In news around the globe, health authorities in Liberia on Friday reported a new Ebola case. This was a 10-year boy who is being tended to at the treatment centre on the outskirts of Monrovia, the capital. Although Liberia was declared Ebola-free on May 9, there was a resurgence of the disease in late June affecting four people, two of whom died. The country was again declared Ebola-free by the World Health Organisation on Sept. 3. Dr. Francis Kateh, the chief medical officer and acting head of the Ebola Case Management System, told the Associated Press on Friday that the boy, a resident of the eastern Paynesville district of Monrovia, was taken to the Ebola treatment unit late Thursday. In developments to fight against tuberculosis, more investments are needed to beat tuberculosis which is the joint most deadly infectious disease in the world, according to a coalition of health agencies. The Stop TB Partnership said it would take $56bn to “eliminate” the curable disease. It said a target set by the World Health Organization (WHO) to tackle the disease by 2030 would be missed unless action was taken. The WHO recorded 1.5 million tuberculosis deaths in 2014. Back at home, a new facility to improve maternal health has been launched. The facility constructed under a five-year Maternal, New Born and Child Health (MNCH) project implemented by World Vision with funding from the Government of Australia through the Australian Africa Community Engagement Scheme. The Rwf24 million project aims at improving lives of women, children and persons with disabilities, while strengthening the existing government systems and structures, especially in the sectors of Rutare, Kageyo and Nyankenke in Gicumbi District. Over 3,000 people from Nyankenke Sector and neighbouring sectors are also expected to benefit from the faciility, according to Alphonse Nkundakozera,the in charge of social affairs in Nyankenke in Gicumbi District. Alice Oyaro, the senior programme manager at the Australian High Commission, thanked residents for their contribution towards construction of the facility and asked them to protect such infrastructure. She said the post will provide basic materials to mainly improve maternal and infant health in the area, support nurses and community health workers’ training. Meanwhile, the parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Affairs has started debate on a seven-year-old Bill that seeks to regulate reproductive health in the country. Tabled before Parliament in 2008 as a private members’ Bill, the draft law seeks to govern reproductive health by determining the rights and obligations of every Rwandan and duties of the government in relation to reproductive health. The draft legislation mainly details people’s obligation and right to choose the number of children they want to have, the right to access reproductive health services such as birth control pills, condoms, safe delivery of babies, and children’s sex education, among others. Enactment of the law was deferred after legislators in both chambers of Parliament could not agree on whether such a law is needed in the country, with most debates about the Bill calling for further consultations about it.
