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SciDev.Net publishes news, views and analysis about science and technology for global development.

Africa's unique gut microbiome could guide new medicines

Scientists uncover new gut microbes in Africa and say their findings could help make medicines more effective.

14 Mar 2025

4 min read

Researchers now say that doctors might need to prescribe different medication or add probiotics when treating African patients, due to the discovery of 40,000 previously unknown gut microbes. Copyright: Sora Shimazaki (Pexels license).

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Smartphone displaying a conversation with ChatGPT. Researchers from China and the UK have developed an AI chatbot called the AMR-Policy GPT to help fight antimicrobial resistance. Copyright: Airam Dato-on (Pexels.com license).

AI chatbot deployed to target drug resistance

14 Jan 2025

3 min read

Cross-posts Innovation Antimicrobial resistance

A mother and a child are now refugees at a transit centre in Renk, South Sudan where they arrived with others on 18 December after fleeing escalating violence in Sudan where the health system is collapsing from shortages of medical supplies, a loss of doctors, and destroyed or looted medical facilities. Copyright: Reason Moses Runyanga / UNHCR.

AI diagnostics can ease health crisis in war-torn Sudan

7 Jan 2025

3 min read

Innovation Conflict & humanitarian Cross-posts

Vaccination activity in Mauritania in 2022. The recent emergence of Rift Valley Fever has sparked fears of a repeat of the 2022 outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease, which can spread to people as well as animals. Copyright: Courtesy of WHO Mauritania

Rwanda steps up measures against Rift Valley Fever

15 Nov 2024

4 min read

Cross-posts Rift Valley fever

An MSF counsellor provides psychological support to a displaced person in northwestern Syria. Copyright: Abdulrahman Sadeq / MSF

Syria’s mental health crisis deepens as funds dry up

11 Nov 2024

5 min read

Diabetes screening in rural Karnataka, India. Access to Medicine Foundation has urged pharmaceutical companies to prioritise efforts to reach patients in underserved parts of the world with medicines such as insulin for diabetics. Copyright: Courtesy of Trinity Care Foundation (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Drug firms ‘must prioritise underserved patients’

12 Sep 2024

6 min read

Cross-posts Research summary Global health agenda

Scanning electron micrograph of Lassa virus budding off a cell. Lassa virus is an arenavirus that causes Lassa hemorrhagic fever, a type of viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates. Copyright: NIAID (CC BY 2.0), This image has been cropped.

More people are at risk from deadly Lassa fever than we thought

6 Sep 2024

5 min read

Cross-posts Lassa fever

Africa is home to a vast array of flora and fauna. Picture shows lowland rainforest in Masoala National Park, Madagascar. Copyright: Wikipedia (CC BY 2.0)

AI sifts Africa’s natural remedies for drug discovery

2 Sep 2024

5 min read

Cross-posts Innovation

Preparing to test a sample in the laboratory. Researchers are finding new and creative ways of making diagnostic tests out of recycled materials. Copyright: Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay.

Eco-friendly diagnostic tests ‘need global push’

30 Aug 2024

5 min read

Cross-posts Innovation

Culicoides paraensis, main vector of the Oropouche virus. Copyright: NACER356-12 Lateral/The International Barcode of Life Consortium (2024)/GBIF.org, Creative Commons CC BY 4.0

First deaths as mutated virus spreads from Amazon

5 Aug 2024

5 min read

A doctor seeing a patient in a clinic in Mukono, central Uganda. A UNAIDS report indicates that successes in treating people with HIV have led to life expectancy in Africa rising from 56 to 61 years since 2010. Copyright: Arne Hoel / World Bank (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

HIV progress raises life expectancy in Africa - UN

23 Jul 2024

5 min read

Cross-posts HIV

Mothers with babies waiting for an HIV education session at a clinic in Lesotho, Southern Africa. Male infants infected with HIV during pregnancy are more likely than girls to achieve sustained HIV remission after receiving treatment, researchers say. Copyright: Courtesy of kommanderkat (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Boys born with higher natural resistance to HIV, study finds

8 Jul 2024

4 min read

Cross-posts HIV

Harm reduction like provision of needles for drug use has been identified as a way to limit the transmission of blood borne infections like Hepatitis. However, despite progress in diagnosis and the drop in prices of testing and treatment, far too few people receive treatment. Copyright: World bank (CC BY-NC 2.0)

‘Declare health emergency’ to end hepatitis in Asia

27 Jun 2024

4 min read

Cross-posts Hepatitis

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