This is the message behind the global TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference. Started in California in the 1980s, and growing in size to reach critical mass in the 2000s, the conference is today a meeting point for scientists, policy makers, thinkers and globally influential people to share their ideas and broadcast them to the [...]
The battle against the stigma attached to HIV in South African is being won, a new opinion study carried out by African pro-democracy think tank IDASA has revealed. The study, called ‘AIDS, Leadership and service delivery in South Africa: What the people think’ was carried out to mark AIDS day. It asked South Africans whether [...]
At a demonstration outside the Cape High Court last October, protesters from an informal settlement who face eviction, unfurled a colourful, handwritten banner: ‘Madiba – Long walk to Freedom’. From the poorest to the richest, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, affectionately known by his clan name Madiba, remains an inspiration to the citizenry not only of South [...]
The largest ever clinical trial into the treatment of patients with severe malaria has recommended that the drug artesunate replace quinine as the preferred treatment for children and adults all over the world. The study, called the African Quinine Vs. Artesunate Malarial Trial, was funded by world health charity The Wellcome Trust, and published Saturday [...]
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have announced that they will launch an African owned initiative to promote innovation in pharmaceutical development. Speaking in Nairobi on the 12th October, WHO Regional Director for Africa; Luis Sambo, declared that the formation of the new African Networks for Drugs [...]
Mwekera Middle Basic School in the country’s second largest city, Kitwe, will remain closed for a third term, due to an outbreak of suspected typhoid. However, speculation is brewing that the situation has already spiralled out of the control of local authorities. The district health director for the city, Chikafuna Banda, claims to have submitted [...]
A new United Nations (UN) project to boost the efficiency of cooking stoves will attempt to save lives and accelerate development. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has backed international efforts to boost the effectiveness of three million cooking stoves worldwide. Initiatives such as the African Rural Energy Enterprise Development (AREED) have compiled lessons on [...]
Oxfam is warning international Governments of the dangers of complacency in the fight against world hunger. The charity is urging them to rethink their current attitudes and to use next week’s Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Summit, to be held in New York, as an opportunity to come up with a comprehensive plan to make a [...]
The on-going crisis in Niger has prompted aid agencies to appeal for additional funding. According the United Nations (UN), over half of the country’s population stands at risk of malnutrition. The situation has been exasperated by erratic weather conditions over the past few weeks. Niall O’Rouke, Christian Aid’s emergency offices reported that, ‘All of the [...]
Selected junior secondary schools across the country’s 36 states have received science kits to improve the quality of teaching and learning. The donation of 2,548 kits– which has been funded by the Federal Government through the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) – will also attempt to align itself with the Government’s commitment to the attainment [...]
