting children under the age of five and females, the WHO said Sunday.



Local officials said the disease has killed 143 people,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/unknown-disease-kills-143-southwest-congo-local-authorities-say-2024-12-03/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Reuters reported</a>&nbsp;Tuesday, much higher than the 31 deaths recorded by the WHO.



The most severe cases are among people who are severely malnourished, according to the WHO, which reports acute pneumonia, influenza, COVID-19, measles and malaria are considered potential causal factors.



The remote Panzi health zone, where the outbreak is located, takes 48 hours to reach by car from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital city of Kinshasa, hindering access to treatment and supplies, as well as diagnosis and response efforts, circumstances exacerbated by the rainy season, according to the WHO.



Early diagnostics indicate it could be a respiratory disease, Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director-General Jean Kaseya told&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congo-mystery-flulike-disease-who-panzi-kwango-7960f7cfcb78a42ccffafecdb6c9e704" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">the Associated Press</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">Crucial Quote</h2>



It’s “really important not to panic until we have more information,” University of California, Los Angeles epidemiologist Ann Rimoin told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/mysterious-disease-congo-kills-dozens-rcna182804" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">NBC News</a>. “It could be anything . . . it could be influenza, it could be Ebola, it could be Marburg, it could be meningitis, it could be measles. At this point, we just really don’t know.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">Big Number</h2>



64%. That’s the share of cases among children under the age of 14, according to the WHO, which also reported 60% of cases are among females.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">Key Background</h2>



Local officials and the WHO have deployed rapid response teams to the Panzi health zone to conduct surveillance, epidemiological analysis and strengthen healthcare access. Meanwhile, food insecurity has worsened in the Kwango province, increasing from a level 1, “acceptable” integrated food security phase classification in April to a crisis level 3 in September, the WHO reported. The disease appears to be transmissible as cases have been reported among family units. The WHO assesses a “high” risk level in the affected communities, but a moderate level nationally as the outbreak is localized within the Panzi health zone. The WHO has called for strengthened coordination at the national and local levels, including enhanced communication infrastructure as there is limited network coverage in the affected areas.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">Further Reading</h2>



<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/unknown-disease-kills-143-southwest-congo-local-authorities-say-2024-12-03/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Unknown disease kills 143 in southwest Congo, local authorities say</a>&nbsp;(Reuters)



<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congo-mystery-flulike-disease-who-panzi-kwango-7960f7cfcb78a42ccffafecdb6c9e704" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">A mystery illness has killed dozens of people in Congo. UN experts are now investigating&nbsp;</a>(Associated Press)



<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/who-sends-experts-help-congo-diagnose-mystery-disease-2024-12-06/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">WHO sends experts to help Congo diagnose mystery disease</a>&nbsp;(Reuters)

World Health Organization – WHO

Mystery Disease Kills Over 100 In Southwest Congo: Here’s What To Know

The UNICEF has secured a four-year supply of the newly WHO-approved R21/Matrix-M vaccine that could revolutionize malaria prevention, especially in Africa where 90% of fatalities occur.



Malaria, one of the most widely-known parasitic diseases to mankind, takes the life of a child every minute according to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, with almost 620,000 deaths per year. A staggering 241 million people contract the disease annually, illustrating the global scope of this public health crisis.



Now, a new vaccine has joined the world in the fight against the disease, having obtained WHO approval earlier this month. The United Nations Children&#8217;s Fund (UNICEF) has entered into an agreement to procure a four-year supply of the newly approved R21/Matrix-M vaccine from mid-2024.



The new vaccine is a product of over 35 years of vaccine research, a collaboration between the University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India, notable in that it is only the second malaria vaccine approved for public use. The first, known as RTS,S, initiated the ground-breaking work in this field but was less efficacious.



Dubbed R21/Matrix-M, it is the first to surpass a 75% efficacy rate, providing protection of up to two years against symptomatic malaria with a single booster – which could be a ground-breaking shift in the fight to eradicate the disease, particularly on the African continent, where some 90% of the fatalities from the illness occur.



&#8220;It is heartbreaking and unacceptable that almost half a million children die of malaria every year. This agreement is a critical step towards protecting more children from this deadly disease,&#8221; said Director of UNICEF Supply Division Leila Pakkala in a press statement announcing the signing of UNICEF&#8217;s supply agreement.



The obtaining of the WHO&#8217;s endorsement earlier this month was critical to allow international bodies such as UNICEF to begin procuring the vaccines, with WHO having vetted the safety profile and efficacy of R21/Matrix-M.



Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute of India, commemorated the WHO endorsement in a press release: &#8220;For far too long, malaria has threatened the lives of billions of people across the globe, disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable amongst us. This is why the WHO recommendation and approval of the R21/Matrix-MTM vaccine marks a huge milestone on our journey to combat this life-threatening disease.&#8221;



The Serum Institute of India has already begun to prepare the production capability to deliver up to 100 million doses per year, to be doubled in the coming two years.



Cost and Delivery



Critically, for a vaccine that aims to prevent severe disease primarily in lower-income countries, the R21/Matrix-M is expected to cost only between $2 and $4 per dose, with an initial regimen consisting of one dose every month for three months, and one booster within the next 12 months – meaning that a full treatment protocol offering high levels of protection for almost two years costs less than $16.



Countries have already begun to factor in the new vaccine into their epidemiological planning, with both Ghana and Nigeria having obtained approval for the vaccine&#8217;s use – Ghana too has begun establishing a vaccine factory in Accra for this purpose in collaboration with the Serum Institute of India.



The Path Forward



Despite the leaps in vaccine development, challenges persist. While vaccines like R21/Matrix-M are revolutionary, they are not the final answer to a disease as complex and historically persistent as malaria. In the interim, nations continue to deploy traditional methods like insecticides, improved housing, and swamp drainage, especially in regions where malaria remains prevalent. It&#8217;s also worth mentioning that mRNA technology, catalyzed by COVID-19 research, holds the promise of even more effective vaccines in the future.



Global efforts have already made significant strides; the WHO reports a 90% decline in malaria mortality rates in the 20th century, but with many in the world still suffering under high rates of the disease, the new vaccine could be key in reducing fatalities in the years to come.

R21-Vaccination (11 of 20); image credit University of Oxford, Tom Wilkinson

The Vaccine That Could Turn The Tide On Malaria In Africa, Where The Disease Is One Of The Biggest Killers

With Africa having a big share of the global malaria burden, technologists are developing new, cost-effective ways to detect the disease – minus the needle. 

A needle, blood drawn and waiting time are the three aspects of a traditional malaria test.
In Kampala, Uganda, 24-year-old Brian Gitta has created a device that eliminates all of the above, in a first for malaria testing.
Matibabu, meaning ‘treatment’ in Swahili, tests malaria without drawing blood and can deliver results instantly.
The device, clipped on to a patient&#8217;s finger, beams a red light, and the results are available within a minute on a mobile phone linked to the device.
Growing up, Gitta had a passion for computers and went on to pursue a degree in computer science at the University of Makerere in Kampala.
Little did he know his eagerness and passion for tech would lead him to the medical field.
“I’m not one who grew up saying I wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer. I mean I’m not a doctor but I’m glad I can make a change in the medical realm from there,” Gitta tells FORBES AFRICA.
Gitta, who is often in and out of hospitals, now runs Matibabu, a company that takes its name from the device he created. He runs it with a team of six full-time staff. Although he is the CEO and founder of Matibabu, he prefers to be called a team leader.
It all started six years ago. In his first year at university, Gitta got together with his fellow students to change the way malaria was diagnosed. The prevalence of malaria continues to be high in Africa, rated as a top killer.
“I remember the first year when we started it, a lot of people were excited about what we were doing,” Gitta says.
Their project got them accolades such as the UN Women&#8217;s Empowerment Award in 2013.
“I think what we are doing has a lot of potential and we can definitely do something about this.”
The team decided to turn the project into a company with a social objective. But nothing prepared them for what was to come.
<div id="attachment_36983" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-36983" class="wp-image-36983 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Brian-Gitta_18a-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="494" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Brian-Gitta_18a-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Brian-Gitta_18a-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Brian-Gitta_18a-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Brian-Gitta_18a-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Brian-Gitta_18a.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" />Brian Gitta. Picture Provided: James Oatway</div>
<blockquote>“As a bunch of people that didn’t know how to run a company, neither did we know how to do anything in terms of management; we actually had to learn on site, so we made a lot of mistakes in the beginning,” says Gitta.</blockquote>
But the more word got out about the company, the more support Gitta and his team received.
They got to learn more about strategic solutions, and managing development processes and the expectations of partners.
The prestigious 2018 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation they won in Kenya in June, have now helped them map the product for the world.
Gitta won prize money of $33,000. He will also receive support, funding, mentoring and business training from the Royal Academy of Engineering in the United Kingdom.
In 2016, he was on an MTV Base panel discussion with billionaire Bill Gates to share his views on the future of technology, innovation and development in Africa, with a group of African youth.
Gitta aims to create a low-cost malaria-testing device for medical institutions. Currently, the price is set at $100, but he hopes to lower the cost so it’s more accessible.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2017/11/24/birth-control-mosquitoes-malaria-cure/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Birth Control For Mosquitoes – Is This The Malaria Cure?</a>
Gitta, himself once a victim to malaria, was frustrated with the healthcare system in Uganda. Blood tests had failed to diagnose his condition. He says this is one of the common problems malaria patients face. Another is people would rather self-diagnose than seek medical help.
“There’s a lot of self-medication because people tend to treat every fever as malaria and that creates additional strain&#8230;,&#8221; says Gitta.
But he believes with Matibabu, these issues may be eliminated.
Far from Kampala, in the South African capital of Pretoria, Professor Leo Braack at the University of Pretoria has been studying malaria for over five years.
“The new device developed by Gitta and his colleagues suggests multiple potential benefits not just for patients, [but] especially small children intimidated by the current need for a drop of blood,&#8221; says Braack.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), children under the age of five are at a high risk of malaria because they are more susceptible to infection, illness and death.
Braack believes this device could be the first of its kind in the world. However, that may provide a challenge for Matibabu to enter the market.
<div id="attachment_36984" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-36984" class="size-medium wp-image-36984" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DSC_4660-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DSC_4660-300x199.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DSC_4660-600x398.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DSC_4660-768x510.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DSC_4660-1024x680.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DSC_4660.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Leo Braack. Photo Provided.</div>
&#8220;The device still has a way to go before it will be widely accepted within the medical and scientific communities, and ultimately it will depend on cost-effectiveness, and particularly how accurate and sensitive the diagnosis is,&#8221; he says.
“If the device has a margin of error, it is better that it has false-positives than false-negatives. It is better to treat a false-positive person than to ignore a false-negative person who may go on to get seriously ill.
“The ideal is to get the device to reach as close to 100% accuracy and sensitivity, [it’s] very difficult to reach.”
Despite the immense strides taken in eradicating malaria, one of the biggest challenges is the mosquito’s resistance to insecticides and drugs.
Technology has introduced short-term solutions to combat outdoor mosquitoes.
<div id="attachment_36985" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-36985" class="size-medium wp-image-36985" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/option1-highRes-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/option1-highRes-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/option1-highRes-300x451.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/option1-highRes-600x902.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/option1-highRes-768x1155.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/option1-highRes-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/option1-highRes.jpg 1362w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />Vinet Coetzee. Photo provided</div>
Like Gitta, Dr Vinet Coetzee, a lecturer from the University of Pretoria, has been on the quest to identify affordable, non-invasive ways to detect malaria. Her method was tested in Nigeria on children.
“The device uses sensitive skin color measurements in the palm of the hand coupled with Artificial Intelligence to accurately detect whether a person has malaria or not,” says Coetzee.
According to Coetzee, sensitivity is the ability of the method to correctly identify people who have the disease. In this case, WHO recommends a sensitivity of 95%.
The University of Pretoria has filed a provisional patent for this method and Coetzee and her team are currently working on improving the device and its overall accuracy.
She was selected as a Next Einstein Forum fellow and member of the World Economic Forum Young Scientist Community for her work on the bloodless malaria detection device.
Dr Taneshka Kruger, who has been studying malaria since 2012, also believes technology can aid in the fight against malaria. Her focus in malaria research is malaria education and awareness, and public health, looking into new and modern ways to inform communities in both malaria-endemic and non-malaria areas through the use of social media and mobile apps.
<div id="attachment_36987" style="width: 217px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-36987" class="size-medium wp-image-36987" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/20180613-MR2_9443-207x300.jpg" alt="" width="207" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/20180613-MR2_9443-207x300.jpg 207w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/20180613-MR2_9443-300x436.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/20180613-MR2_9443-600x871.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/20180613-MR2_9443-768x1116.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/20180613-MR2_9443-705x1024.jpg 705w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/20180613-MR2_9443.jpg 1410w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 207px) 100vw, 207px" />Taneshka Kruger. Photo provided</div>
<blockquote>“In order for malaria elimination to be achieved in sub-Saharan Africa and globally, new and innovative methods and strategies need to be developed that focus on all aspects of the disease,” she tells us.</blockquote>
“The institute [University of Pretoria], in collaboration with Travel with Flair, also developed the ‘Malaria Buddy’ app to inform mainly tourists about malaria. The app is continuously expanding with the aim to become a one-stop malaria information app,” she adds.
WHO is tracking the E2020 initiative in 21 countries identified as having the potential to eliminate the disease by the year 2020. Six of them are African – Algeria, Botswana, Cape Verde, Comoros, South Africa and Swaziland.
The African region carries a disproportionately high share of the global malaria burden.
In 2016, the region was home to 90% of malaria cases and 91% of malaria deaths. Therefore, a lot more effort and focus to eradicate malaria is necessary.
Despite only being in the field for a few years, Gitta is positive that with these technological enhancements, the fight against malaria will surely end.
&#8220;I think the strides toward elimination are happening although it will take a bit of time. But we just want to be a part of the journey as a whole,” says Gitta.
“I think the opportunity has been humungous and I don’t look at age as a definition of how to be an entrepreneur and that’s what makes this generation a big difference,” he says. 
Hopefully, the new generation of tech tools they develop will also offer a big difference to malaria cure.
<blockquote>&nbsp;</blockquote>

Brian-Gitta_36x

The Bloodless Battle Against The Malaria

December 25, 2017, was the worst Christmas for the Warmback family.
The festivities began two days before with the arrival of Keith and Glenda Warmback’s children from the US. There was food and celebration as the couple saw their one-year-old granddaughter for the first time.
“That evening, we went out and my wife had a chicken salad [from one of the fast food restaurants]. The following day my wife Glenda started having a tummy ache. She went to lie down for a while. She fell asleep and I woke her up around 5PM and she said she couldn’t get out of bed because she wasn’t feeling well and had a running tummy,” says Keith.
Keith says he was woken up by barking dogs, in their room where Glenda was asleep, at about midnight.
“I went to see what was going on and I found Glenda on the floor. She said she thought she had a stroke,” he recalls.
He bundled her up and rushed her to the nearest private hospital.
“The staff was disastrous… They were disinterested in my wife’s condition and three others who were there with similar symptoms,” says Keith.
According to Keith, it was just the beginning of a series of mistakes. Eventually, Glenda’s lungs collapsed and she died at 2AM on Christmas day. She was 61 years old; they had been married for 41 of those.
“The painful thing is the incompetence at the hospital,” says Keith.
<div id="attachment_35790" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-35790" class="size-medium wp-image-35790" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/keith-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/keith-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/keith-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/keith-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/keith-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/keith.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Keith Warmback lost his wife Glenda to Listeriosis on the Christmas day of 2017. Photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla.</div>
Doctors sited natural causes as a cause of death. The problem is, just 20 days before, the health minister had announced a foodborne outbreak called listeriosis. According to Keith, Glenda had all the symptoms and blood tests indicated she had it but she was never treated for it.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2017/05/01/rat-race-silent-killer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: The Rat Race Against The silent Killer</a>
At the time of going to press, Glenda was one of 183 South Africans who had died from this disease since January 2017; 978 had been infected. It is the world’s worst outbreak of listeriosis, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
“Listeriosis is the name of a disease that people develop when they eat food that is contaminated with the bacterium called listeria,” says Dr Juno Thomas, head of the Centre for Enteric Diseases at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).
According to Thomas, this bacterium is found worldwide. It can be in soil, water and even faeces in many animals.
“Once in the environment, it is very difficult to get rid of because it attaches to things very easily. Once it attaches itself in an environment, it produces a layer of a sticky sugary slime that sticks onto the surfaces and makes it difficult to remove and resistant to disinfectants,” says Thomas.
According to Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, South African hospitals saw and treated an average of 60 to 80 patients affected by listeria between 2013 and 2016 with no problems.
Then, in July last year, doctors started seeing more cases of newborn babies born with listeria.
<div id="attachment_35791" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-35791" class="size-medium wp-image-35791" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kieth-wife-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kieth-wife-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kieth-wife-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kieth-wife-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kieth-wife-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kieth-wife.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Keith looks at an image of his wife (right), Glenda Warmback. Photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla.</div>
It was a cause for concern. They informed the NICD. A search, led by Thomas, began. On November 29, they found that at the time, 557 people had been infected.
“A team from the NIDC interviewed 109 patients to obtain details about foods they had eaten in the month before falling ill. Eighty five percent of the people reported eating ready-to-eat (RTE) processed meat products, of which polony was the most common, followed by viennas/sausages and then other ‘cold meats’,” says Motsoaledi.
Sixty percent of cases were reported in Gauteng, 13% in the Western Cape and 7% in KwaZulu-Natal.
“We think it affected Gauteng the most because of consumer behavior. Things like sausages, polony and viennas are staple street and household foods in Gauteng because they are affordable and quick to prepare. The economy of Gauteng also plays a factor. There are many more people who can afford to buy these items than other provinces,” says Thomas.
Even armed with this information, the source of the outbreak remained unknown.
<h2>Symptoms of Listeriosis:</h2>
<ul>
<li>Fever</li>
<li>Diarrhoea</li>
<li>Vomiting</li>
</ul>
“When you have an outbreak like this you have no idea where it comes from. We also had not seen many cases of listeriosis in the country, meaning it wasn’t a big health priority compared to all the other issues we have to deal with. For example, we saw 30,000 cases of malaria last year, rabies is a big concern, TB and many others were more severe,” says Thomas.
With hard work and vigilance, the outbreak was traced from Soweto.
Nine crèche kids under the age of five got ill and were admitted to the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital. Tests revealed that they had been infected. A team went to the crèche the very day and found kids had eaten polony manufactured by Enterprise Foods, owned by Tiger Brands.
“We then visited the Enterprise Foods factory in Polokwane that makes this brand. We took over 28 samples and they tested positive for the outbreak strain. The conclusion from this is that the source of the present outbreak can be confirmed to be the Enterprise Food production facility in Polokwane,” she says.
On Sunday March 4, Motsoaledi ordered a safety recall of all products from Tiger Brands.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2016/09/01/deadly-75-billion-business/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: A Deadly $75-Billion Business</a>
After Motsoaledi’s announcement, Tiger Brands shares fell more than 10% when the market opened on Monday.
“It is devastating for me that our business is linked to this outbreak&#8230; we detected low levels of listeria in our products on the 14th of February. We took immediate precautionary measures which included immediately halting production of the affected product, quarantining all affected product within our distribution center and withdrawing all affected products manufactured on that day,” says Tiger Brand CEO Lawrence MacDougall at a press briefing the next day.
MacDougall, however, controversially denied any responsibility for the deaths.
“There is no direct link with the deaths to our products that we are aware of at this point. Nothing&#8230; All of our tests and results indicate that we kept a very high standard of quality protocols within those sites. The expectations going forward is that those standards are significantly increased if there is going to be a zero detection of listeria going forward,” he says.
Motsoaledi argues that there is proof the ST6 strain was found at their facilities.
“The fact remains that we have had an outbreak of listeria, we informed them [Tiger Brands], in terms of fair administrative justice, that we got the results and we were going public with them. I don’t think they did enough to make sure their produce is safe for consumption by the public. I believe the best way is for this to be a civil case rather than a government case,” says Motsoaledi.
Renowned corruption buster and private forensic investigator Paul O&#8217;Sullivan agrees. He is filing criminal charges against the board of Tiger Brands and has called upon them to step aside pending the outcome of the investigations.
O&#8217;Sullivan has teamed up with human rights lawyer Richard Spoor to bring charges.
“What is particularly shocking is that Tiger Brands, in its most recent annual report, placed product quality as number nine on the list of risks facing the company, when it should have been be at number one. We cannot think of a greater risk to the sustainability of any food company, than that of killing off your customers through recklessness or gross negligence. We are 100% certain that it will rank top of the list in next year’s annual report.”
What O&#8217;Sullivan finds completely unacceptable is that Tiger Brands is still in denial.
“On the one hand they close and deep-clean all the affected facilities, on the other hand they deny culpability and say they will meet each civil claim on its own merits, thereby indicating they will make it a long-haul for the litigants,” he says.
Gareth Lloyd-Jones, Chief Commercial Officer at hygiene and sanitation service provider Ecowize, however says government is to blame. He argues there should be a surveillance system that protects consumers.
“This type of rigorous investigation has been going on for the past couple of months, which is admirable, relevant and necessary and should have been part of a more robust routine surveillance and monitoring process in terms of food safety and legislation requirements,” he says.
According to retail analyst Syd Vianello, this can tarnish a brand that has spent decades trying to live up to high standards.
“How long is it going to take [Enterprise Foods] to convince consumers that the Enterprise brand is good for purchase again? We are talking about the value of the brand and the protection of the brand equity, insurance won’t even cover you for those kinds of losses. These can carry on for a very long time,” he says.
There is also a rub-off effect.
Ronald Dube, a manager at a supermarket in Johannesburg, says people have been returning all cold meats regardless of brand.
“People are afraid and have been returning all sorts of meat. We have also noted that sales of processed foods have gone down, no matter the brand,” he says.
Many people have also thrown away their cold meats but, according to Dr Johan Schoonraad, waste expert and group tactical specialist at EnviroServ Waste Management, there are only two options for disposing of listeria infected food waste – incineration or treatment and landfill disposal.
“The scale of the problem is too big for the incineration industry to deal with in any sort of reasonable timeframe, which leaves waste management companies with the option to do treatment and disposal to landfill,” he says.
Schoonraad says treatment can take many routes. You could sterilize the food waste, heating it and ensuring the material internally gets to 100 degrees which would kill the bacteria.
“If this was done, we could then landfill it without further treatment being required before disposal,” he says.
The other option is to chemically treat it prior to disposal.
According to Schoonraad, the problem is municipal landfills often have poor access control. The risk here, he says, is that the informal sector could enter and scavenge food material, which is then sold or eaten and could spread the disease.
“However, licensed hazardous waste sites have strict access control with no scavenging allowed at these facilities,” he says.
Nevertheless, South Africa remains in fear of this deadly disease.
<h2>Who is mostly at risk:</h2>
<ul>
<li>Pregnant women</li>
<li>Neonates (first 28 days of life)</li>
<li>Very young infants</li>
<li>Elderly persons &gt;65 years of age</li>
<li>Anyone with a weakened immune system (due to HIV infection, cancer, diabetes, kidney disease, liver disease, people with transplants and those on immunosuppressive therapy such as oral corticosteroids, chemotherapy, or antiTNF therapy for auto-immune disease)</li>
</ul>

bowl of chopped ham sausage, from above

Death, Denial And Fear: What Listeriosis Cost South Africa

South Africa mourns the death of its Rugby World Cup hero Joost van der Westhuizen who fought motor neuron disease, with the same aggression he showed on the rugby field. Van der Westhuizen was diagnosed in 2011 and succumbed on February 6. Many remember Van der Westhuizen from his heroic show when he threw his body at All Blacks bully winger Jonah Lomu, denying them a 1995 World Cup victory at Ellis Park stadium, in Johannesburg.
On that day June 24, 1995, millions of South Africans, many watching rugby for the first time, watched the final against the 1987 World Cup winners. Both teams were undefeated. The match was a bookie’s headache.
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The All Blacks menacing winger Lomu, a 120-kilogram giant, was the man to mark. The 20-year-old carried his team throughout the tournament. He crashed his way to becoming the tournament’s top try scorer. But the Springbok scrumhalf Van der Westhuizen, who stood at 1.88 meters and weighed 88 kilograms, was having none of it. Undoubtedly, he was the best scrumhalf that ever played in my lifetime. On defence, a scrumhalf is the weakest link, but Van der Westhuizen reinvented the position. He was what the coaches call an extra flank. The opposition avoided breaking in his channel because he scared you with his green eyes before destroying you, ball and all, with his massive shoulders.
Needless to say, Van der Westhuizen stole the spotlight as he cut down the aggressive attacks from Lomu. At full-time the game ended at 9-9, no tries. Seven minutes before the end of extra time, Van der Westhuizen picked up the ball behind a moving scrum and unleashed a bullet pass to the hands of Joel Stransky who booted it to victory.
In November 1993, a young Van der Westhuizen made his debut for the Springboks against Argentina, and within two years he was a fixture in the team. He captained the Boks 10 times and scored 38 tries in 89 test matches.
It is rare for a South African player to represent only one province, Van der Westhuizen played for one team only – the Blue Bulls of Pretoria.
In 2009, almost six years after retiring from the sport, all the good work that Van der Westhuizen did came close to destruction when a video with a blonde woman in a compromising position was leaked to the media. In the video he wore only underwear while sniffing white powder, believed to be cocaine. After denying it for some time, Van der Westhuizen manned up and admitted he was the man in the video. But that could not salvage his marriage to his popstar wife, Amor Vittone, who wanted a divorce.
Shortly after the devastating separation, the big-hearted Van der Westhuizen lost weight and   was diagnosed with motor neuron disease in 2011. From then on he became a different champion, this time off the field. Van der Westhuizen dedicated his time to raising awareness about the disease. The J9 Foundation was formed – the name was in honor of his scrumhalf position.
Van der Westhuizen epitomized fighting spirit on and off the field.
“It’s a reminder that I achieved a lot in my lifetime. It’s a reminder of success. It’s actually a reminder of what it took for us a team to win the World Cup, if I can take that characteristic into my personal life in trying to fight this disease. That’s what I am doing at this stage,” said Van der Westhuizen before his death.
His former Springbok captain, Francois Pienaar, spoke at his memorial service in Pretoria.
“Joost loved winning, he was a competitor… In the times of amateur rugby, Joost had professional mind-set and discipline… Captaining Joost was incredibly easy and incredibly difficult. He always pushed the boundaries. An individual spirit that would do anything for his teammates. On the field he played like a rock star. Off the field he partied like a rock star. He was after all a rock star. He was funny and bloody naughty,” says Pienaar.
Apparently he was truly the naughty guy among his teammates. One of the tales says Van der Westhuizen sneaked under the table and tied teammates’ shoelaces together.
He was 45 years old and is survived by his two children, Jordan and Kylie, and his mother Mariana and father Gustav, and two brothers.

The Life Of A  Brave Fighter Who Could Be Naughty

In late 2015, Liberia was declared Ebola-free. On the frontline of the fight against the disease was Cyvette Gibson, the Mayor of Paynesville, Liberia’s largest district.
Gibson (pictured right) personifies style and confidence, accompanied by a warm, infectious smile.
FORBES WOMAN AFRICA caught up with her in Johannesburg, South Africa, on the sidelines of the 2015 Africities Summit.
For the last three years, Gibson has served as the Mayor of Paynesville, a city with a population of 400,000. The Ebola outbreak was the toughest test she has yet faced. The virus killed more than 11,000 in West Africa, with around 4,800 of those from Liberia.
<div id="attachment_31529" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31529" class="wp-image-31529 size-medium" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Cyvette-111-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Cyvette-111-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Cyvette-111-300x451.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Cyvette-111-600x902.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Cyvette-111.jpg 681w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />Mayor of Paynesville, Cyvette Gibson</div>
“It felt like an enemy had sort of descended upon us in the middle of the night. We didn’t even know what this enemy was, all we knew was that it was wiping people out,” says Gibson.
“The most painful thing was watching my citizens die and being unable to assist initially and eventually figuring out that a simple thing such as a touch – which is something all human beings do, no matter what culture, to console someone when they’re ill – we could no longer do.”
When the outbreak was at its peak, Gibson faced the problem head on and started by cleaning the streets. She enlisted the help of everyone she could find. Everyone, even the homeless and drug addicts, who had helped to rid her town of litter.
Gibson deployed block leaders to educate people, monitor their behavior and trace potential Ebola victims before the disease spread further. In addition, there were posters on every street corner showing the dangers and symptoms of Ebola. Radio jingles, television commercials and community vehicles blared with information 24 hours a day, throughout the city.
Ebola was a fight Gibson fought until the very end.
Outside of every public building in her city are washing stations; it is compulsory to wash your hands thoroughly with chlorinated or soapy water before entering.
Gibson’s sanitizing campaign ensured community leaders were around to supply information and medical services to locals, while monitoring signs of the virus spreading.
“Community leaders had a constant engagement with the people, every morning they would go house-to-house, check people’s temperatures, make sure all the names are on the list, their ages and check for unfamiliar people walking about the areas,” says Gibson.
“The power was within the community.”
Part of Ebola’s danger was that it could be contracted with just one touch, as a result many families lost their breadwinners.
In some instances, according to Gibson, a mother would have to sit in a room and watch her child die without being able to touch the child for fear of contracting the disease.
“Our healthcare workers were dying like flies. We already lacked doctors and nurses and we were just losing more. It was a very difficult time but we had to put our boots on and get onto the streets.”
Despite being the most difficult period in her career, Gibson believes it made her stronger.
Alongside her on the frontline in the war were many international organizations who helped with medical supplies, awareness campaigns and funding.
“We are also very thankful to our families and friends in organizations in the diaspora for their support and solidarity during this time. If it hadn’t been for them, we would not have reached where we are today.”
Gibson is the youngest mayor to serve in Liberia. When not buried by paperwork in her office, you’ll find her on the streets engaging with the community. She believes in leading by example and says that constantly engaging with her citizens builds a strong and united community.
“If I expect people to do something, I must exemplify it and exhibit the same behavior. Also, as a leader, I truly believe one must be humble, especially when you are serving the people,” she says.
Going forward, Gibson has formed partnerships with organizations around Liberia which will continue to assist in building a stable healthcare system. With donations from abroad, she has managed to increase capacity within community clinics and has trained more nurses and doctors.
“I can say now we can respond timeously to anything, even if we have an outbreak, we are able to deal with it by containing it as we already know the signs and symptoms. We still have a long way to go but we are headed in the right direction,” she says.
Gibson also plans to support neighboring countries still recovering from the disease.
With Gibson leading the charge, even Ebola didn’t stand a chance.

shutterstock_243122605

Fighting An Unknown Enemy – And Winning

Eric Lawson portrayed the Marlboro Man – the iconic strong rugged man, with cowboy hat, piercing eyes and chiseled jaw, who was always holding a cigarette. This year, Lawson  became the third Marlboro actor to die of a smoking-related disease. The world has changed since smoking was advertised as the cool thing to do. Today, there is an increase in healthy options, even in fast food restaurants. Coffee shops are filled with the ‘athletic mum’ and her ‘workout friends’; healthy living is now a booming multibillion-dollar industry.
Companies realize the importance and profitability in marketing a healthy lifestyle. This lifestyle has become synonymous with strength, responsibility, sacrifice, and success. Companies sponsor athletes who embody these values to attract consumers to their products.
As with any partnership, sponsorship should be mutually beneficial. The athlete must be able to focus on training and competition, and sponsorship can provide the security they need. This ensures that their living costs are covered, including buying training equipment or travelling to competitions. In return, the sponsor receives brand enhancement and product awareness that could develop new or niche markets. It differentiates themselves from their competitors, increases overall sales and even contributes to goodwill in the community.
These are all valuable, but there are also pitfalls to sponsorships from both perspectives.
&nbsp;
Sponsor’s Perspective
<ol>
<li>Athlete integrity: With increased social media, athletes are under the microscope more off the field than on it. Without integrity, the potential for a negative image created by an athlete’s behavior is increased.</li>
<li>Athlete effort: An athlete has to put work into marketing their sponsor. An idle athlete (or athlete’s manager/agent) can create high costs for the company with little return.</li>
<li>Lack of control: With injury, illness, or a sudden lack of performance or drop in rankings, a once high profile athlete may no longer be an effective marketing tool. However, a good role model can continue representing a company even after they have retired from playing sport.</li>
<li>Brand diffusion: Do other companies or individuals sponsor your athlete? Are they reputable? Are there too many sponsors involved that limit the effectiveness of your athlete’s brand? Are you the main sponsor that receives the most benefits?</li>
</ol>
&nbsp;
Athlete’s Perspective
<ol>
<li>Sponsor’s integrity: Just as important as an athlete’s integrity and as with many of these points, it works both ways. As an example, if an athlete is endorsing a company that is found to be using child labor, the athlete will be seen as promoting it.</li>
<li>Sponsor’s demands: These must be realistic and allow the athlete to focus on what they are supposed to do – train and compete. The athlete must also learn to manage their time to accommodate their obligations to the sponsor.</li>
<li>Sponsor’s technology: I was under contract to swim for a swimsuit company because they had the best product at the time. My contract stated that should my rankings drop, so would my income. The sponsor failed to keep up with technology and its competitors came out with a better suit. Despite that, I remained loyal and went on to break the world record.</li>
<li>Other athletes: The sponsor may have five other athletes and choose to market them more than you. Due to your exclusive relationship with the sponsor your branding could take a back seat. It is important that the athlete does not solely rely on the sponsor for marketing, but builds marketing campaigns and branding efforts to increase their own visibility and value.</li>
</ol>
Great sponsorships are the result of strong relationships backed by good communications. A clear contract should be developed with the above considerations taken into account, including exit strategies for ‘what if’ scenarios.
The increasing trend for active and healthy lifestyles places greater importance for athletes to endorse products. Companies need to find an athlete that fits with their philosophy and shares their values. Companies can find these athletes by looking for those with a winning record or great potential, but companies should choose these athletes based on personality, uniqueness, being a good role model, and their relationship with fans.
This will avoid any potential pitfalls and allow the magic of sport to keep us entertained.

The Good And Bad Of Being An Ad

Dr. Ben Sarkodie is a medical maverick in Ghana. His use of interventional radiology is unorthodox in the country. Interventional radiology is relatively new in the medical world, allowing doctors to treat and diagnose diseases without using invasive procedures.
Sarkodie came across this specialist field in a chance encounter during an exchange program in the United States (US). However, his passion to see the practice become a vital method of medical diagnosis was borne out of one tragic event.
Five years ago, a good friend of Sarkodie sought treatment from him for an ongoing heart condition. The patient had already undergone several surgeries to help solve the heart problem. She arrived at Sarkodie’s office for a routine check-up. It was far from routine.
“Before we could start our procedure, she had a sudden cardiac arrest and dropped to the floor,” says Sarkodie.
Responsible for more than 400,000 deaths a year, sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is a condition that causes the heart’s normal rhythm to become chaotic and stop pumping blood effectively, leading to the victim’s collapse with no detectable pulse. SCA can strike anyone at any time.
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“My biggest pain was that we couldn’t do that much to help save the life of this good friend,” says Sarkodie.
There are many challenges involved in practicing medicine in this part of the world. Basic lifesaving equipment needed for emergency situations like this are not available in many hospitals. A common response to SCA is the use of a defibrillator, which provides a lifesaving electric shock that restores the heart’s rhythm.
“We should be able to resuscitate someone who has just got a cardiac arrest, you want to be able to give the patients some lifesaving shocks, and if you do not even have a defibrillator, how do you do that?” asks Sarkodie.
He had to watch his friend die because he did not have the necessary equipment. It was difficult for Sarkodie to accept.
“For the next three days, I locked myself in my house. I didn’t want to be a doctor again, I didn’t think I could continue. The biggest shock was to see a fellow human being passing away and I was absolutely helpless. We did all we could but we were very limited with the resources we had,” he says.
Sarkodie knew he wanted to be a doctor from early childhood. His uncle was a doctor and Sarkodie would follow him to theater while he was in secondary school. It was all the inspiration the schoolboy needed.
Sarkodie attended medical school at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. He started out enthusiastically but Sarkodie’s interest waned after three years.
“I am more like a maverick, I like to be challenged and I like to do new things, so after studying theory for three years, I completely lost interest,” says Sarkodie.
Things changed when Sarkodie was part of a medical exchange program at the Thomas Jefferson University in the US. This was his first exposure to interventional radiology.
“I said to myself this is so cool and I would love to do something like this,” says Sarkodie.
The exchange program was eye-opening. Sarkodie took part in radiological investigations. He used imaging techniques and some interventional procedures, like putting tubes into kidneys to alleviate blockages. The program lasted only two months but Sarkodie’s bond with interventional radiology would stay with him for life. Upon his return to Ghana, he realized how niche the subject was. The medical school in Ghana did not have a radiologist; they had to hire an expert from Britain to come down every four weeks to teach the subject.
After more than 10 years of studying, Sarkodie finally qualified as a senior consultant in radiology.
“Every doctor needs a radiologist because if we do not diagnose the condition, how do you manage it?” says Sarkodie.
He further honed his skills in interventional radiology by practicing in Singapore before his return to Ghana. Interventional radiology is used to treat conditions without traditional surgery, X-rays, and MRI scans.
“We are able to help in every discipline, including fibroids, which traditionally will be treated by a gynaecologist for example. In terms of surgery, instead of amputation, we are able to insert catheters and solve the problem locally,” says Sarkodie.
Following the death of his friend, the practice has gained even more prominence for Sarkodie.
“Cardiac intervention for patients like her now exists, which would have easily saved her life,” says Sarkodie.
The tragedy still haunts him to this day.
“I told myself ‘we can’t save everybody unfortunately. We would love to, but we can’t.’ I started looking at all the people I had helped to get back on their feet, people who keep sending me messages to say thank you, people who still call me today and send cards and gifts to say ‘thank you for what you did for me, and because of what you did, I am still here.’ That put me back on track.”
There are still many problems in the medical world, and if lives are going to be saved in the future, Sarkodie, with the help of interventional radiology, will lead the way.

A Tragedy That Led To Many Lives Saved

Africa billionaires are lining up to put their money where their mouth is in the fight against Ebola.
At least five FORBES AFRICA cover millionaires are putting up to $50 million to fight the disease. It’s being seen as Africa solving its
own problems.
The millionaires include: Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote of Dangote Group; Strive Masiyiwa, the Founder and Chairman of global telecommunications group Econet Wireless; Patrice Motsepe, the Founder and Executive Chairman of African Rainbow Minerals; Jim Ovia, Chairman and Co-Founder of Zenith Bank and Mohammed Dewji, the CEO of Mohammed Enterprises Tanzania Limited.
The fund, called the Business-to-Rescue Fund, was launched on November 8  at the African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis Ababa, the first meeting between the AU and the Africa’s private sector.
“Africa is becoming conscious of synergies that exist between entrepreneurship and development and Econet Wireless Group has been involved in the fight against Ebola as early as April,” says Masiyiwa.
Masiyiwa said business was affected by everything that threatens life in the African economy.
“Our focus is the economy and well-being of our generation. The African people will not allow Ebola to persist like the HIV/Aids pandemic.”
Kola Karim, the Managing Director and CEO of Shoreline Energy International, says leading billionaires have set up a benchmark fund of between $30 million to $50 million.
“It’s unfortunate that the Ebola has caused this much pain without a quick response both from governments and businesses. It is the responsibility of the governments and the private sector to make interventions when serious problems like Ebola attack the region,” says Karim.
Political analyst at the University of Johannesburg’s Centre for the Study of Democracy, Gideon Chitanga, says entrepreneurs are playing a role of corporate social responsibility.
“Africa has seen a surge in the number of billionaires in the past decade and it is time that these billionaires start giving back to communities where they are generating their wealth from,” says Chitanga.

Forbes Millionaires  Shell Out  To Stop Ebola

For thousands of years, humans have ground plants and animals to cure the sick. It was a time long before bread mould could also cure a headache. But these days, the tinctures and potions of old have taken a back seat to contemporary medicine.
Not so for complementary medicines in South Africa, an industry that is now worth $750 million, according to Peter Kreft, CEO of CoMED Health, who own brands Bioter Health and Natura, some of South Africa’s largest manufacturers of complementary medicine.
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This growth has now been stinted thanks to new regulations released by the South African government’s health regulators, the Medicines Control Council (MCC), since November 2013. The laws could mean as much as 50-60% of the industry having to take their cures off the shelves, says Kreft.
The MCC’s statement reads: “It has come to the attention of the National Department of Health that an increased number of so-called complementary medicines are being sold in the country which may pose significant risks to the South African public. For this reason the Minister of Health has called for the registration of these complementary medicines by amending the Medicines and Related Substances Act, 1965 (Act 101 of 1965) on 15 November 2013 making it a requirement for the MCC to evaluate and pronounce on the safety, quality and efficacy of these medicines.”
The MCC issued a deadline of February 15 for complementary medicines to place disclaimers on their products, as part of the first phase of the MCC’s revision process. This relabeling, according to Kreft, is not only costly to the industry but leaves very little room to market a product’s uses. The disclaimer will have to read that the product in question is yet to be evaluated by the MCC, and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
“I think like most other companies, we’d be in trouble, because it would affect 20 percent to 30 percent of our turnover. And if you take 20 percent to 30 percent of our top line and look at the infrastructure that we need to keep going here – and we do our absolute best to be compliant with regards to regulatory requirements – we will no longer be able to do this and probably be faced with either amalgamating with others that could bring up the additional turnover and hence also a bottom line, or closing our doors which I would be very loath to do,” says Kreft.
For Danny Pillay, President of the Homeopathic Alliance of South Africa and a practising homeopathic doctor in Sandton, Johannesburg, the regulations are a much needed remedy.
“When you have someone committing to a safe manufacture process and then all of a sudden you have someone producing their goods in their backyard and selling it as a supplement, or a product.  That is endangering the public… The reality is there are far too many unregistered persons that are illegally practising and sometimes some quarters of industry provide the products,” says Pillay.
Pillay explains that the medicines claiming to be Schedule 2 or 3 drugs will be most affected. These are high-risk, prescription-only drugs that claim to treat cardiac, diabetic or dietary related conditions. Schedule 0 drugs (low risk, over-the-counter drugs which form the majority of complementary medicines) have less stringent requirements than higher risk drugs.
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“Because products were not registered as medicines previously, there has not been enough drive or need to provide medical proof. We are not talking randomized trials all the time but we need empirical proof showing that there are studies that see the value of these medicines… There is now some burden on the manufacturer when they make a claim on a drug that has a higher risk,” says Pillay.
The cost of regulated medicine may be hard for customers and manufacturers to swallow. What once cost manufacturers $190 to register a product, now costs $470 and as much as $1,300 for some products. This excludes the costs for providing clinical proof of a drug’s efficacy and safety.
In the meantime, customers may have to wait months or even years for their embargoed products, while the MCC re-evaluates and registers the backlog of thousands of drugs.
When FORBES AFRICA inquired into the dangers of professionals acting illegally and the dangers of illegal drugs on the market with the Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa (AHPCSA), the statutory health body established to control all allied health professions, its response was in support of the MCC.
“In the view of the AHPCSA, complementary medicines, while generally safer than conventional medicine, can and do have potential for harm and adverse effects and therefore the AHPCSA has welcomed the regulation. The AHPCSA rejects the concept that a medicine is safe simply because it is ‘natural’. It should be noted that those AHPCSA professions that administer, dispense, or compound and dispense complementary medicines also complete a course in pharmacology so as to be in a position to understand conventional medicines, in particular the question of possible drug-interactions between complementary medicines and conventional medicines, both of which may exert physiological effects.”
There are critics who also believe the regulations infringe on a consumer’s rights and freedom of choice.
“[The MCC is ] free to advise, they are free to encourage, they are free to guide, they are free to say they don’t think homeopathic or complementary or traditional medicines work, but they are not free to interfere with the rights of consumers to decide for themselves. And I think this is where there’s a real breakdown of the paradigm in trust,” says Leon Louw, CEO of the Free Market Foundation.
Meanwhile the future of complementary medicine in South Africa hangs on a knife-edge. For the moment it’s still sick in bed waiting to see if it will rise with a healthy new body or missing some of its limbs.
&nbsp;
By date of print, the MCC were unavailable for comment.

Pills, Placebos and Profits

The Ebola virus is spreading across Africa, taking fear with it.
“They say Ebola has no cure. The unknown has arrived. Nobody knows how to deal with this Ebola, not even the government!” John-Thomas Mensah, an Accra-based taxi driver tells FORBES AFRICA in the Ghanaian capital.
The Ebola scourge has spawned new social rules, with people being told they are not allowed to hug or shake hands. New superstitions have arisen, with some believing that drinking or bathing with salty water and eating the West African plant, bitter kola, will treat the disease. Some businesses are cashing in on the rush for disinfectants, soaps and hand sanitizers.
In August, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the West Africa Ebola outbreak a public health emergency. It triggered global alarm as countries stepped up precautions and testing. It is the largest Ebola outbreak to date and began in Guinea in March. Liberia has been the worst hit, with 70% of the casualties. Ebola has infected nearly 2,500 and claimed 1,427 lives, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Nigeria recorded 5 deaths as at the end of August.
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Beyond medicine, the epidemic has dampened business and left the informal economy, that fuels West Africa’s cross-border commerce, in a coma. Millions of West Africans are traveling traders and workers who crisscross the region’s porous borders for their daily bread.
Nigeria, which accounts for around 168 million of West Africa’s 260 million people, has not shut its borders, but almost every other country in the region has stopped border traffic, all in a bid to restrict the spread of Ebola.
Airlines discontinued flights to and from Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and neighboring countries. Freight rates to West Africa are expected to rise as ship owners avoiding the region are choosing to berth at alternative ports. In mid-August, a Chinese-flagged ship heading out of Sierra Leone to Cape Verde had its crew quarantined in Sao Vicente.
The Ebola scare has also reared its ugly head in South Africa. The most worrying was a patient in August who displayed low risk symptoms and was admitted to the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital as a precaution. Luckily, the patient tested negative for Ebola at the special diseases ward at the hospital.
&#8220;The patient is in isolation and there is no need for the general public to panic. He will not be put in contact with another patient. He is in isolation, in a special ward that deals with hemorrhagic fever,&#8221; says Joe Maila, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health.
Eleven hospitals across South Africa were issued with protective gear in preparation for any possible outbreak, says Maila.
East Africa is also taking precautions.
The health sector there is poorly funded and all member states agree that they need to coordinate efforts to keep Ebola at bay. Little of this is evident on the ground.
Uganda has suffered from Ebola in the past and claims it is well prepared. Together with Rwanda and Burundi, Uganda borders the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has confirmed strains of the virus.
The region is on high alert and any slight indication of the virus in these countries may lead to the type of isolation experienced in West Africa. Business, including East Africa’s fledging oil and gas sector, will be hit hard.
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WHO classified Kenya as a high-risk area because of the number of flights from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to the infected countries. Kenya Airways, the third largest carrier on the continent, is feeling the pinch after suspending some of its flights to West Africa. RwandAir and Ethiopian Airways are yet to follow suit but promise stringent surveillance.
Help has come from far and near. The United States’ (US) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has about 60 disease detectives and other health experts in the region. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has reportedly committed $14.5 million. The Wellcome Trust and Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID) have also announced a joint $10.8-million emergency research fund.
Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, through his Dangote Foundation, has given $3.2 million to the Ebola Emergency Operation Centre in Lagos, where the nation’s first case of Ebola was diagnosed in Liberian-American national Patrick Sawyer who died in a Lagos hospital four days after arriving from Liberia.
Despite these measures, and assurances by the WHO and local authorities, sections of the international community continue to fear that Ebola could spread across the vast African continent. With multinationals placing travel restrictions to West Africa, trips to Africa are either being postponed or canceled. The tourism sector in East and Southern Africa has been the hardest hit.
Ebola is not going away in a hurry.

Our Worst Nightmare

While Kenya marks and celebrates 50 years of independence in December, many are not convinced that the country has achieved its full potential and believe it is far from meeting citizen expectations. Many years after Kenya achieved its independence from Britain, poverty, illiteracy and disease continue to thrive in the country.
Even though there has been some progress, much more could have been accomplished. Kenya is still grappling with the same basic problems that were supposed to be defeated at the inception of the country but many feel nothing has been achieved to warrant any applause.
<div id="attachment_2364" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2364" class="size-medium wp-image-2364" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/ARP2089067-1-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" />Mau Mau leader of Kenya African National Union (KANU), Jomo Kenyatta, holds the official document of Kenya independence, December 13, 1963 in Nairobi as he became President of Kenya. At left is Prince Philip of Edinburgh representing Queen Elisabeth for the ceremonies.</div>
Skyrocketing food prices and the high cost of living are the main challenges facing the nation, and must be addressed to significantly improve the people’s living conditions.
The gap between the poor and the rich has widened while poverty has made many dependant on others. This is not the independence that Kenya and Kenyans need. This must be addressed through government creating more job opportunities for the high number of unemployed.
There is fear that resources are not allocated equally and in the next 50 years the government must address this. Kenyans expect nothing less than equality in allocation of national resources and the creation of jobs across the country, so that people in all areas have opportunities to better their lives.
The new constitution and reforms associated with it have begun to usher the country into an era of accountability, transparency and good governance. But to safeguard the gains made so far and to secure the progressive future that constitutional reforms promise, the nation must effectively address the rising insecurity in Kenya.
Kenya’s new constitution is a progressive document that aims to address the failed legal and moral systems created by earlier colonial and postcolonial regimes. The country’s previous constitutional order alienated most citizens from the state, but minority and indigenous communities have borne the brunt of this exclusion. This system reproduced and strengthened differences between Kenya’s diverse groups—mainly ethnic and religious—rather than building a pluralistic society that tolerates all shades of diversity based on equality before the law.
The history of Kenya is one in which its rulers have consistently demonstrated an insatiable appetite for human sacrifice. Some of the country’s most brilliant leaders have been assassinated, from Tom Mboya in 1969 to JM Kariuki in 1975 and Robert Ouku in 1990.
Founding president Jomo Kenyatta—father of the present leader—ruled the country from 1963 to 1978 like a monarchical patriarch, enriching himself through large tracts of state land. Despite having been jailed by British colonial authorities for being a leader of the Mau Mau armed struggle, Kenyatta relied on Pax Britannica—through a British defence pact—to protect his regime. These pro-western policies were challenged by his vice-president, Oginga Odinga, who lamented in a 1967 autobiography, Not Yet Uhuru, that the country had not yet attained full independence.
The heroic Mau Mau struggle from 1952 was one of the greatest anti-imperial movements and exposed the brutalities of the British authorities who tortured and killed at least 20,000 liberation fighters and imprisoned another 150,000 people in concentration camps. Kenyatta’s death in 1978 saw the rise to power of Daniel arap Moi.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2365" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/shutterstock_142808740-1-300x300.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="300" />
In a country with deep ethnic divisions, it was important that a Kalenjin replaced a Kikuyu. Moi ruled for 24 years with an iron fist and was a crude autocrat who introduced one-party rule and queue-voting that violated the sanctity of the secret ballot. His regime became increasingly draconian after a failed coup in 1982, with violence being used to whip up interethnic tensions in bloody elections in 1992 and 1997.
Corruption scandals proliferated, and combined with Robert Ouku’s murder, eventually pushed previously tolerant western patrons to press their client to introduce multiparty democracy and observe presidential term limits.
A pro-democracy alliance finally triumphed in 2002 under the leadership of Kikuyu politician Mwai Kibaki, Moi’s former vice-president. Kibaki’s stealing of a presidential election in 2007—widely believed to have been won by Raila Odinga—triggered some of the worst interethnic clashes in 2008 in which 1,500 people were killed and 600,000 displaced. The president shamefully had himself sworn in like a thief under the cover of darkness. The 2008 violence centered on Kikuyus and Kalenjins in the Rift Valley. The political marriage of convenience sealed by the present Kikuyu president and his Kalenjin deputy and fellow International Criminal Court (ICC) indictee, William Ruto, helped calm tension during the recent elections.
Political power in Kenya has been used to acquire economic power, thereby placing an additional premium on the necessity of acquiring political power. This has been taken to absurd levels, where particular leaders have used their political positions to illegally acquire wealth and, upon being called to account, have said that their ethnic groups are being persecuted politically.
However, even when a particular community is in power, the perks are only enjoyed by that community’s elite. It does not always translate into a tangible benefit for the ordinary people.
Kenya’s next 50 years will hopefully benefit heavily from the foundations set in the last decade and firmed up in 2010 by a new constitution, which has given massive powers to institutions rather than individuals. As Kenya builds towards its centennial celebrations, the challenge is to foster a tolerant and more secure society.
The country is poised for an expanded economic portfolio thanks to the discovery of major oil and gas deposits in the Rift Valley and the Kenyan coastal regions respectively. The entry of Tullow, Anadarko, Cove Energy, First Australian Resources (FAR) Limited, Pancontinental and Total among others shows an economic boom long before 2030. With the passing of the Kenya Mineral and Mining Policy 2011, Kenya too is set to open up its mining industry covering gold, iron ore, titanium, coal and other precious stones. Improved infrastructure will enhance more intra-regional trade and boost a robust service industry.
Away from economic transformation is the new socio-political-economic model set in the counties system, which will be replacing the colonial provincial administration scheme. Under the new Kenya’s administrative stations, there are 47 new counties as opposed to the original eight provinces in the past. Fifteen percent of the national budget will go to the county governments.

Tag: Disease

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