The death toll following tropical storm Freddy has risen to at least 447 in hard-hit Malawi, where President Lazarus Chakwera has declared a two-week period of mourning and closed schools in affected areas through the end of the month. Another 282 people were still missing as of Saturday, according to…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
Authorities in Mozambique say excessive rainfall from the remnants of Tropical Storm Freddy continue to threaten the southern African nation, with the National Institute of Meteorology (INAM) forecasting rains of 200 millimeters through Monday in the Gaza, Manica, Inhambane, and Sofala. The storm’s landfall on Friday followed two weeks of…
South Africa’s Biovac has announced a deal with the nonprofit International Vaccine Institute (IVI) to begin manufacturing cholera vaccines, a move that will advance the African continent’s goal of manufacturing its own vaccines. The licensing and technology transfer deal will mean that Biovac is equipped to make oral cholera vaccines…
The European Union has announced €105.5 million in aid to Horn of Africa nations facing not just the coronavirus pandemic but also ongoing conflict, severe flooding and a months-long locust infestation that has destroyed crops and threatened food security. Somalia and Ethiopia will share €90 million nearly equally, while Kenya…
Recent flooding has brought disaster to parts of Somalia, with heavy Deyr-season rains sending the Shabelle and Juba rivers over their banks and forcing some 273,000 people from their homes in the southern part of the nation. That’s raised fears of malaria and other disease outbreaks in the affected regions….
About 1.6 million children impacted by Cyclone Idai in southeast Africa are in dire need of assistance, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said Saturday in an international appeal for help. The storm affected one million children in Mozambique, another 443,000 in Malawi and 130,000 in Zimbabwe, UNICEF said, adding…
Reported cases of cholera in Mozambique soared past 1,400 people, according to Wednesday’s update from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. That includes a first cholera fatality reported in the hard-hit port city of Beira. The cholera spike, feared in the wake of devastating Cyclone Idai, prompted…
There are just six toilets for some 3,000 people taking shelter in 15 classrooms in a half-flooded school in Beira, just one example of the crisis that continues in Mozambique 10 days after Cyclone Idai devastated the country. All told, there are 110,000 people in regional shelters, and reports of…
City official in Harare are implementing emergency measures to contain the cholera outbreak that has claimed 30 lives in less than two weeks. The reported cholera cases now exceed 5,000, with typhoid also reported in Zimbabwe. The actions include suspension of street vendors, which have numbered to 20,000 in the…
Health officials say they’re planning to vaccinate nearly a million people in northeastern Nigeria’s Borno state amid a cholera outbreak that has claimed at least 40 lives in the past month. The Nigerian government, working with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners, said Monday that health workers hope…
World Health organization officials say an “unprecedented” outbreak of cholera in Somalia is linked to the drought that began in October 2016, creating widespread shortages of clean drinking water and food. There are more than 40,000 suspected cases since the beginning of the year, with nearly 700 deaths to date,…
The physician who leads the Africa Tobacco-Free Initiative has spoken out against candidate Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of Ethiopia, just as the final vote for World Health Organization Director-General (WHO DG) looms next week. Dr. Frank Ashall, in an open letter published online Friday in the well-regarded British medical journal The…