Lagos, Nigeria (CNN)Joseph Kalu makes his way on his motorbike past the frustrated motorists blaring their car horns in the heavy traffic in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial nerve center.

He is snaking his way through traffic to a hospital in Ikeja, a district in the gridlocked megaccity with an estimated population of 24 million, and one of the most stressful cities to live in the world.

Kalu is a dispatch rider for LifeBank, a blood and oxygen delivery company in the West African country.

The company currently connects registered blood banks to hospitals in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, and Lagos.

Nigeria needs up to 1.8 million units of blood every year, but the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) collects only about 66,000 units per year, leaving a deficit of more than 1.7 million pints of blood, according to a 2017 report quoting the country’s health ministry.

LifeBank says it is trying to improve ... Read More

In Namibia a country of meat-lovers, vital expertise is needed to stop livestock spreading diseases

Wreathed in barbecue smoke, Vetjaera Haakuria gestures at the men butchering meat and cooking it over hot coals behind his back. “What have you learned about the risks of eating this?” he asks his young audience, spotless in their white lab coats. “It might contain drug residues, right? And what about diseases?”

It’s nearly noon in Windhoek, Namibia’s capital, and the market is preparing grilled meat – known locally as kapana – for the lunchtime rush. Everyone comes here, from construction workers to members of parliament. Namibians love to eat meat, and he is no exception: his tribe, the Herero, traditionally eat nothing else.

But regulation is patchy and the meat being sold at this market could contain anything from antibiotics to parasites, Haakuria says. Diseases that pass from livestock to humans are rife in the country’s rural north.

Animals that die from unknown causes are e... Read More

A partnership between a tech accelerator and a private hospital group will have teamed up to provide a platform for entrepreneurs to build and scale health-tech startups that address the key health issues across Africa.

Founders Factory Africa (FFA) and Netcare have joined forces to design, build and scale over 35 healthcare startups across Africa. The FFA model includes its accelerator programme, which develops existing businesses through a bespoke six-month programme, whilst the incubator programme will build completely new businesses. Netcare will provide access to hospitals, primary healthcare clinics and healthcare value chains, deep health technical expertise, data and IP to the startups. The healthcare provider will also have the opportunity to continue investing in the new health businesses once their value propositions are proven.

“This exciting initiative enables us to stimulate healthcare innovation and development in South Africa and across the rest of the continent. We are proud to be joining ... Read More