No abstract

Background Malaria is a global infectious (vector-borne: Anopheles mosquitoes) disease which is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Among all its parasitic (protozoan: Plasmodium sp.) variants, Plasmodium falciparum (PF) is the most virulent and responsible for above 90% of global malaria deaths hence making it a global public health threat. Main context Despite current front-line antimalarial treatments options especially allopathic medications and malaria prevention (and control) strategies especially governmental policies and community malaria intervention programs in SSA, PF infections remains prevalent due to increased antimicrobial/antimalarial drug resistance caused by several factors especially genetic mutations and auto(self)-medication practices in SSA. In this article, we focused on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as the largest SSA country by bringing perspective into the impact of self-medication and antimalarial drug resistance, and provided recommendation for long-term improvement and future analysis in malaria prevention and control in SSA. Conclusions Self-medication and anti-malarial drug resistance is a major challenge to malaria control in DRC and sub-Saharan Africa, and to achieve sustainable control, individual, community and governmental efforts must be aligned to stop self-medication, and strengthen the health systems against malaria.

Cholera, being a global health issue has remarkably affected the wellness of the people, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it could be more if no concrete Intervention is done to curtail the outbreak. The authors reviewed past and present literatures on cholera and COVID-19 from the year 2013–2023 in well renowned scientific journals such as PUBMED, ResearchGate, Google Scholar. Database servers of these journals were accessed based on their permissions. From this search the authors found that, cholera is at its peak amidst COVID in DRC. Between the 10 March 2020 to the 10 March 2022, DRC reported a total of 86 462 cases of COVID-19 in 314 health zones in all 26 provinces of the country, with 1335 deaths recorded. And since the beginning of 2022, 6692 suspected cholera cases including 107 deaths have been reported in 54 health zones in 11 provinces of DRC, compared with 3681 suspected cases and 91 deaths reported during the same period in 2021 in 67 health zones in 14 provinces in the country. The authors realized that despite all efforts to mitigate the spread of cholera in DRC by the Congolese government and the non-governmental organizations in the country, there are still some gaps required to be filled, such as; limited community mobilizations and awareness campaigns about the signs and symptoms of cholera and COVID-19, unavailability of free cholera and COVID-19 vaccines to all the Congolese populations as well as association of witchcraft to diseases. etc. Hence, to mitigate this menace, the authors urge the Congolese government to utilize research implementation strategies such as increase mass awareness campaigns on cholera and COVID among the Congolese populations as well as training workshops for the religious and traditional leaders as well as the healthcare providers in the country for a better diagnosis and treatment of these diseases.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI A H5N1) has occurred over the past few years, especially during the 1918–1919 Spanish Flu pandemic, which wiped out many people in the world. It caused acute illness in about 25–30% of the world’s population, which led to the deaths of up to an estimated 40 million people. Of recent, public health authorities in Spain reported the detection of avian influenza A in two poultry workers on a single farm, following an outbreak in poultry confirmed on 20 September which was likely to be due to exposure to infected poultry or contaminated environments and poor interprofessional collaborations among the Spanish health workers. This is a public health challenge for the Spanish government and the world at large. Thus, we believed that through the One Health approach in Spain, there would be a stop to and prevention of further spread of the recent outbreak of avian influenza A in Spain, as well as other infectious diseases and future outbreaks in the country and the world at large.