Public consultations recently closed on plans to impose an excise tax on e-cigarettes in South Africa, and the suggested policy proposals have already proven controversial. In particular, the South African government intends to introduce a new excise tax on e-cigarettes, applying the duty to both non-nicotine and nicotine solutions used…
As with so many other facets of global wealth (and health) inequality, the rollout of the four Covid-19 vaccines produced by Western pharmaceutical companies and approved by American and European health officials – the “Big Four” of Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Oxford/AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson – has quickly became yet another…
The head of South Africa’s tax authority (SARS) has warned that it may take years to dismantle the criminal networks that have flourished during the alcohol and tobacco ban implemented as part of the country’s response to coronavirus. SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter said that the ban – which was established…
The COVID-19 pandemic has swept rapidly from its origin in the Chinese city of Wuhan to every continent save Antarctica. Not all regions have been affected equally, however. Asian countries like Japan and Singapore initially seemed hard-hit but managed to get a grip on the disease through extensive testing, tracking…
The sound of a US$4 billion loss to the African continent because of China’s coronavirus outbreak is sobering, but that’s the estimate from one expert report that warns of financial losses if 2019nCoV continues to spread – and those losses are possible even without a single case ever being confirmed…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
South Africa, although hailed as one of the most prosperous economies on the African continent, remains a country of missed opportunities. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) once again made this clear in its consultations with the Treasury, urging the government to implement reforms to tackle weak growth as well as…
With the new year, the World Health Organization has released a list of its top priorities for 2020. They include a number of concerns with special resonance on the African continent, including the need to understand that the climate crisis is a health crisis, and the need to address the…
As South African lawmakers press ahead with a range of tobacco control measures, some of the most vehement opposition has come from the tobacco industry itself. While the source of opposition is hardly surprising, the key message is: the manufacturers claim the new plans will stop people from quitting smoking….
Arnaud is a French freelance writer with an African heart who has lived in 10 different Sub-Saharan countries in the past decade. He is currently based in Paris.
The old cars dumped by high-income countries into Africa and South Asia pose a threat to the environment and public health because of the toxic pollution they cause. That’s the warning from the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in India, with a new global study on what happens to…
Following a Dutch investigation into low-quality and highly toxic fuel blends shipped from Europe to West Africa, the United Nations Environmental Program has called on other countries to follow suit. “The shipping of dirty fuels to West Africa has been nothing short of an environmental and public health scandal. The…
A new “Tobacco Atlas” was launched Thursday at the World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Cape Town, and it shows the continued trend in the tobacco industry to target vulnerable populations in Africa. Co-authored by American Cancer Society (ACS) and Vital Strategies, the sixth edition details the products and…
An international exercise for dealing with disease outbreaks held in Senegal last week was described Tuesday as “the largest overseas biocontainment exercise in history” by United States officials. The exercise, called Tranquil Shift, involved five American aircraft first flown into Dakar on April 11. Exercise team members then flew to…
As part of the global effort to combat climate change, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has issued its first annual Airborne Dust Bulletin to better understand how dust and sand storms impact humans – and how humans contribute too. “Every year, an estimated 2,000 million tons of dust is emitted into…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
NAIROBI — The tussle between Kenyan medical practitioners and the government seems to be far from over, days after the Kenya medical practitioners, pharmacists and dentists union (KMPDU) called off a nationwide strike that had lasted for 100 days. Even after an agreement had been reached between the national government,…
Jackson Okata is a Kenyan based freelance journalist
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention was officially open for business on Wednesday, following a ribbon cutting ceremony at the conclusion of this week’s African Union summit. The ceremony celebrated a state-of-the-art Emergency Operating Center in Addis Ababa designed to support early warning and response systems, deliver technical expertise…