A Principal Investigator and Head of Systems Virology at the Department of Laboratory Science, Lund University, Sweden, Dr. Joakim Esbjornsson has recently obtained a 12-month, 146 000 SEK (approximately R211,500.00) grant from the Swedish Foundation for International Co-operation in Research and Higher Education (STINT) to enhance collaboration between Lund University, the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in Durban, South Africa as well as the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) in Kilifi, Kenya for a study entitled, “Hyperacute HIV-1 Infection – Towards a Functional HIV-1 Cure or Vaccine.” “STINT’s support will enable us to take the first formal steps towards a close…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
The potential of a method of replacing female genital mutilation as an initiation into womanhood with culturally sensitive alternatives is to be explored. The University of Leicester is hosting a workshop on ‘Alternative Rites of Passage: Their role in anti-FGM work in Africa’ on 9 March. Organised by the Institute for Advanced Studies, the workshop coincides with the University’s week-long celebration of International Women’s Day. Alternative rites of passage, or ARP, is touted by NGOs and international donors as an alternative to female initiation into womanhood but without female genital mutilation/cutting. In these ceremonies and the instruction that usually precedes…
By Maggie Kamau-Biruri After more than a decade of steady decline, world hunger is again on the rise, according to a 2017 report from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. As the need to address growing malnutrition rates grows more pressing, global leaders tackling this challenge must consider engaging in public, private and government partnerships to maximize the reach of critical nutrition programs. One of the most common forms of malnutrition plaguing the world’s population is micronutrient deficiency, a phenomenon that occurs when people may have enough to eat but lack the micronutrients that are critical to living healthy and…
About 25,000 rice farmers in Kano state are expected to benefit from farm inputs of N5 billion for the dry season farming in the state. The Managing Director of the Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Alhaji Kabiru Adamu disclosed this while flagging-off the distribution of the items in Kura, headquarters of Kura local government area of the state. The loan for the farm implement would be disbursed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)/Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) Anchor Borrowers Programme. He said the Federal Government had earmarked N25 billion for the loan to be disbursed to rice farmers nationwide…
Former Head of Civil Service of Kebbi state, Buhari Jega said he made a fortune from rice farming under the Federal Government Anchor Borrowing Programme. He stated this when the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed was conducted round his 20 km rice farm in Jega near Birnin Kebbi by the state Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Mohammed Dandiga. He ventured into rice farming after he left office. The retired senior civil servant said he ventured into rice farming after leaving office and took advantage of the support by the federal and state governments through the Anchor Borrowing Programme. Jega…
Researchers said they have discovered an HIV antibody that can suppress the virus for nearly six months without additional treatment. The new study involved about half of a group of monkeys, infused with a broadly neutralising antibody to HIV combined with an immune stimulatory compound. The findings, released at the 25th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Boston, lend a clue to strategies that attempt to achieve sustained, drug-free viral remission in people living with HIV. Supported in part by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the study may have targeted the viral reservoir, populations…
Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi has assured that the state would work with farmers and millers under the Federal Government’ Anchor Borrower Programme to deliver local rice at a price of below N10,000 per bag. The governor gave the assurances in Birnin Kebbi Sunday night at a dinner in honour of Nigeria’s Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed who was on a two-day working visit to the state with a view to assessing the state government’s agricultural revolution. Commending President Buhari administration’s policy on rice, Bagudu called for more investments by the public and private sector, adding that the mobilisation…
Sokoto government said it will construct 1000 tube wells so as to provide enough water to farm lands for the 2018 irrigation season in the state. Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal stated this on Saturday in Sokoto. “The water levels in our dams are very low and will not be enough to serve the needs of our farmers for the dry season farming. To overcome that challenge, experts suggested we seek for alternative ways of watering our farmlands. “In that regard, we decided to construct 1000 tube wells in different locations across the state. This effort will enable us meet our…
The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Friday officially confirmed the death of 90 persons from Lassa fever as a report for the eigth week since January 1. According to the report, until February 25, 2018, 1081 suspected cases and 90 deaths have been recorded from 18 states, which rose from the initial 54. The affected states include Edo, Ondo, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Ebonyi, Anambra, Benue, Kogi, Imo, Plateau, Lagos, Taraba, Delta, Osun, Rivers, FCT, Gombe and Ekiti. The disease also affected 14 health workers, seven in Ebonyi; one in Nasarawa; one in Kogi; one in Benue; one in Ondo;…
The Dangote (http://Dangote.com) Rice Outgrower Scheme in Jigawa State reached a turning point yesterday when the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote laid a foundation stone for the construction of a multi-billion Naira rice processing mill in Hadin, Jigawa state. The mill with a capacity to process 16 metric tons of paddy rice per hour, when completed, will in a year process paddy rice worth N14 billion bought directly from the famers in Jigawa at market rate. Speaking at the ground breaking ceremony in Hadin, Kaugama local government area, Dangote said the commencement of the construction of the integrated rice…