By Tania Corazza | Project Manager
Chronic diseases in Africa are a real plague that affects millions and millions of people every year. A chronic disease is a disease with symptoms that do not resolve over time or improve.
They are diseases that affect a large part of the African population, debilitating their health and putting their lives at constant risk. Most chronic diseases in Africa are curable, i.e. it is possible to keep them under control, however access to treatment is by no means guaranteed, making these diseases much more serious.
Chronic diseases in Africa: the case of AIDS
Although AIDS and HIV in general are still widespread in the world, the media attention given to it by the Western media has waned over the years. This is, of course, due to the development of increasingly effective treatments that have not yet cured the disease but kept it under control. AIDS, again thanks to treatment, is no longer considered a fatal disease, but only a chronic one.
In Africa, however, it continues to claim thousands and thousands of victims. This is because access to treatment is precluded for the millions and millions of poor people living on the African continent. In 2018, there were almost half a million deaths in Africa due to AIDS alone.
Sickle cell anaemia: the African situation
This is a hereditary disease in which red blood cells take on a very sickle-like shape and, as a result, cannot perform all their functions as they should. Although it is widespread throughout the world, 80% of people with this disease live in sub-Saharan Africa, where the condition is often not diagnosed until it manifests its most severe symptoms.
Covid has made the situation worse
After two years of the pandemic, we have well understood how the presence of comorbidities exponentially increases the lethality of the virus. In a context such as Africa, where millions and millions of people suffer from chronic diseases that are often not properly treated, this trend is made even worse.
Chronic diseases in Africa are a major cause for concern for the pandemic's progress, greatly increasing the average mortality rate.
Bringing vaccines to the slums of Nairobi
This is precisely why it is crucial for the African population to have access to vaccines against Covid. In Africa, less than 20% of the population has received a Covid vaccine. This is in spite of the fact that African hospitals have entire stockpiles of vaccines, and these are not effectively brought to the population.
We are taking the vaccines to the slums of Nairobi, where we have been working for more than 15 years.
Here there are millions of people suffering from chronic diseases, and many of them do not have access to constant medical treatment to keep the disease under control.
Bringing a vaccine to these people means protecting their health and their lives.
By Tania Corazza | Project Leader
By Tania Corazza | Project Leader
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