African countries Archives - The African Mirror

Nov

20

2023

G20-led summit for Africa highlights renewed interest in fast-growing continent

NEWS

LEADERS from more than a dozen African countries are heading to Germany for the G20 Compact with Africa conference, which aims to help bolster private investment in the world's poorest, but fast-growing, continent. Underscoring renewed interest in Africa, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will be among those attending the summit in Berlin, hosted by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, according to German government officials. Scholz, who has visited Africa several times since taking office in late 2021, will hold bilateral talks with several African countries on Sunday, before hosting a German-African investment summit…

Oct

11

2023

By The African Mirror

Climate hazards aren’t restricted by borders – African countries have taken a big step to address this

ENVIRONMENT

CLIMATE risks can be complex to deal with because they don’t respect country borders. Hazards in one region can have negative repercussions in another. These are known as transboundary climate risks, and they’re a growing concern. They require coordinated, multinational responses, which can be a challenge given the different priorities and capabilities of each country. A transboundary climate risk could be due to a shared ecosystem, such as a river basin. For instance, the Nile River, which flows through 11 countries, can experience variations in water availability due to changes in the weather. This will affect the millions who depend…

Oct

08

2023

By The African Mirror

Russian grain deliveries to Africa to start within a month, Interfax reports

NEWS

RUSSIA will start delivering its grain to African countries within a month to six weeks, the Interfax news agency cited Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev as saying. "We are now finalising all the documents. I think that within a month - or a month and a half - they will start," Interfax quoted Patrushev as saying. President Vladimir Putin told African leaders in July he would gift them tens of thousands of tons of grain despite Western sanctions, which he said made it harder for Moscow to export its grain and fertilisers. "We will be ready to provide Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia,…

Sep

23

2023

By RODRIGO CAMPOS

Food insecurity in Africa should be overcome in 5 years -AfDB head

NEWS

PROGRAMS supported by the African Development Bank (AfDB) in over 30 African countries have helped produce some $12 billion worth of food, and the bank’s $25 billion objective is "well on track," AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina said on Friday. "As far as I'm concerned, we shouldn't be talking about food security in Africa more than five years from now. There's no reason for it," he told Reuters. "We have the technology and the financing to do it at scale." Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, one of the world's top grain exporters, sent tremors through global grain markets, threatening food…

Jul

09

2023

By LUCY GITHUGO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

State of the news: Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa push African countries high up the media trust ladder, TikTok advancing rapidly

MEDIA FREEDOM

ACCORDING to the recently released Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023, Kenya has the second-highest level of trust in the news of all countries included in the global report. At 63%, Kenyans' trust in the news is remarkably high, surpassed only by Finland (at 69%). Kenyan commercial TV outlets are that country's most trusted news sources, alongside the Daily Nation newspaper and its associated website, according to the report. Portugal ranked third with a score of 58%, while Nigeria and South Africa tied for fourth place with 57% each, according to the twelfth edition of the report, published by the…

Jul

07

2023

By The African Mirror

Nine new African countries to receive millions of malaria vaccines, GAVI says

HEALTH

GLOBAL vaccine alliance GAVI said 12 countries in Africa would receive 18 million doses of malaria vaccine over the next two years, expanding access to the shots to nine new countries in the region. Malaria remains one of the continent's deadliest diseases, killing nearly half a million children each year under the age of five. In 2021, Africa accounted for about 95% of global malaria cases and 96% of deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). "At least 28 African countries have expressed interest in receiving the RTS,S (malaria) vaccine," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a media…

Jul

05

2023

By CONRAD ONYANGO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Prosperity, economic freedoms on the rise in Africa

NEWS

AFRICAN countries that suffered some of the worst and longest civil wars are recording the biggest moves in a freedom index, with the continent logging the biggest growth in a key prosperity score in close to 30 years. The American think tank, Atlantic Council, shows Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Ethiopia registered the biggest score changes in a global ranking of free and prosperous countries, between 1995 and 2022. Of the three, Sierra Leone and Rwanda made the most significant gains in their freedom scores according to Atlantic Council's Prosperity that Lasts: The 2023 Freedom and Prosperity Indexes. Sierra Leone ranked…

Jun

29

2023

By The African Mirror

Five questions for African countries that want to build climate-resilient health systems

ENVIRONMENT

EVERY day seems to bring a new headline about a devastating climate event. African countries aren’t spared. A “rain bomb” in South Africa. Flooding in Nigeria. Cyclones battering Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Madagascar. Drought in Kenya. These events have enormous health and social effects, among them death, injuries, malnutrition and diseases (infectious and non-communicable). This all puts tremendous pressure on countries’ health systems, both in terms of caring for those affected and because facilities like hospitals and clinics are vulnerable to damage and destruction. Authors BOB MASH, Distinguished Professor, Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care, Stellenbosch University CHRISTIAN LUEME…

Jun

13

2023

By The African Mirror

China’s population grew older and richer: policy lessons for some African countries

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

FOR decades China was the world’s most populous country. But that’s changed. Its population has peaked, and is now falling. The country has achieved high levels of economic growth for four decades, reducing poverty and raising per capita incomes. Between 1978 and 2018 China’s economy grew by an average of 9.8 per cent per annum. Today it is the second biggest economy in the world after the US. Author LAUREN JOHNSTON, Senior Researcher, South African Institute of International Affairs and Associate Professor at the China Studies Centre, University of Sydney China’s demographic profile has played a key role in its…

Jun

03

2023

By MELISSA WANJIRU-MWITA

Kenya at 60: how the British used street names to show colonial power

LIFESTYLE

PLACE names, along with other urban symbols, were used as a tool of control over space in many African countries during the colonial period. This strategy was epitomised by the British, who applied it in Nairobi and other parts of Kenya from the late 1800s. Very few African names were used on the urban landscape. This was a strategy to actively alienate the native Africans, who had little or no say in the city’s affairs. Spatially, colonial street names dominated the central part of the city, while African names were used mainly in the peripheral residential neighbourhoods. Author MELISSA WANJIRU-MWITA,…