Namibia

Cara Mia Dunaiski, Medical Laboratory Technologist, Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), Windhoek, Namibia. Email: On request

How you have helped GAFFI so far? I contributed to the article on estimating the fungal burden of Namibia which has now been reported in a poster at ECCMID 2019 conference Dunaiski 2019.

Personal comment on the major needs in France which GAFFI should be addressing: Mycotic infections pose an increasing threat to Namibian public health for several reasons. Opportunistic infections are becoming increasingly problematic as the number of people with weakened immune systems increases, particularly people with HIV/AIDS or cancer. The availability of health services varies throughout Namibia, providing some form of care and support services for HIV patients. However, the main focus is narrow and is predominantly aimed at tuberculosis, with limited services to treat fungal infections. There is a lack of surveillance data, care and support services, noncompliance to national treatment guidelines by clinicians, and omission of laboratory diagnoses which have led to limited records for fungal infections in Namibia, making it difficult to establish and implement proper treatment and prevention procedures.

Links to key fungal/global health institutions in Namibia: Ministry of Health and Social Services http://www.mhss.gov.na
IntraHealth International https://www.intrahealth.org/countries/namibia
USAID https://www.usaid.gov/namibia/global-health
Centers of Disease Control and Prevention https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/countries/namibia/default.htm
University of Namibia http://www.unam.edu.na/
Global Programs for Research & Training http://ucglobalprograms.org/namibia
United Nations Namibia https://namibia.un.org/en