Nairobi — Landlocked developing countries face a unique set of challenges. Without coastal ports, they rely on transit nations, causing higher trade costs and delays. To explore solutions to these complex hurdles, the Third UN Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) or LLDC3, will take place in Awaza, Turkmenistan, 5-8 August 2025. May Yaacoub, LLDC3…
Dakar — An estimated 80,000 children are at high risk of cholera, as the rainy season begins across West and Central Africa. The heightened risk of cholera spreading is driven by active outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Nigeria, which raise the threat of cross-border transmission to neighbouring countries. Chad, Republic…
Across most of Africa, rural communities grow their own food, relying on smallholder agriculture. But climate change is threatening this way of life. Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall and degraded soils are already shrinking harvests. This is pushing millions of smallholder farmers into deeper poverty. Yet some African farmers are embracing innovative, cost-effective and environmentally friendly…
Two runaway wallabies sparked a cross-border chase in Belgium and France, with police and firefighters hot on the heels of the fast-hopping marsupials. Firemen captured one of the fugitives on Tuesday near the northern French city of Lille, days after the pair broke out of their enclosure in the border town of Mouscron, Belgium. But…
Three Southern African countries now have Event-Based Surveillance (EBS) Guidelines–a critical tool for detecting and responding to emerging health risks. Event-based surveillance systems collect and analyse information from diverse sources, including communities, the media, and healthcare workers, to detect unusual health events in real time. They complement traditional indicator-based surveillance and are designed to support…
Results from a newly published study highlight the growing spread of drug resistance across 14 African countries, underscoring the urgent need to strengthen laboratory testing, data systems, and health planning to tackle hard-to-treat infections. The study, known as the Mapping Antimicrobial Resistance and Antimicrobial Use Partnership (MAAP), is the largest of its kind ever conducted…
Citing new global agreements on pandemic preparedness, ocean protection and development financing, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday that recent “signs of momentum” show multilateralism can still deliver. Addressing ministers at UN Headquarters in New York, he called for urgent action to rescue lagging Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) amid war, inequality and fiscal strain….
Israel and Hamas have been engaged in ceasefire talks but there appears to be no breakthrough, and it’s not clear whether any truce would bring the war to a lasting halt. Netanyahu has repeatedly asserted that expanding Israel’s military operations in Gaza will pressure Hamas in negotiations. Speaking to Parliament, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy…
Africa has begun experiencing frequent extreme weather events. Extreme weather is defined as the kind of heatwaves, droughts, storms and floods that have historically been rare occurrences for the place and time, and which pose a danger to large numbers of people and the economy. Marina Joubert researches how the public connects with science. She…
Geneva — Each year WHO and UNICEF release global and national routine immunisation coverage estimates (WUENIC).Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance analyses what the 2024 WUENIC data says about the state of immunisation in the 57 low- and lower-middle income countries it supports. KEY TAKEAWAYS Lower-income countries are protecting more people, against more diseases than ever before…
