Officials said 17 people have died in an area of northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo where health officials have now confirmed an outbreak of Ebola. This is the ninth time Ebola has been recorded in the central African nation, whose eastern Ebola river gave the deadly virus its name when it was discovered there in the 1970s, and comes less than a year after its last outbreak which killed eight people. “Our country is facing another epidemic of the Ebola virus, which constitutes an international public health emergency,” the Health Ministry said in a statement. We still dispose of the…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it has immediately scaled up its response after two new cases of Ebola Virus Disease were confirmed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The new cases were identified on Tuesday in a remote area of the country’s north-west, near the town of Bikoro, near the Congo River, by Government scientists there. WHO said the two positive samples, out of five tested overall, had come from the Iponge health facility, located close to Bikoro, and additional specimens were being collected for further testing. “Our top priority is to get to Bikoro to work alongside…
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday it had launched campaign in Africa for more than two million people in five countries to have access to Oral Cholera Vaccine (OCV). The vaccines, funded by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, were sourced from the global stockpile and are being used to carry out five major campaigns in Zambia, Uganda, Malawi, South Sudan and Nigeria. The OCV is recommended to be given in two doses. The first gives protection for six months, the second for three to five years. All five campaigns should have completed their second round of vaccinations by mid-June.…
The Speaker of House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara has stressed the importance of enacting new legislation to aid the drive to modernise agriculture in the country as well as turn the sector into a major foreign exchange earner for the country in the nearest future. He said this while delivering an address at a two-day public hearing organised by the House Committee on Agricultural Colleges and Institutions on Monday in Abuja. Dogara also stressed the need to ensure bills processed by the legislature were cost-sensitive and did not increase the financial burden of the nation through the multiplication of agencies.…
This is the third in a three-part series making the case that the development of the biotech traits for insect resistance and herbicide tolerance are the most substantial innovations in sustainable agriculture in the last three decades. In the first part, I laid out the context in which I believe they should be assessed relative to other innovations competing for the crown. In the second part, I examined the data and evidence of their overall environmental impacts. Here, I’ll make my closing argument after looking at the impacts on Argentina, China, India, Pakistan and South Africa. Despite the myth that…
Two antimaterial drugs that could compete with other relevant drugs in the treatment of material parasites have been developed by a Nigerian scientist, Professor Umar Katsayel. Katsayel of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, disclosed this Mondy in Sandmu, near Daura. He said that the drugs were developed from the roots of Cissampelous mucronat plant and the stem-bark of Plumeria rubra plant, explaining that “these are common herbs found around the vicinity.”. According to Katsayel, the drugs had been subjected to various laboratory examinations to determine their efficacy and toxicity before consumption. ”We would soon make the drugs public…
This is the first in a three-part series making the case that the development of biotech traits for insect resistance and herbicide tolerance are the most substantial innovations in sustainable agriculture in the last three decades. Here, I lay out the context in which I believe they should be assessed relative to other innovations competing for the crown. In part two, I lay out the data and evidence of their overall environmental impacts. And in part three, I’ll make my closing argument after looking at the impacts on Argentina, China, India, Pakistan and South Africa. If you haven’t watched the new…
Vice President, Power, Energy, Climate and Growth complex of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Mr Amadou Hott has disclosed that the bank has approved a grant of 1.5 million dollars (about N540 million) to support power project in Jigawa state, Nigeria. Disclosing this in an interview in Abidjan on Saturday, he said: “In Nigeria, there are some projects we are doing. Presently, we have approved in Jigawa state, a grant of more than 1.5 million dollars to develop a project to build two times 100 megawatts. The grant has just been approved by the board two days ago. “The idea…
At the presentation of his prize cheque in Lagos, Miracle Ikechukwu Igbokwe, the 2018 winner of the Big Brother Naija, spoke about his new status, how he plans to spend his N25 million cash prize, and his future ambition. How do you feel about the presentation of cheque and other prizes you won today? Miracle Ikechukwu Igbokwe: I feel very great. Who wouldn’t feel great? I won N45 million. The cash prize being N25m and I have a car. So, it’s actually a great privilege. I’m happy, I’m excited because this is kick-starting my main goal of becoming a billionaire.…
By Mark Lynas Underneath the busy, green exterior it doesn’t take long to discover that this is a country that faces serious environmental and agricultural challenges Every time I visit Uganda, I am struck by what a vibrant, lively country it is, and how blessed with abundant natural resources, including Lake Victoria, full of fish and surrounded by lush green vegetation. But underneath the busy, green exterior it doesn’t take long to discover that this is a country that faces serious environmental and agricultural challenges. Unfortunately, politics has got in the way of efforts to protect the nation’s fragile ecosystem…