Following the deaths of dozens of babies and children in The Gambia, a product alert for cough syrups believed to be linked to the fatalities has been issued by the World Health Organization. Four products manufactured by Maiden Pharmaceuticals Limited in Haryana, India, are included in the warning. They should…
Another case of monkeypox is under investigation in the United States, one of 12 nations seeing transmission of a virus strain linked to West Africa. The latest case, reported Sunday in the U.S. state of Florida, is believed to be linked to international travel. The World Health Organization says confirmed…
A provocative new report from the World Animal Protection organization claims that Ethiopian Airlines, the leading airline on the African continent, is involved in fueling the global wildlife trade. “Between 2016 and 2020, at least 25 different species of wildlife, including reptiles, mammals, invertebrates and amphibians featured in at least…
The explosive La Soufrière volcano in the Caribbean continues to affect the atmosphere over the African continent, with enormous sulfur dioxide (SO2) plumes stretching across the Atlantic Ocean. Experts including Mark Parrington, a senior scientist with Europe’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, are sharing forecast and model images that show the…
A rare earthquake rattled the West African nation of Guinea on Wednesday, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The magnitude-5.0 quake struck at 9:55 a.m. local time in the country’s interior, about 39 kilometers east of Tondon in the Kindia region, according to the United States…
Malaria hits hard on the African continent, home to 93 percent of the world’s 228 million cases in 2018 and 94 percent of its fatalities. What scientists at the universities of Leeds and Lincoln in the UK want to know is how Africans might be affected in the climate change…
Leaders from the 15 member nations of the West African regional body ECOWAS say they’re pushing for a unified front on improved fuel standards and vehicle emissions, as part of the effort to address climate goals. They’ve decided to establish a shared regional standard for petrol and diesel, limiting the…
The Global Coalition Against ISIS, meeting in the United States, said its focus is shifting to West Africa now that Islamic State – according to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo – has been “defeated” in Syria and Iraq. “We agreed at the working level that West Africa and the…
Some 35 million people suffer from drug use disorders across the globe, according to the newly released World Drug Report 2019, and the higher numbers – especially where opioid use is concerned – are derived in part from a 2017 drug use survey in Nigeria (as well as India) that…
A new report presented to the United Nations Security Council on Monday details the threat that Islamic State continues to present to the African continent, from Libya and Somalia across the Sahel and into West Africa. These fighters – whether in small clusters of a few dozen in the mountains…
For the first time in five years, the United Nations Security Council meeting on Wednesday focused on a theme of drug trafficking and its security threats – and that put West and Central Africa at the center of the briefing. Yury Fedotov, the head of the UN Office on Drugs…
They’re starting to feel the dry, dusty Saharan winds known as harmattan in West Africa, where Nigerians and neighboring Togolese say the season is in the air. The annual weather pattern is common from December to March, with blowing desert dust across Ghana or Côte d’Ivoire to the south, or…
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…
The annual World Drug Report was released Tuesday, and it points to continued Tramadol use and trafficking across central and western Africa as one of the most significant international problems. “We need to raise the alarm about addiction to Tramadol, rates of which are soaring in parts of Africa,” said the…
Funeral services were held Monday in Paris for Gaëtan Mootoo, a well-respected French Mauritanian researcher for Amnesty International in West Africa who died on May 25. So many people attended the memorial at the Père Lachaise cemetery that some stood in the rain, crowded around the entrance, according to France’s Liberation….