Africa

Photo: Family members who have fled conflict sit inside their tent at the Pissila camp for displaced people in Burkina Faso. WFP/Marwa Awad

Military Intervention Alone Will Fail to Resolve the Sahel Crisis

Viewpoint by Jan Egeland and Jean-François Riffaud

Jan Egeland is Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council. Jean-François Riffaud is Chief Executive Officer of Action Against Hunger-France.

OSLO (IDN) — President Emmanuel Macron invited the five G5 West African leaders to the French city of Pau in January 2020 to shore up support for international engagement in restive Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. All agreed that more European security support was needed to counter violent extremism in the Central Sahel.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 03 April 2020

Ugandan Singer Bobi Wine Sings of Handwashing and More in New Pop Song

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Ugandan pop star and opposition leader Bobi Wine, who describes himself "a singer, an activist and a member of parliament" is known for his "must plays" – and his latest tune "Corona Virus Alert!," is definitely one of them.

The lyrics remind listeners to wash their hands to stop the spread of the new coronavirus. But there's another message – namely that time has come for Africa's leaders to put more resources into building health care systems that serve both the rich and the poor.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 31 March 2020

African Ministers Expect ‘Break the Glass Moment’ Without Major Debt Relief

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Multilateral lenders and investors are being asked to pony up a modest stimulus package that would halt the spread of the coronavirus in Africa and keep economies from crashing under the weight of debt-servicing costs.

African finance ministers, at a virtual conference on March 23, calculated that an injection of $100 billion – including $44 billion in debt-servicing wavers – would put off the likelihood of a recession and protect growth rates from falling further behind – now at 1.8% from 3.2% earlier in March.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 31 March 2020

Photo: Health workers are at the frontlines in the fight against the new Corona Virus. Credit: Africa Renewal.

Protect Health Workers Serving Like Soldiers At the Frontlines Against COVID-19

Viewpoint by Siddharth Chatterjee and Mutahi Kagwe

Mr. Mutahi Kagwe is the Cabinet Secretary for Health in Kenya and Siddharth Chatterjee is the United Nations Resident Coordinator to Kenya. This article was first published in Africa Renewal on 24 March 2020.

NAIROBI (IDN) – Many soldiers have seen first-hand the horrors of war and, terrifying though it often was, they knew who they were fighting, and could recognise their enemy.

The COVID-19 or the new Corona Virus is different. In this virus we have an enemy which is invisible and sometimes deadly, and the task is harder.

: Africa & ME Editor; OPINION; 29 March 2020

COVID-19: Artificial Intelligence to Back Up Data-Driven Response in Africa

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) – The epicentre of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic has moved from China to Europe and the United States. But it has not spared Africa. "It will victimise particularly communities living in poverty who have no protection and no access to health care," says Prof. Dr. Mirjam van Reisen who chairs 'Computing for Society' at the Leiden University.

The public research university in the Netherlands has joined universities in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe in the Virus Outbreak Data Africa Network (VODAN) FAIR Data initiative.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; THE WORLD; Africa; 27 March 2020

COVID-19: Kenya Urged to Take 'Swift & Effective' Public Finance Response

By James Muraguri

The writer is CEO of the Institute of Public Finance, Kenya, & an Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity.

NAIROBI (IDN) – On March 12, 2020, the first case of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was confirmed in Kenya. Over the next eleven days, 16 more cases were confirmed. Based on precedents elsewhere, we know this pandemic could set in motion an economic crisis that will burden Kenya for a long time to come.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 26 March 2020

Photo: A deserted street in Cairo after the government ordered the closure of shops, restaurants and cafes. Credit: Ziad Ahmed/NurPhoto via Getty Images

One-Size-Fits All Approach to COVID-19 Could Have Lethal Consequences for Africa

Viewpoint by Alex Broadbent and Benjamin T.H. Smart*

JOHANNESBURG (IDN) – Suppose you had the choice between two health policies, A and B. Policy A would result in the death of a lot of elderly people. Policy B would result in the death of a lot of children, especially infants. Which would you choose?

Right now we are facing a choice between more or less drastic measures to slow the spread of COVID-19, a virus which, at the time of writing, has yet to claim a life under 10, and claims very few lives under 30, with the risk rising exponentially with age.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 25 March 2020

Photo: Staff members unload the medical supplies from China at the airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, March 22, 2020. Credit: Xinhua

China Heeds Global Demand for Anti-Coronavirus Masks

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – As much of the world attempts to source much-needed face masks, Africa has been offered 5.4 million masks, more than a million testing kits and other items in a donation from Chinese billionaire Jack Ma.

Massive medical supplies donated by the Jack Ma Foundation to 54 African countries arrived on March 22 morning in Addis Ababa, capital of the East African nation of Ethiopia, through an Ethiopian Airlines cargo flight.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 24 March 2020

Photo: Happy Kenyan family. Source: Internet

Kenya Surges on UN 'Happiness' Report

NEW YORK (IDN) - As Mae West once said, "I've been rich, and I've been poor; believe me, rich is better."

But could there be more to the story? A landmark survey of the state of global happiness designates Kenya as more positive and hopeful than its neighbors despite the challenges that the country faces. In fact, Kenya is ranked as the happiest nation in East and Central Africa in the World Happiness Report of 2020.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 24 March 2020

South African President C. Ramaphosa demonstrating greeting by elbow. Credit: 2oceansvibe.com

Coronavirus Reaches African Shores

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Only a few weeks ago, African leaders were breathing a sigh of relief as the new coronavirus skipped the continent to lodge in Italy, Spain and other European countries.

“Whether it’s a matter of faulty detection, climatic factors or simple fluke, the remarkably low rate of coronavirus infection in African countries, with their fragile health systems, continues to puzzle,” said Amadou Alpha Sall, head of the Pasteur Institute in Dakar, Senegal.