Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth of Mauritius has called for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, saying the pandemic has made painfully clear the inequities that exist between the world’s richer nations and their impoverished counterparts around the globe. “Such an access is key to change the course of the pandemic and…
Health experts on Wednesday declared an end to the most recent Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo, some six months after the first cases were reported in Equateur Province in the country’s northwest. The World Health Organization announced the waiting-period window, usually 42 days since the last confirmed…
President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa joined China’s Xi Jinping in calling for cooperation and unity in the fight against COVID as leaders of the five developing BRICS economies met Tuesday in a virtual meeting hosted by Russia. Ramaphosa’s focus on trade disruptions, supply chain challenges and African debt follows…
The world has met news of a successful COVID-19 vaccine candidate with guarded optimism, but a number of challenges remain in producing, storing and distributing the treatment – and that’s assuming the vaccine and others in development are successful in preventing COVID. Pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced Monday that there’s a…
Human rights campaigners are appealing for calm and restraint in Ethiopia, as the Oromo people celebrate the Irreecha harvest festival this weekend amid ongoing political divisions. “This year’s festival, on October 3 and 4, occurs against the backdrop of escalating tensions and unrest in Oromia,” said Laetitia Bader, the Horn…
President Danny Faure of Seychelles underscored the challenges facing island nations as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic took center stage at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. Faure’s pre-recorded speech was among six such talks scheduled for African leaders, in a format that replaced in-person meetings for the…
Back in 2015, Liberia was among the highest-ranked countries in the world with citizens who said they think vaccines are safe, while Ethiopia was atop the list of those whose people said vaccines were important. Morocco, conversely, was among the lowest on both measures. But now, at a time when…
Zimbabwe’s crackdown on anticorruption protesters has captured the attention of human rights campaigners at home and abroad, many of them using the #zimbabweanlivesmatter hashtag on Twitter to share their concerns. Among them is President Lazarus Chakwera of neighboring Malawi, who was sworn in at the end of June following new…
Uganda may be on the list of nations approved for travel in the European Union, once it reopens to the world following weeks of a coronavirus-related ban. But the United States, which has failed to contain its COVID-19 outbreak, may not be. That’s according to a New York Times report…