Month: July 2024

Blantyre, Malawi     — Malawi has declared the end of the country’s worst cholera outbreak, which began in March 2022 and killed nearly 2,000 people.

In a statement Monday, the Ministry of Health said the country had registered no cases or deaths from cholera in 26 of Malawi’s 29 health districts in the past four weeks. Some health experts, however, said the outbreak could resurface if the country failed to address sanitation problems that caused it.

Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera launched a national campaign to end the cholera outbreak in February 2023. The “Tithetse Kolera” or “Let’s End Cholera” campaign came three months after he declared the disease to be a public health emergency in Malawi.

The campaign aimed to interrupt cholera transmission in all districts and reduce the fatality rate from 3.2% to below 1%, which the World Health Organization considers a controlled cholera outbreak.

Dr. Wilfred Chalamira Nkhoma,  co-chairperson for the presidential task force on COVID-19 and cholera in Malawi, told VOA the disease had now been defeated largely because of the campaign.

“By WHO definition, a country stands to end the transmission of cholera when they have gone at least four weeks without reporting a laboratory confirmed case of cholera,” he said. “So that is the case with Malawi right now. We haven’t had a confirmed case since 6th of June.”

Successful steps

Nkhoma attributed the development to several interventions Malawi conducted over the past two years. He said they involved educating people about transmission, prevention and control of cholera; increasing surveillance; and properly managing cholera cases.

“The key one — and that must remain the key one — is to increase access to safe water and also improve adequate sanitation,” he said. “The Ministry of Water and Sanitation was taking the lead in this, but they were supported very well by nongovernmental organizations that are working in the water and sanitation sector.”

Nkhoma said another measure was the oral cholera vaccination campaign, which began in December 2022.

“We were able as a country to access some doses from WHO,” he said. “We were able to administer not less than about  6 million doses of cholera vaccine focusing first and foremost in priority areas.”

The Ministry of Health said in its Monday statement that Malawi had registered 56,376 cases of cholera, with 1,772 deaths since March 2022.

Maziko Matemba, a national community health ambassador in Malawi, told VOA that Malawi seemed to have managed the cholera outbreak at the treatment and case-management levels, but added that sanitation problems remained a challenge.

“Because at the moment, if you go to villages, if you go to public places, people are not doing the sanitation issues properly,” Matemba said. “Even if you check in public toilets, even if you check how people are preparing food, you will find that we still have challenges as a country to contain disease like cholera.” 

Nkhoma said the government would continue its effort to educate people about how cholera is transmitted, prevented and controlled to try to avoid further outbreaks.
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Abuja — A U.S. advisory council on African diaspora engagement is in Nigeria on a mission to discuss diaspora-led investments across sectors including education, health, technology and the creative industries. Analysts weigh in on the purpose of the visit.

Delegates to the 12-member President’s Advisory Council on African Diaspora Engagement were in Nigeria’s economic center, Lagos, Monday for talks with creative industry players. It was the council’s first meeting in Africa and second overall.

According to an official statement, meetings with government, civil society and private sector players in Nigeria are also scheduled to discuss investments in education, entrepreneurship, health and technology.

Godbless Otubure, president of the nonprofit ReadytoLeadAfrica, said the visit is timely.

“I think it’s a strategic meeting; it is important especially at this time where we have a lot of challenges around the world, within the sub-region and specifically in Nigeria. They underscore the value that the United States places on its relations with not just Nigeria but the African diaspora community in the United States,” said Otubure.

The council was set up by the U.S. government last September to advise on ways to foster economic, cultural, social, and political relations among African communities and Africans in the diaspora.

Authorities say the Nigeria visit underscores the council’s effort to build partnerships and promote investments that can significantly benefit the African continent and its diaspora communities.

According to a 2018-2022 American Community Survey, 45.3 million foreign nationals live in the United States, with an estimated 2.1 million coming from sub-Saharan Africa.

Canada, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and United States have the highest number of Nigerians living abroad.

Last year, Nigeria accounted for $19.5 billion or about 35% of sub-Saharan Africa’s total remittances, according to a World Bank report.

Otubure said the council’s visit will add a better structure for investments on the continent by Africans in the diaspora.

“When you put a structure to the investment that diaspora community in the U.S. especially of African descent are making, then you create more ties,” he said. “People are able to see that what they have in the U.S. is what they’re also looking at creating back home and you export culture, education best practices. This meeting is very important because a lot of conversations around the African Continental Free Trade Agreement — what is the role of the African community in that? How do they bring that conversation to the U.S. market?”

Rotimi Olawale, co-founder of the nonprofit Youth Hub Africa, also spoke about the council’s visit.

“The visit is a welcome development as you know the U.S. is looking for ways to maximize relationships with other countries by focusing on the diaspora. Nigeria is one of the most educated migrant groups in the U.S. and Nigeria is also leading in terms of the remittances on the African continent. There are quite a lot of benefits if we harness the professionalism, experience and technology know how — that the diaspora can contribute,” said Olawale.

The council will discuss youth and women empowerment, and the promotion of creative industries.

The team will hold meetings in Abuja on Tuesday and Wednesday before departing.
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CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Six firefighters have died battling a bushfire in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa and another two are in critical condition, emergency services said Monday. 

Authorities said they suspect that Sunday’s fire may have been started by poachers trying to trap animals to kill. 

Three firefighters died at the scene of the fire near the town of Boston, around 130 kilometers inland from the east coast city of Durban, emergency services spokesperson Roland Robertson said. He said another three firefighters were treated and put on ventilators, but they all died soon after being admitted to the hospital. 

One firefighter is still on a ventilator in the hospital, and another is also in critical condition, he said. 

Robertson said some of the poachers were also believed to have been injured in the fires near private farms as wind and dry ground caused them to burn out of control. No arrests of suspected poachers were reported. 

Wildfires have burned in other parts of KwaZulu-Natal for the last week due to the heat and the wind, leaving at least seven other people dead in various parts of the province, the local government has said. 

The fires come as the other side of South Africa has been battered by multiple storms, bringing gale-force winds and flooding. 

A series of cold fronts coming in from the Atlantic Ocean has caused widespread damage in Cape Town and surrounding areas on the southwest tip of the country over the last 10 days. Around 15,000 people have been affected and thousands of homes and other structures damaged or destroyed.
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LONDON — The world’s second vaccine against malaria was launched on Monday as Ivory Coast began a routine vaccine program using shots developed by the University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India. 

The introduction of the World Health Organization (WHO)-approved R21 vaccine comes six months after the first malaria vaccine, called RTS,S and developed by British drugmaker GSK, began being administered in a routine program in Cameroon. 

Some 15 African countries plan to introduce one of the two malaria vaccines this year with support from the Gavi global vaccine alliance. 

Ivory Coast has received a total of 656,600 doses of the Oxford and Serum shot, which will initially vaccinate 250,000 children aged between 0 and 23 months across the West African country. The vaccine has also been approved by Ghana, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and the Central African Republic. 

The rollout of a second vaccine is the latest milestone in the global fight against malaria and should help address a problem that emerged well before either of the two shots was launched: demand for them is likely to far outstrip supply for several years. 

Experts say having safe and effective malaria vaccines is important to meet demand. The shot is meant to work alongside existing tools — such as bed nets — to combat malaria, which in Africa kills nearly half a million children under the age of five each year. 

The Serum Institute of India, which manufactures the vaccine, has produced 25 million doses for the initial rollout of the shot and “is committed to scaling up to 100 million doses annually,” the company said on Monday about the launch in Ivory Coast. 

Serum said it is offering the vaccine for less than $4 per dose, in keeping with its aim to deliver low-cost vaccines at scale. 

Results from a large trial in February showed the vaccine prevented around three-quarters of symptomatic malaria cases in young children the first year after they got the shots. 

Experts told Reuters at that time that comparing the two malaria vaccines head-to-head was difficult because of the many variables involved in the trials, but overall their performance was similar — a conclusion endorsed by WHO.
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NAIROBI, Kenya — Police in Kenya said Monday they have arrested the main suspect after nine dismembered bodies of women were found in a quarry in the capital, Nairobi. 

The head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Mohamed Amin, said Collins Jumaisi Khalusha, 33, had confessed to killing 42 women, including his wife, since 2022. They gave no evidence to support his claim of killing 42. 

He was expected to be arraigned in court Tuesday. 

Police said several smartphones and identity cards were found in his house a short walk from the quarry. 

Police said the bodies were discovered after relatives of one missing woman claimed to have had a dream in which she directed them to search the quarry. The relatives asked a local diver to help, and he discovered the bodies wrapped in sacks. 

Acting police inspector general Douglas Kanja said officers in a nearby police station had been transferred to make way for investigations. Locals had accused police of negligence due to the proximity of the quarry and the unresolved missing persons cases filed there. 

A statement signed by human rights groups over the weekend urged Kenya’s security agencies to “expedite investigations into all reports of enforced disappearances.” There were initial concerns that the bodies could be linked to abductions and arrests of young people during recent anti-government protests. 
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Tripoli —  Libyan authorities on Monday ordered the arrest of an airline official on charges of helping to illegally transport migrants to the United States via Nicaragua. 

The commercial director of Ghadames Air was under investigation for “committing an activity harmful to the interests of the country,” said a statement from the Tripoli-based Attorney General’s office, which did not name the suspect. 

It said Ghadames Air had transported hundreds of people to the Central American country of Nicaragua, who intended to then illegally enter the United States. 

Ghadames Air is a private airline founded in 2021 and headquartered in Tripoli, according to the company’s website.  

The carrier could not immediately be reached for comment. 

“The company had engaged in an activity … operating flights carrying hundreds of people from East Asian countries without taking into account the obligations of the air carrier and national legislation related to immigration,” the Attorney General’s office statement said. 

It gave no further details on the origin countries of the migrants. 

Oil-rich Libya plunged into chaos following the toppling of long-time ruler Moammar Gadhafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011. It has since become the main gateway for migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe. 
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KIGALI, Rwanda — Rwandans are voting Monday in a presidential election that is expected to extend the long rule of President Paul Kagame, who has held power since 1994.

Some voters in the capital Kigali arrived as early as 5 a.m. and waited for polls to open. There were long lines at some polling stations.

“This is going to be my first time to vote. I am voting for President Kagame because I have never seen a leader like him before,” said passenger motorcyclist Jean Claude Nkurunziza.

Election authorities say 9.5 million Rwandans are registered to vote in the population of 14 million. Provisional results are expected later on Monday.

The outcome will almost certainly be in favor of Kagame, an authoritarian leader who is running virtually unopposed.

His opponents are Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana, both of whom struggled to attract supporters during campaigns.

Kagame faced the same opponents in 2017, when he took nearly 99% of the vote.

Habineza told the AP Monday that his party “has improved and we are confident we will perform very well this time.”

Kagame, 66, has been in charge of the small eastern African country since he seized power as the leader of rebels who took control of Rwanda’s government and ended the genocide in 1994.

He was Rwanda’s vice president and de facto leader from 1994 to 2000, when he first became president. He is condemned by many as a violent authoritarian while praised by others for presiding over impressive growth in the three decades since the genocide.

Kagame is among some African leaders who have prolonged their rule by pursuing changes to term limits. In 2015, Rwandans in a referendum voted to lift a two-term limit. Now Kagame could stay in power until 2034.

Kagame told reporters Saturday that his mandate comes from the people.

“The ruling party and Rwandans have been asking me to stand for another mandate,” he said. ”At a personal level, I can comfortably go home and rest.”

Rwanda’s election takes place amid heightened fears of insecurity in Africa’s Great Lakes region. A violent group of rebels known as M23 is fighting Congolese forces in a remote area of eastern Congo.

Between 3,000 and 4,000 Rwandan forces are fighting alongside M23, U.N. experts said in a report circulated last week. The U.S. government has described the group as being backed by Rwanda. Rwanda accuses Congo’s military of recruiting fighters who were among the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide.

Rights groups continue to raise alarm over harsh restrictions on human rights, including freedom of association, in Rwanda.

Amnesty International expressed concerns in a recent statement over “threats, arbitrary detention, prosecution on trumped-up charges, killings and enforced disappearances” targeting the political opposition in Rwanda.

That statement said the suppression of dissenting voices, including among civic groups and the press, “has a chilling effect and limits the space for debate for people of Rwanda.”
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