Articles

With the burden of cardiovascular disease, mental and neurological disorders and diabetes rising in the region, African health ministers on Tuesday, endorsed a new strategy to boost access to the diagnosis, treatment and care of severe noncommunicable diseases. The health ministers, gathering for the seventy-second session of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for Africa in Lomé, Togo, adopted the strategy, known as PEN-PLUS. That plan will be implemented as a...

Ebola has resurfaced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) following confirmation of a case in the restive eastern province of North Kivu, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Tuesday, citing authorities in the country. The case concerns a 46-year-old woman who died on 15 August in the town of Beni. She had received care at the Beni Referral Hospital, initially for other ailments, but subsequently exhibited symptoms consistent with Ebola. Virus samples were taken...

On Tuesday, UN Children’s Fund UNICEF warned that children in the Horn of Africa and the vast Sahel region “could die in devastating numbers” without urgent intervention and support. In the last five months, the number of people in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia without reliable access to safe water, has risen from 9.5 million to 16.2 million Children in Sahel are also facing water insecurity. This crisis has led to the proliferation of severe malnutrition and increased the risk of serious...

As the threat of famine looms in the Horn of Africa, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced on Friday that it is scaling up operations to support millions going hungry who “cannot wait” for assistance. The region is in the grip of a historic drought, brought on by four consecutive failed rains. The crisis has left some 22 million people across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia struggling to find enough to eat, with numbers expected to rise. Livestock are dying, and there are critical...

The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday highlighted the need to support millions facing starvation and disease in the Horn of Africa. Speaking from Geneva, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said drought, conflict, climate change and increasing prices for food, fuel and fertilizer, are all contributing to lack of access to sufficient food. The countries affected are Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda. “Hunger and malnutrition...

A $10 million loan from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) will allow the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to scale up the procurement of fertilizers to support farmers in the restive Tigray region in northern Ethiopia, the agency announced on Monday. Since conflict erupted in November 2020, Tigray and other regions have seen the widespread disruption of agriculture, elevated levels of acute food insecurity, and loss of livelihoods. The loan forms part of resource...

Healthy life expectancy among Africans living in mainly high and upper middle-income countries on the continent, has increased by almost 10 years, the UN health agency, WHO, said on Thursday. The World Health Organization announced the good news after examining life expectancy data among the 47 countries that make up the WHO African Region from 2000 to 2019, as part of a continent-wide report into progress on healthcare access for all – a key SDG target. “This rise is greater than in any...

Three UN-appointed independent human rights experts returned from Ethiopia on Tuesday after working to negotiate access to areas important for investigations. The UN International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia is mandated to conduct a thorough and impartial probe into allegations of violations and abuses of international human rights law. Specifically, it will investigate violations of international humanitarian law and international refugee law in Ethiopia state...

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) in Sudan has received a $100 million contribution from the World Bank to assist with critical emergency cash and food sustenance in Sudan. In the first-ever direct contribution between the two UN agencies in the country, the Sudan Emergency Safety Nets Project aims to provide cash transfers and food for more than two million people across the impoverished and crisis-wracked nation, including for those internally displaced. “WFP is extremely grateful to...

Issued by the region’s Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, the IGAD Regional Focus on Food Crises report sounds the alarm over escalating food insecurity and malnutrition in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan. “The current food security situation across the Horn of Africa is dire after four consecutive rainy seasons have failed, a climatic event not seen in at least 40 years, or since the beginning of the satellite era,” said Chimimba David Phiri, FAO Subregional...