Food security alarm for East, Central Africa

Some 20 million people are facing acute food insecurity in eastern and central Africa, with most of them being at “crisis” and “emergency” levels, according to aid agencies. This figure compares unfavorably with 15.8 million people in July 2013. The affected countries include Somalia, Uganda, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Central Africa Republic (CAR), Sudan, Kenya, the […]

Two Liberians to be treated with Ebola drug

The Liberian Government has received approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (US-FDA) to use the experimental serum on two Liberian medical doctors who have contracted the deadly Ebola virus. According to the office of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Doctors Zukunis Ireland and Abraham Borbor, who contracted the disease while attending to patients, including […]

Denmark: Copenhagen to get its first ‘free’ supermarket

  The first ‘free’ supermarket in Copenhagen is scheduled to open on Nordre Fasanvej in Frederiksberg on Saturday. The concept, known as ‘tryvertising’, has been around for a while. Customers register on a WEBSITE and then go to the shop to pick up whatever products interest them, try them out and then write a review. […]

The Ebola virus and the vampire state

Coming back to Sierra Leone at the end of June and traveling on to Liberia in July, I’ve seen a big change.  There have been hundreds of deaths, and people are definitely taking the issue more seriously now. The virus is primarily spread by contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, so one […]

$5 billion to boost electricity in Africa

Six African countries are expected to benefit from a US$5 billion new technical and financial support for energy projects under the auspices of the World Bank Group. The countries are Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania, which have partnered with U.S. President Barack Obama’s Power Africa Initiative, according to a World Bank media release. Making the […]

Ngafuan: Liberia’s health care system collapsing

T The health care system in Liberia is collapsing, hospitals closing down and medical workers fleeing from the Ebola epidemic, which is poised to worsen, Liberia’s foreign minister said on Thursday. “People are dying from common diseases because the health care system is collapsing,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan said in an interview […]

Sweden worst in EU at getting foreigners jobs

    Swedish citizens are the most likely to be employed in the EU, but Sweden is among the very worst when it comes to getting non-EU citizens into work. With an employment rate for non-EU citizens of just 50.2 percent, Sweden ranks among the very worst in the EU. Indeed, only Belgium at 39.9 […]

Entries sought for Africa’s innovation prize

  The African Innovation Foundation (AIF) is calling on all African innovators to submit their entries for the fourth edition of the Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) competition. The IPA is presented annually enabling and encouraging African pioneers to develop creative ideas and techniques to overcome some of the challenges faced by the continent and […]

Gbowee Foundation donates $5,000 to Ebola fight

  As Liberia is now consumed by the talk of Ebola with schools closed, some government employees on compulsory leave and slowdown in economic activities with efforts to tackle the deadly disease, several institutions and individuals have been making contributions to the fight against the virus. For some, the donations have been directed towards the […]

Airline suspends flights to Liberia, Sierra Leone

Police officers deployed to Liberia’s international airport to ensure passengers are screened for Ebola symptoms as a major regional airline announced Tuesday it was suspending flights to the cities hardest hit by an outbreak that has killed more than 670 people. A 40-year-old American man of Liberian descent who worked for the West African nation’s […]