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Drugmakers in Davos Shift Focus to Chronic Diseases of Poor
Two decades after they were spurred into action to tackle AIDS in Africa, global drugmakers said on Wednesday they would invest an initial $50 million over three years to fight cancer and other non-communicable diseases in poor countries.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Donors and Drug Makers Offer $500 Million to Control Global Epidemics
Stung by the lack of vaccines to fight the West African Ebola epidemic, a group of prominent donors announced Wednesday that they had raised almost $500 million for a new partnership to stop epidemics before they spiral out of control.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- vaccines
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Nigeria: Central Bank Bars Banks From Virtual Currency Transactions
The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Tuesday, banned banks from all transactions in bitcoin and other virtual currencies. A circular signed by the apex bank's director, financial policy and regulation department, Kelvin Amugo, stated that the move was necessitated by money laundering and terrorism financing risks inherent in operations of virtual currencies.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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Tragedy Would Unfold If Trump Cancels Bush’s AIDS Program
In 2003, in a move that has been described as his greatest legacy, George W. Bush created a program called PEPFAR—the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. At the time, more than 20 million people in sub-Saharan Africa were living with AIDS, but only 50,000 had access to antiretroviral drugs that manage the disease and prevent its spread. Now, thanks to PEPFAR, 11.5 million people are on those drugs. For good reason, it has been variously described as a “globally transformative lifeline,” “one of the best government programs in American history,” and something “for all Americans to be proud of.”
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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IFC, The MasterCard Foundation, and FINCA Support Expansion of Financial Inclusion in Democratic Republic of Congo
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, together with The MasterCard Foundation, on January 17 announced a cooperation agreement valued at $1 million with microfinance institution FINCA in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Under the agreement, FINCA will expand access to credit and digital financial services for low-income people and small-scale entrepreneurs.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Novel R&D tool to unravel genetic diseases in Africa
A new research tool — genomics array — developed specifically for genomic and epidemiological research in Africa could enable researchers efficiently look at genetic diversity of African populations.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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East Africa’s clean energy boom
Africa is very much in the firing line when it comes to climate change so the recently adopted Paris Agreement – where developed and developing countries alike are required to limit their carbon emissions to keep the global temperature increase to below two degrees celsius – is positive news, although the devil is still in the detail.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- renewable energy, solar
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Mastercard Delivering Financial Inclusion: One Small Kenyan Farm At A Time
The problem with building financial inclusion — particularly in a developing world context — is that it is a tough goal to pursue directly. While there isn’t much in the way of disagreement that more should be done to connect the approximately 2.5 billion adults who are totally (or nearly totally) detached from formal financial services, actually implementing a plan that actually makes a difference is often a very separate matter.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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