Tobacco Transformation Index Finds Most of the15 Largest Tobacco Companies are Failing to Advance Harm Reduction

Index Reveals Limited Progress to Date; More Change Needed to End Smoking and Save Lives

The first Tobacco Transformation Index (www.TobaccoTransformationIndex.org), released this week and made possible with funding from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, finds that most of the 15 largest tobacco companies are not making substantive progress in phasing out cigarettes and other high-risk tobacco products and transitioning smokers to reduced-risk alternatives.…

WHO Africa Online Press Briefing on COVID-19 in Africa

The briefing is on-the-record and it is an opportunity for you to ask questions about the COVID-19 in Africa

Please join an online media briefing with the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa (www.AfRO.who.int), Dr Matshidiso Moeti, Dr Sam Agatre Okuonzi, Arua Regional Referral Hospital in Uganda, Prof Francisca Mutapi and Professor Mark Woolhouse from University of Edinburgh, UK. The briefing is on-the-record and it is an…

Nigerian physician Dr. Tunji Funsho named one of TIME’s Most Influential People in the world

Funsho honored for his work with Rotary International to eradicate wild polio in Africa

TIME named Nigerian physician Dr. Tunji Funsho to the 2020 TIME100, its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The full list and related tributes are available now at time.com/time100, and Dr. Funsho’s TIME100 profile is available here (https://bit.ly/3ky8pZg). The list, now in its seventeenth year,…

Coronavirus: International Air Transport Association (IATA) calls for Systematic COVID-19 Testing before Departure

International travel is 92% down on 2019 levels

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) called for the development and deployment of rapid, accurate, affordable, easy-to-operate, scalable and systematic COVID-19 testing for all passengers before departure as an alternative to quarantine measures in order to re-establish global air connectivity. IATA will work through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)…

Coronavirus: African Union Member States reporting COVID-19 cases as of 22 September 2020, 6 pm

African Union Member States (55) reporting COVID-19 cases (1,412,699) deaths (34,077), and recoveries (1,158,751) by region: Central (56,990 cases; 1,071 deaths; 49,571 recoveries): Burundi (474; 1; 462), Cameroon (20,431; 416; 19,124), CAR (4,793; 62; 1,830), Chad (1,153; 81; 967), Congo (5,002; 89; 3,913), DRC (10,523; 271; 10,011), Equatorial Guinea (5,002;…

Coronavirus - Malawi: COVID-19 Daily Information Update (22nd September 2020)

New cases: 6 Total confirmed case: 5739 Total active cases: 1495 Total recovered: 4065 (12 New) Total number of tests conducted: 50989 (369 New) Total deaths: 179 (0 New)

In Wake of Severe Flooding, International Organization for Migration (IOM), USAID Combine to Deliver 155 Tons of Doated Relief Supplies to Sudan

The historic floods have exacerbated an already deeply difficult time for the people of Sudan, amid economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic

Sudan is facing its worst flooding in decades. Weeks of heavy rains have caused destruction, displacement and loss of lives, leading the Government of Sudan to declare a three-month State of Emergency in the country. To assist thousands affected by the floods roiling Sudan in recent weeks, the International Organization…

The Democratic Republic of the Congo - A change of perspective on Africa's problem child (By Jessica Stang)

According to the World Bank, just under 20 percent of the population in the DRC currently has access to electricity

By Jessica Stang, Community Manager of the Germany Africa Business Forum Every time I take an Uber, the first topic of small talk is what my roots are. The reactions that I am half German and half Congolese differ greatly between Europe and Africa. Typically, when I mention the DRC…

Coronavirus - Africa: Ministers from Near East and North Africa commit to strengthen collaboration on food and agriculture

Ministerial declaration adopted by FAO Regional Conference endorses FAO’s COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme and Hand-in-Hand Initiative to help transform food systems

Ministers from the Near East and North Africa (NENA) approved a historical Ministerial Declaration that sets a foundation for strengthened collaboration across the region to build lasting solutions to the most urgent and pressing food and agricultural challenges, aimed at recovering from COVID-19 impacts and transforming food systems. The Ministerial…

Escalating conflict in Mozambique, forces hundreds of thousands to flee amidst worsening humanitarian crises

Growing violence and insecurity have increased the threat of hunger in the northern province of Cabo Delgado as communities have lost access to food and income sources

WFP is extremely concerned about the escalating conflict and deteriorating food security situation in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, where over 300,000 people have fled their homes and villages, abandoning their crops and leaving them completely reliant on humanitarian assistance. “We are deeply concerned about the unfolding humanitarian situation in Cabo Delgado…