Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | African governments will have to go slow on lifting some of the lockdown measures they instituted to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, senior officials at the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and prevention have said. …
Read More »190 000 people could die of COVID-19 in Africa
World health body says pandemic will be slower but longer | THE INDEPENDENT | Eighty-three thousand to 190 000 people in Africa could die of COVID-19 and 29 million to 44 million could get infected in the first year of the pandemic if containment measures fail, a new study by …
Read More »Shaping Africa’s urban areas to withstand future pandemics
Astrid R.N. Haas, the Policy Director, at the International Growth Centre explains: The power of cities comes from the number of interactions they enable, between people, firms and markets – they are centres of social interaction. For all their virtues, however, cities have a major downside. They are a fertile …
Read More »COMMENT: Let Africa prepare for a marathon struggle against COVID-19
African health practitioners should own the narrative of the coronavirus pandemic and take advantage of Africa’s experience of other outbreaks of disease in order to mount a tailored response, says the writer in a guest column for AllAfrica GUEST COLUMN | Dr Chibuzo Okonta | All Africa.com | It has been close …
Read More »Covid-19 presents opportunity to reset Africa- Elumelu
Kampala, Uganda | Isaac Khisa | Coronavirus pandemic currently ravaging the entire world presents an opportunity to reset the African continent so that the African population can be empowered to become more productive and self-reliant, according to the United Bank for Africa Plc. Chairman and Founder, Tony Elumelu. Elumelu, who spoke …
Read More »Virus fight just one front against epidemics in Africa
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | African nations grappling to contain coronavirus are scrambling to stop the outbreak worsening the impact of other killer diseases. Across the continent, countries regularly face surges from a raft of diseases that flourish in the humid weather and prey on weak health systems. Malaria strikes down …
Read More »Q&A: Africa’s coronavirus enigma
Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | Three months ago, Africa recorded its first case of coronavirus, sparking fears that the world’s poorest and least-equipped continent faced a catastrophe. But so far, the virus has not come anywhere close to wreaking the same damage in Africa as in Europe and the US …
Read More »Massive cable project set to give Africa internet boost
Paris, France | AFP | Telecoms and internet giants unveiled Thursday a mammoth project to lay a subsea cable around Africa to boost internet access to the underserved continent. The consortium, which includes China Mobile International, Facebook, Orange and Vodafone, said a cable 37,000 kilometres (23,000 miles) long will make landfall in 16 countries in …
Read More »Virus crisis adds to woes of Africa’s oil producers
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | For years, African oil-exporting countries have vowed to wean themselves off crude — but for many, this uphill task may become mountainous after the coronavirus pandemic caused the energy market to collapse. Here is a snapshot of how sub-Saharan oil exporters are faring: – Who …
Read More »A pledge for Africa
To overcome the current global public-health and economic crisis, rich countries must support Africa COMMENT | ABIY AHMED | The world will not be free of the COVID-19 pandemic until all countries are free of the coronavirus that causes it. This simple fact underscored the urgent need for the …
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