Management of COVID-19 in Africa is challenging due to limited resources, including the high cost of vaccines, diagnostics, medical devices and routine pharmaceuticals. These challenges, in addition to wide acceptability, have resulted in increased use of herbal medicines based on African traditional medicines (ATMs) by patients in Africa. This is in spite of the often-significant gaps in evidence regarding these traditional medicines as to their efficacy and safety for COVID-19. African scientists, with some support from their governments, and guidance from WHO and other bodies, are addressing this evidence gap, developing and testing herbal medicines based on ATMs to manage mild-to-moderate cases of COVID-19. Such efforts need further support to meet public health needs.

Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections represent a major public health problem globally, particularly among socio-economically disadvantaged populations. Detection of STH infections is often challenging, requiring a combination of diagnostic techniques to achieve acceptable sensitivity and specificity, particularly in low infection-intensity situations. The microscopy-based Kato-Katz remains the most widely used method but has low sensitivity in the detection of, for instance, Strongyloides spp. infections, among others. Antigen/antibody assays can be more sensitive but are parasite species-specific. Highly sensitive PCR methods have been developed to be multiplexed to allow multi-species detection. Novel diagnostic tests for all STH species are needed for effective monitoring, evaluation of chemotherapy programmes, and to assess the potential emergence of parasite resistance. This review discusses available diagnostic methods for the different stages of STH control programmes, which vary in sensitivity and spectrum of detection requirements, and tools to evaluate drug efficacy and resistance.

•Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) represent a threat to the health, wellbeing and economic prosperity of billions of people worldwide, often causing serious disease or death. •Commonly considered diseases of low and middle-income nations, the presence of NTDs in high income countries such as Australia is often overlooked. •Seven of the 20 recognised NTDs are endemic in Australia: scabies, soil-transmitted helminths and strongyloidiasis, echinococcosis, Buruli ulcer, leprosy, trachoma, and snakebite envenoming. •Dengue, while not currently endemic, poses a risk of establishment in Australia. There are occasional outbreaks of dengue fever, with local transmission, due to introductions in travellers from endemic regions. •Similarly, the risk of introduction of other NTDs from neighbouring countries is a concern. Many NTDs are only seen in Australia in individuals travelling from endemic areas, but they need to be recognised in health settings as the potential consequences of infection can be severe. •In this review, we consider the status of NTDs in Australia, explore the risk of introducing and contracting these infections, and emphasise the negative impact they have on the health of Australians, especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Background: Following the declaration of mpox as both a global and continental public health emergency in August 2024, the Joint Incident Management Support Team (IMST), co-led by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the WHO, was activated in Kinshasa, DRC to coordinate the continental mpox response. This article highlights the first year’s epidemiological and operational findings. Methods: Key performance indicators across eight IMST pillars (coordination, surveillance, laboratory, case management, infection prevention and control, risk communication and community engagement (RCCE), vaccination and research) were descriptively analysed using data from 28 African Union Member States from January 2024 to August 2025. Results: A total of 49 803 confirmed cases and 240 deaths (CFR 0.5%) were recorded across 28 countries. The response was supported with US$977 million as tracked by the IMST. Operational achievements included 87% surveillance completeness, 72% contact tracing completeness and improved average laboratory turnaround time from >5 days to 2 days. Laboratory testing capacity expanded from 2 to 27 sites in the DRC and from 1 to 56 decentralised sites in Burundi. RCCE activities reached 50 million people in 21 countries, with vaccine acceptance among high-risk groups rising from 44% to 87%. Operational research achievements included a responsive and functional research coordination mechanism, 24 (92%, 24/26) multi-country clinical and operational research studies implemented and 60% completion rate of the research data and material sharing framework for Africa. Only 938 000 doses (32%) of the 3.1 million vaccine doses delivered were administered. Conclusion: The joint continental IMST is a new benchmark for response governance, successfully mobilising resources and scaling up diagnostics under unified co-leadership. On the other hand, the evaluation revealed persistent structural challenges in last-mile vaccine delivery, contact tracing (due to stigma/funding) and weak regional collaborative research including fragmented regional research priorities. Future focus must shift from emergency action to durable, sustained investment in national and sub-national health security architecture using a multisectoral whole of government approach.