The continent will belatedly get 10,000 shots amid criticism of delays to the process caused by WHO red tape
Africa’s first batch of mpox vaccines will this week finally reach the continent, weeks after they have been made available in other parts of the world.
The 10,000 shots, donated by the US, will be used to tackle a dangerous new variant of the virus, formerly known as monkeypox, after a 2022 outbreak triggered global alarm.
Continue reading...Lewis Hamilton has spoken out over the plight of refugees and displaced people in Africa, decrying the lack of empathy toward them in the UK. He pledged to consider what he could do to support them after an emotional visit to the continent during the Formula One summer break.
Hamilton was speaking before this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, the first since the sport shut down for the summer, during which period the British driver travelled in Africa, visiting Senegal and Morocco and then the Maratane refugee settlement in the north of Mozambique, where he saw the work of the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR.
Continue reading...Canadian company Lucara digs up ‘extraordinary’ 2,492-carat stone from Karowe diamond mine
A 2,492-carat raw diamond discovered in Botswana could be the second-largest gem-quality example ever unearthed.
The Canadian mining company Lucara Diamond Corp said it had recovered the “exceptional” stone from its Karowe diamond mine, with a photo showing the hefty rough diamond sitting in the cupped palm of a hand.
Continue reading...Youthful, growing cities expected to create wealth and opportunities but stretch public and utility services
Six African cities will have more than 10 million people by 2035, with the continent’s booming young population making it the world’s fastest urbanising region, according to a report.
Angola’s capital, Luanda, and Tanzania’s commercial hub, Dar es Salaam, will join the metropolises of Cairo, Kinshasa, Lagos and Greater Johannesburg with populations of more than 10 million, the Economist Intelligence Unit said in a report on African cities.
Continue reading...With ‘hustle kingdoms’ teaching young people the tricks of the trade, there has been a surge in blackmailing crimes
In the late 90s and early 2000s, as internet connectivity began penetrating west Africa, young people soon realised that individuals in North America and Europe with access to more money than them and potentially susceptible to blackmail were now reachable by the click of a button.
Along came the “Nigerian prince” letters, a famous scamming technique employed by online fraudsters – known as Yahoo boys in Nigeria, Sakwa boys of Ghana and the brouteurs of Ivory Coast – preying on unsuspecting targets across the web. The emails typically involved someone pretending to be Nigerian royalty and asking for money, a claim so outlandish that victims presumed it couldn’t be a lie.
Continue reading...Head of Africa CDC Jean Kaseya urges international community to support rollout of testing and vaccinations
African health officials have appealed to the international community not to impose travel bans on countries dealing with an outbreak of mpox, but instead to support the continent in rolling out testing and vaccinations.
There have been about 1,400 new cases and 24 deaths linked to a new variant of mpox over the past week, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Continue reading...Man accused of murdering and dismembering 42 women named as one of 13 detainees on the run in Nairobi
A Kenyan man who police claim has confessed to murdering and dismembering 42 women has escaped from a Nairobi police cell, along with a dozen other detainees, police have said.
Collins Jumaisi, 33, described by police as a “vampire, a psychopath”, was arrested in July after the discovery of mutilated bodies in a dump in a slum in the Kenyan capital.
Continue reading...Africa has the youngest population of any continent, and recent protests in Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda suggest growing youth disillusionment. Will they be able to turn discontent into action?
The youth-led protests that have broken out in several African countries over the past weeks should, say observers, serve as warnings that a disillusioned generation blame the elders of the ruling political classes for missed economic opportunities.
From mid-June to early August, young people in Kenya hit the streets protesting against what they described as runaway corruption and high taxes levied by President William Ruto’s regime. In Uganda, what was shaping up as protests against the government in July were nipped in the bud by police after President Yoweri Museveni’s warning that those thinking of such protests “were playing with fire”. Nigeria saw short-lived protests against the poor handling of the economy by President Bola Tinubu’s government.
Continue reading...Head of IT was kidnapped in Tripoli and other executives threatened a week after siege at bank
The Central Bank of Libya said on Sunday it was “suspending all operations” after a bank official was abducted in the capital, Tripoli, in a statement posted on social media.
Musab Msallem, the head of information technology at the Central Bank, “was kidnapped by an unidentified group from his house this morning”, the statement said.
Continue reading...Health leaders warn that global response to virus is test case for equity and preparation for future pandemics
A failure to show solidarity with African countries at the heart of the mpox outbreak will put the world at risk and harm preparations for future pandemics, health leaders have said.
The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared an international public health emergency in the face of rising cases that are spreading beyond the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where the virus is endemic.
Continue reading...The move comes amid reports of disappointing results from trials for a treatment against the variant behind the current outbreak
Surveillance efforts against mpox are being ramped up globally, as trials for a new treatment showed disappointing results against the variant driving the current outbreak.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on Friday raised its risk level assessment for mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, from low to moderate. The decision came after Sweden reported the first case of clade Ib outside Africa.
Continue reading...‘Global gag rule’ and funding cuts will be ‘on different scale’ if Republicans win again, family-planning providers say
Providers of women’s healthcare around the world are preparing for potentially disastrous consequences should Donald Trump win the US presidential election in November.
Policies pursued during Trump’s last presidency caused “devastating” harm in a number of countries, said Beth Schlachter, a senior director at MSI Reproductive Choices in the US. It meant “clinics shuttered, health teams closed, women dying … but a second Trump term will be on a different scale”.
Continue reading...Clade I case comes after World Health Organization declares a global public health emergency
Sweden confirmed its first case of the more contagious variant of mpox, a viral infection that spreads through close contact, marking the first time it has been found outside Africa.
The person was infected while in a part of Africa where there was a large outbreak of the disease, Olivia Wigzell, director-general at the Swedish public health agency, told a press conference.
Continue reading...Eldoret forced to remove statues of runners deemed a poorly done ‘joke’ on eve of event to confer city status on town
Authorities in a Kenyan town known for its athletics prowess rushed to remove statues of runners on Wednesday night that some people had deemed shoddy, on the eve of an event to confer city status on the municipality.
The Rift Valley town of Eldoret, home to many great runners, had earlier this week put up a number of thematic pieces of art to showcase its agricultural and sports heritage. The sculptures included statues of athletes and one of a maize cob next to a wheat stalk.
Continue reading...Dozens are reported as having gone missing since demonstrations began, and some have turned up dead
One mid-morning in June, Emmanuel Kamau prepared to leave his home for work as a bus conductor in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
It was the second week of nationwide protests against proposed tax increases, and demonstrations were expected to disrupt the transport network. But as a casual worker who got jobs on an irregular basis, the 24-year-old decided to take a chance to try to earn some money to put food on the table.
Continue reading...Outbreak resembles early days of HIV, say experts, urging accelerated access to vaccines and testing
An outbreak in Africa of mpox, the disease formerly known as monkeypox, resembles the early days of HIV, scientists have said, as the World Health Organization declared it a public health emergency.
The declaration must accelerate access to testing, vaccines and therapeutic drugs in the affected areas, medical experts urged, and kickstart campaigns to reduce stigma surrounding the virus.
Continue reading...About 27,000 people displaced by heaviest rainfall since 2019 in country already hit by civil war and famine
Heavy rains in Sudan have killed dozens of people, compounding hardship in a country that is already facing multiple crises.
At least 68 people have been killed in Sudan as a result of rains that have plagued different parts of the country this year, the interior ministry said.
Continue reading...Unicef analysis also finds children in eight countries spend more than half the year in temperatures above 35C
Almost half a billion children are growing up in parts of the world where there are at least twice the number of extremely hot days every year compared with six decades ago, analysis by Unicef has found.
The analysis by the UN’s children’s agency examined for the first time data on changes in children’s exposure to extreme heat over the past 60 years.
Continue reading...Democratic Republic of the Congo hard-hit by virus, with death toll on continent above 1,450 since 2022
The African Union’s health watchdog has declared a public health emergency over the growing mpox outbreak on the continent, saying the move is a “clarion call for action”.
The outbreak has swept through several African countries, particularly the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the virus formerly called monkeypox was first discovered in humans in 1970.
Continue reading...Court to sentence Thomas Kwoyelo for 44 offences committed during militia’s 20-year rebellion and reign of terror
A former commander in the feared Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has been convicted of crimes against humanity after the first such war crimes trial in Uganda.
Thomas Kwoyelo, who faced 78 counts related to crimes committed during the LRA’s bloody two-decade rebellion, had been waiting for years behind bars for a verdict in the landmark case.
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