Author: Merveille Ilunga

World AIDS Day 2025 signals a make-or-break moment The red ribbon will again circle the globe on 1 December, but this year’s theme—“Overcoming Disruptions, Transforming the AIDS Response”—carries an unprecedented sense of urgency. According to the UNAIDS 2024 Global Update, 40.8 million people were living with HIV worldwide and 1.3 million new infections were recorded last year, a reminder that scientific progress can still be outpaced by social fault lines (UNAIDS, 2024). While AIDS-related deaths have fallen by 69 % since their peak in 2004, the pandemic’s shadow persists wherever health systems remain fragile or inequities deepen. Global progress meets…

A muted ‘Blue November’ in Brazzaville For the second consecutive year the wide boulevards of Brazzaville enter November without the familiar azure ribbons or radio jingles that, elsewhere, signal the start of “Blue November”, the international month dedicated to men’s health and prostate-cancer prevention. Yet epidemiologists from the International Agency for Research on Cancer rank prostate malignancies among the three most frequent tumours affecting Congolese men. In the capital, however, the absence of billboards, street stands or community workshops suggests that the message still struggles to reach the public. Voices from the streets reveal knowledge gaps In the busy Ouenzé…

Inspection reveals discreet yet tangible progress Standing before the concrete shell that already dominates the flat banks of the Oubangui River, Likouala prefect Jean Pascal Koumba chose measured words. During his site inspection on 12 November 2025 he admitted that the pace “is not yet giant steps”, yet he insisted that “changes are visible” and that confidence in the national authorities remains intact. The observation echoes the most recent progress report issued by the Ministry of Health and Population (October 2025), which notes an overall completion rate of 46 %, compared with 37 % in June. While the steel framework…

World Diabetes Day Ignites a Capital-Wide Mobilisation Brazzaville’s riverfront corniche assumed a festive, almost marathon-like atmosphere on 14 November as the NGO Marcher, Courir pour la Cause (MCPLC) chose the symbolic date of World Diabetes Day to outline its roadmap for the closing months of the year. Addressing an audience of journalists and medical practitioners, MCPLC president Rodrigue Dinga Mbomi reminded the press that “diabetes is a silent guest in many Congolese households, yet its advance can be checked by knowledge and by movement”. The statement set the tone for a campaign that seeks to merge clinical vigilance with an…

High-Level Dialogue Marks a Milestone in Congolese Immunisation Catholic Relief Services’ headquarters in Brazzaville opened its doors on 7 October 2025 to a delegation of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation for a discussion that went beyond ceremonial courtesies. Leading the GAVI mission, country manager Martin Morand sat down with Dr Alemayehu Gebremariam, CRS country representative, to appraise the joint programme that from January 2024 to November 2025 targeted children who had never received a single dose of vaccine or had fallen behind the national schedule. The tone of the encounter was deliberately forward-looking, yet the participants first took…

A strategic visit under scrutiny The sharp morning light of 7 November had barely pierced the corridors of the Talangai District Reference Hospital when Professor Jean Rosaire Ibara, Minister of Health and Population, stepped through the front gates. Officially, the agenda spoke of a routine inspection of emergency, maternity and paediatric wards, as well as the resuscitation unit currently undergoing renovation. In practice, the visit was anything but routine. Word had spread about rising concerns over professional conduct within one of Brazzaville’s busiest public hospitals, prompting the minister to couple his tour with a high-level meeting of the managerial board…

Strategic supervision bolsters malaria drive Under the stewardship of the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Resident Representative in the Republic of Congo, a high-level delegation has just completed an intensive supervisory tour of Pointe-Noire, Kouilou, Niari and Bouenza. The field mission, conducted from 10 to 11 October 2025, assessed the roll-out of the second phase of the mass distribution of Long-Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs), locally known as MILDAs. The initiative forms part of the seventh Global Fund financing cycle devoted to malaria control and health-system strengthening, for which CRS is the principal recipient. Each visit opened with a courtesy call on…

Brazzaville embraces Pink October momentum Under the equatorial haze of late October, the Congolese capital joined the global movement against breast and cervical cancers with a two-day mobilisation crafted by the multisport association Lion d’Or. Led by former MP José Cyr Ebina, the initiative blended scientific dialogue and collective endurance, echoing the broader public-health priority quietly advancing within government circles. While the pink ribbon has become a familiar emblem in Brazzaville’s pharmacies and hospital corridors, this year’s edition earned particular resonance by pairing clinical expertise with the symbolism of a ten-kilometre march through the city’s freshly asphalted boulevards. Science and…

A generation summoned to vigilance The lecture hall of the École de Commerce et d’Industrie du Congo was unusually hushed when, on 23 October 2025, almost 250 young women from six higher-education institutions sat down to confront a pathology too often whispered about only in private. The joint initiative of Africa Global Logistics (AGL) Congo and its subsidiary Congo Terminal transformed the annual Pink October campaign into a fully fledged pedagogical experience, tailored to the linguistic, cultural and scientific expectations of students eager to master their own health destinies (Journal de Brazza). By deliberately targeting the 18-to-25 age bracket, the…

A strategic infusion of critical-care technology In a ceremony marked by carefully weighted protocol, the Regional Director of the World Health Organization for Africa, Professor Mohamed Yakub Janabi, handed over a consignment of intensive-care equipment to the Congolese Minister of Health and Population, Professor Jean Rosaire Ibara. Valued at 280 million CFA francs, the allocation comprises next-generation ventilators, oxygen concentrators, multi-parameter monitors, ICU beds and replacement parts destined for public referral hospitals. The gesture, Janabi insisted, reflects a commitment to “permanent preparedness”, a lesson painfully etched into the continent’s collective memory by successive waves of respiratory epidemics. While the headlines…