Ebola Heroes
It is amazing how every crisis has a hero who puts their own interests down for the sake of another. Ebola is no different. Whereas most of us would rather be miles away from the i
Kenya is wrong on Ebola
On 13th August – the World Health Organization issued a statement putting Kenya on the list of ‘high risk’ countries for Ebola transmission. Reason being that Ken
A different look at HIV transmission
Did you see the DN2 cover story in yesterday’s (5th August 2014) Daily Nation ? It was about the risk of HIV spreading from the homosexual to heterosexual world by bisexuals. The
Poisoning in little children
When little ones learn to crawl, everything they come across has to be tasted. The tongue seems to be their most effective way of exploring the world. When my friends and I had tod
Health, demons and superstition
If you were to believe some people, the devil lurks in every corner. When a common cold is spreading in this cold season – there are people ‘binding the devil’ and praying th
EBOLA – Why the WHO is scared
The latest outbreak of Ebola virus disease has spread further, infecting and killing more people than ever before. Past epidemics have been restricted to single countries but this
Fighting FGM- Part II
The female circumcision debate has heated up in the media and in parliament . I have followed the discussion in The Daily Nation and there are some rather interesting tit bits. Tak
Fighting FGM – part 1
I was caught – as I always am – by the small little articles that are squashed into the briefs in ‘The Daily Nation’. I saw this little one about a campaign aimed at ta
The devil in health-part II
I did spend some time wondering whether this topic was worth writing about – but since i had read the literature I thought why not. We scientists don’t like to talk abo
The devil in health
As science sheds light on disease causation, attributing ill health to the devil is shifting to the periphery more and more. Take the example of Kilifi in the days when malaria was