Mercedes Sayagues
Mercedes Sayagues, a Uruguayan-born journalist, has worked in Africa since 1992. She lived in Zimbabwe until expelled in 2001 for her human rights coverage, then moved to South Africa. She was the editor of Irin/PlusNews Portuguese service until mid-2008, and now freelances from her home in Pretoria. Gender, health and culture in off-the-beaten track places interest her.
Malaria in Sao Tome and Principe
"The ox tail is the toughest bit to chew," says Herodes Sacramento Rompao, director of the National Centre for Endemic Diseases in Sao Tome and Principe. His conundrum is malaria. His tiny country on two islands off the coast of Gabon with a population of 180,000 has cut its malaria burden dramatically since 2004. From first cause of death malaria dropped to third. But last year saw a four-fold spike in deaths from cerebral malaria. Red lights are flashing. ...
AIDS, zombies, sex and death
Take your pick. What has shaped the slow and complicated South African response to AIDS? President Thabo Mbeki's questioning if AIDS exists and the virus is sexually transmitted. ...
The missing link in Africa's circumcision boom
Pull down your zipper. Pass the sterilised blade. One more foreskin removed. Good. We are closer to the target defined by (...insert name of your donor agency here). Next one, please. Welcome to the male circumcision boom in Africa, marketed as the new silver bullet in the arsenal of AIDS prevention. ...
Privileged diseases in Guinea-Bissau
BUBAQUE, Guinea-Bissau - Joao Domingos Gomes was 19 years old when he went to war for Guinea Bissau's independence. That was in 1969. He fought alongside legendary hero Amilcar Cabral and trained as a nurse in a guerrilla hospital. Today, aged 57, he works in Bubaque island's public hospital, which serves some 35,000 residents of the Bijagos archipelago, off the capital, Bissau. ...
