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Africa long way off from introducing first ‘unicorn’
Continent continues to innovate while waiting for the first US$1bn company.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Bringing Contraception Closer to Rural Women in Malawi
Seventeen-year-old Sekani wakes up early in her rural Malawi village, and hopes her health center will have the oral contraceptive pills she uses. If it doesn’t, she will have missed a whole day of work on a farm and walked six hours for nothing. She’ll also risk getting pregnant the next time her boyfriend wants to have sex without a condom.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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UN Foundation Kicks Off Project to Power Primary Health Facilities in Ghana and Uganda
The UN Foundation recently formalized its cooperation with the Governments of Ghana and Uganda in supporting a new project in the energy, health and gender nexus. The project, which aims to power a total of 62 un-electrified or under-electrified primary care health facilities across both countries, adding an estimated 240 kWp of installed solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity to the health sector, is made possible by the support of the UK Department for International Development (DFID) under its ‘Sustainable Energy for Women and Girls’ programme.
- Categories
- Energy, Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The changing face of global health: Yale and South African doctors partner to expand care
While working in South Africa several years ago, Dr. J. Zachary Porterfield came across a young child in a clinic in rural KwaZulu-Natal. During the examination, the doctor was surprised to find that the patient had drainage from her ears and loss of hearing. “It had progressed to the point that she was having difficulty in school,” said Porterfield. “When I asked her mother how long this had been going on, she said three years. Her ears had been draining, and she had been losing her hearing for three years.”
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- infectious diseases, research, youth
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How the genomics revolution could finally help Africa
It took a public-health disaster for the Zimbabwean government to recognize the power of precision medicine. In 2015, the country switched from a standard three-drug cocktail for HIV to a single-pill combination therapy that was cheaper and easier for people to take every day. The new drug followed a World Health Organization recommendation to incorporate the antiretroviral drug efavirenz as a first-line therapy for public-health programmes. But as tens of thousands of Zimbabweans were put onto the drug, reports soon followed about people quitting it in droves.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- public health
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Follow the Money: The IT Hurdles of Microlending
When the crowdfunding non-profit Kiva.org launched a pilot in 2014 to streamline their transactions in Kenya, they met local shop owners like Esther, who was running a stall called “Facebook Cereals.” Kenya had suffered political unrest in recent years, and Esther had to restart her business in the Toi Market of Nairobi twice. But she kept her smile.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Microinsurance penetration set to increase in Tanzania
In March Jamii, a local start-up offering micro-health insurance services, announced ambitious plans to expand into East and Central Africa this year.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Feature phones made a comeback in Africa as smartphone growth slowed last year
After a decade of strong growth, the expected crossover of smartphones finally overtaking feature phone usage in Africa did not happen last year. In fact, feature phones had a bit of a surge. Smartphone shipments to the continent grew by only 3.4% year on year—a sharp slump compared to double-digit growth rates recorded in recent years according to data from IDC, a technology research firm.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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