Author: Karah Walker

Sexual transmission, including between men and women, appears to play a key role in the spread of mpox in Nigeria, according to two recent reports. Researchers also found that mpox is more severe among people with advanced HIV or varicella zoster virus, and that few are vaccinated in Nigeria. As aidsmap previously reported, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) detected the first cases in a new global outbreak of mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) in May 2022. As of 30 September 2023, there have been more than 91,000 confirmed cases reported in 115 countries, resulting in 157 deaths, according to…

Charter broker Air Charter Service recently helped non-profit conservation organisation African Parks to relocate 16 southern white rhinos to Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), from a private game reserve in South Africa. ACS used a Hercules L-100 aircraft to carry out the job within a week. The relocation involved two flights due to the weight of the animals. Lyndee du Toit, ACS South Africa’s chief executive, said: “The last northern white rhino was poached in the DRC in 2006 and this project, arranged by African Parks, is part of a ground-breaking effort to restore…

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri and the Minister of Solid Mineral Resources, Dele Alake, have accepted to give key notes addresses at the first Angolan Embassy dinner for business community in Nigeria. This initiative was part of efforts to enhance business relationship between both countries. The two ministers have accepted to honour the invitation extended to them by the Angola ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Jose Bamoquina Zau. President Ahmed Tinubu and his Angolan counterpart Joao Manuel, on the sidelines of the just concluded United Nations 78th General Assembly in New York, had explored opportunities on…

As our celebration of Heritage Month draws to a close, this week’s final article for the Feature Friday series spotlights the African-inspired cuisine and foods of Makhanda. LaVish Exclusive LaVish Exclusive was officially established in July 2023, after operating from the home of its manager, Caroline Mazvidza, since 2017. The restaurant sells a variety of “African home-inspired dishes” including Ulusu (trotters), tripe, Umpokhoqo, Idombolo (dumplings), sorghum pap, steamed bread and Amazgwinya. Mazvidza adds that the restaurant sells many other popular African street foods, including the Kota. When asked about the importance of tourists trying the local cuisine of a place they visiting,…

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) said that a funding shortfall is hampering its humanitarian response in Ethiopia. “WFP is facing a funding shortfall of $219 million until the end of the year. In effect, WFP has reprioritized 50 percent of the targeted beneficiaries under its nutrition activity,” the WFP said in its latest Ethiopia humanitarian situation report issued late Thursday. Ethiopia has faced conflict, displacement, and drought over the past few years, worsening food insecurity in the country. WFP figures show that 15.1 million people were in need of emergency food assistance for the third quarter of 2023,…

Cuts to U.N. funding for refugees living in Rwanda is threatening the right to education for children in more than 100,000 households who have fled conflict from different East African countries to live in five camps. A Burundian refugee, Epimaque Nzohoraho, told The Associated Press on Thursday how his son’s boarding school administrator told him his son “should not bother coming back to school,” because UNHCR had stopped paying his fees. Nzohoraho doesn’t know how much the U.N. refugee agency had been paying, because funds were directly paid to the school, but he had “hoped education would save his son’s…

Given the dynamics of the socio-political situation that played out in the country, while under colonial rule, when concerned Nigerians raised the alarm over appointments made overtly skewed in favour of the British, it is outrageous that some 63 years after independence we are still grappling with the similar obnoxious culture of nepotistic appointments. Or how else can we explain the nauseating fact that as at November, 2017 – over two years after the then President Muhammadu Buhari got into power – 81 out of the 100 political appointments he made, out rightly favoured the Northern geo-political zones as against…

Commercial banks leaned on the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) for record-high liquidity support of nearly Ksh100 billion ($668 million) on Monday, signalling a short-term cash crunch that is partly linked to the Sh44.15 billion tea bonus payment to farmers. The CBK, noting that liquidity was skewed in the market, offered to inject Ksh50 billion ($334 million) via seven-day reverse repurchase agreements (repos), but banks made bids worth Ksh99.87 billion ($667.13 million), all of which were accepted by the CBK at an average interest rate of 12.87 percent. Reverse repos are a form of securitised borrowing by banks from the…

Nigeria has burned four tonnes of seized pangolin scales, valued at $1.4 million, the first time it has publicly destroyed seized wildlife products to discourage illegal trafficking, officials said. The pangolin, a shy and critically endangered animal, is one of the world’s most trafficked mammals, and their scales are in high demand in traditional Chinese medicine, despite no reliable scientific evidence that they have any medicinal properties. Nigeria has become a major transit hub for African pangolin scales and other wildlife products trafficked to Asia. “The destruction of these seized items is a powerful statement of our resolve to protect…

Chinese President Xi Jinping told Egypt’s prime minister on Thursday that Beijing hoped to work with his country to bring “more stability” to the Middle East, state media reported, as the Israel-Hamas conflict cast a shadow over the region. “China is willing to enhance cooperation with Egypt… and inject more certainty and stability into the region and the world,” Xi told Mostafa Madbouli at a meeting in Beijing, according to state broadcaster CCTV. “China and Egypt are good friends who share the same goals and trust each other, and good partners who work hand-in-hand for development and common prosperity”, CCTV…