By now it is common knowledge that products marketed to women cost more. In some cases they cost multiple times more than the exact same products for men. This “pink tax” is imposed despite the fact that women are paid less than men. And in Africa, a lower level of quality seems to apply – as in the case of Proctor and Gamble’s Always sanitary products.
According to a report published by UNICEF and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, nearly 19 million babies born annually are at risk of permanent yet preventable brain damage and reduced cognitive function due to the lack of iodine in the earliest years of life. A Senegalese woman is working to change those odds in her country.
Rwanda has followed Ivory Coast, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa in cracking down on skin bleaching products that contain chemicals like hydroquinone and mercury, which have been linked to skin cancer and kidney and liver damage.
Africa’s growing cancer epidemic is troubling, particularly as it competes with the continent’s many other health-care needs. D’Angels Motorcycle Club, Nigeria first all-female bikers club, wants to drive change.
Many young Mozambicans have crossed into South Africa to develop their “ancestral” gift of healing. Kimberly Mutandiro spoke to some of them to find out what it is all about.
LifeBank, a Nigerian startup founded by Temie Giwa-Tubosun, is a social enterprise focused on developing a better way of delivering blood to hospitals in Lagos. Using WHO-approved equipment, LifeBank has transported about 9 000 pints of blood and saved more than 2 000 lives.
Speaking at the official launch of the Grow Great campaign in Johannesburg, Dr Tshepo Motsepe detailed the socio-economic impediments to achieving zero stunting in South Africa by 2030. These include the perceived sophistication of formula feeding and the stigma associated with public breastfeeding.
Across Africa, the high cost of menstrual products is causing schoolgirls to miss classes and eventually drop out of school, creating what has become known as “period poverty”.
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