Browsing: Africa COVID-19

Ghana finds itself in the classic emerging market trap. This comes from owing too much in someone else’s currency when the global economic tide turns. One ought not to read too much into an emerging economy getting creative with money or to confuse the confiscation of private assets with a more conventional process of fiscal retrenchment that would gain IMF approval. If the plan succeeds, Ghana may have saved itself from an economic meltdown, especially in a period widely considered as economic turmoil, per the World Bank’s analysis of the 2023 economy.…

With African nations in desperate need of economic boosts, reinventing the continent’s pharmaceutical “wheel” as a contributor to development has become critical. This crucial venture requires public and private participation and, of course, the willingness of the West’s Big Pharma!

Most Africans lack the means to seek qualified healthcare providers for quality medication. People turn to self-help and alternative medicine to avoid medical expenditures, which are often out of reach. With less than 400 drug manufacturers to cater to the more than 1.3 billion people on the continent, millions of Africans die or suffer from protracted illnesses without consistent access to even the most essential medicines. Widespread ill health can trap people in poverty, as healthier people are more productive.

The pandemic’s effects have exacerbated Africa’s healthcare crisis in the last two years. The situation has captured the attention of investors who noted the gap between supply and demand in …

The challenge facing the EAC is not the lack of natural resources but the lack of high-tech industries. China is a perfect example of a country that transformed from an agricultural civilisation to an industrial one. More than 850 million individuals have been lifted out of poverty due to recent economic growth brought about by China’s industrialisation.

Without involvement in the fourth industrial revolution, the East African Community would never be able to escape its state of backwardness. Therefore, the DRC will catalyse industrial transformation inside the East African Community, Africa and the world.…

Before it infects humans, Ebola ‘is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals such as fruit bats, chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys, forest antelope or porcupines found ill or dead or in the rain forest.

Notice the list of animals, these are very common not only in an African forest but any bushes or shrubs in any human settlement (across the world). Again, while scientists explain the epistemology of the disease, they fail to explain why after centuries of safe contact, now these animals are infecting humans.

What scientists do know is ‘Ebola then spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with blood or body fluids of a person who is sick with or has died from Ebola.’…

Every African region has felt the effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with West Africa also bearing the burden of a war miles away in Europe.

• At a period when West Africa has been facing a severe food crisis since 2011, the Ukraine conflict has complicated matters further.
• For most West African nations, the expenses of regulating rising prices are already too high.
• The West African economic crisis and the Russia-Ukraine scenario highlight the perilous linkages between diplomatic sanctions, commerce, and food security.

Africa’s post-Covid recovery hampered

The Russian-Ukrainian conflict has hampered Africa’s potential recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic by raising food and fuel costs, interrupting the trade of services and goods, constricting fiscal space, limiting green transitions, and slowing the flow of development funding across the continent.

The crisis has jeopardized homes, communities, and nations across Africa. Before 2020, African countries were among the world’s fastest-growing. The COVID-19 pandemic …

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) has approved a $20 million flexible loan to finance Seychelles’ Governance and Economic Reforms Support Program, expected to help drive the island nation’s macroeconomic stability and recovery from Covid-19 in the medium-term.

The government program aims to deepen reforms introduced through the Bank’s Covid-19 Crisis Response Budget Support Program, approved in June 2020 for $10 million. These reforms are expected to advance fiscal sustainability, improve the business environment and Seychelles’ climate change and environmental resilience.

The Bank’s financing will complement funds from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in support of reforms that will benefit Seychelles’ private sector, dominated by small enterprises. By ensuring that such businesses stay afloat during these challenging times, the operation will positively impact women and the youth, while creating employment and equal opportunities.

Seychelles’ Minister of Finance, Trade, Investment and …

The South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa is actively pushing for African countries to receive substantial funding from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to aid recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic affected most Africa Countries economies.

In his weekly, open letter to the public on Monday Ramaphosa said that this should include a greater allocation of the IMF’s ‘special drawing rights’.

Special drawing rights (SDR) are an international reserve asset that can be converted into five currencies: the dollar, euro, yen, British pound and yuan.

he said $162.5bn should be made available instead of the $33bn which has been proposed from the “special drawing rights” which will be released to increase reserves of African countries.

Ramaphosa’s sentiments comes days after the Paris Summit that drew together African leaders and European leaders to discuss health and finances to aid in economic recovery ended with France President promising to Vaccinate 40% …

Just a few days after being sworn in as Tanzania’s sixth President, Samia Suluhu Hassan has continued to prove wrong those who might have doubted her leadership.

Days after taking over power following the demise of Tanzania’s fifth President John Pombe Magufuli, President Samia Suluhu suspended the Director of the country’s port authority over massive embezzlement of public funds.

Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) Director-General Deusdedit Kakoko was adversely mentioned in the report of the Controller and Audit -General(CAG).

Suluhu had vowed to continue the strict legacy of former president Magufuli who had zero tolerance towards corruption, incompetence among other shortcomings.

The course of action toward Covid-19

On Tuesday, April 6, 2021, President Samia Suluhu said that she intends to form a committee of experts to professionally evaluate the Covid-19 pandemic so as to advise the government on the way forward.

Speaking while swearing in permanent secretaries and deputy permanent secretaries …

In the South African Department of Mineral Resources and Energy 2020 Annual Performance Plan report, the authority highlighted the importance of the energy sector in catalyzing economic growth and development.

As in the report, real-life reflects the need for a reliable supply of energy to ensure that Africa continues to push its presence onto the global stage and build foundations of economic and social prosperity.

To achieve this change, and to transform the continent’s legacy challenges into a future that allows for continued growth and development, it remains a priority for the government and private sector to invest in energy solutions that are sustainable, reliable, and relevant.

As the continent moves into the first half of 2021, it’s the right time to look ahead at what the year ahead looks like for the energy sector and what changes or opportunities could potentially shift energy solutions into high gear.

The Renewable

Delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to selected health facilities has kicked off in Ghana.

The exercise which began on Tuesday, March 2, is being conducted by Zipline, using drones.

Ghana is now the first country in the world to deploy drones on a national scale to deliver COVID-19 vaccines, which were shipped into the country on February 23, by the Covax facility.

Ghana received 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine, from the Serum Institute of India (SII).

The arrival in Accra is the first batch delivered anywhere in the world by the COVAX Facility as part of an unprecedented effort to deliver at least 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to low- and middle-income countries by the end of 2021.

How COVID-19 vaccines will be distributed

With about 12 million people in Ghana living outside cities, the country’s government will use Zipline’s network to deliver its COVID-19 vaccines to ensure rapid, …