ADF

ADF Staff Dr. John Nkengasong, a virologist, has been the director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) since 2017 and has helped lead the continent’s response to Ebola, COVID-19, malaria and other health challenges since that time. He spoke to ADF from his office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in December 2020. His remarks have been edited to fit this format. ADF: Countries are now preparing to acquire and distribute COVID-19 vaccines. You recently co-authored a piece for Nature urging the world not to “let history repeat itself” where African nations find themselves at the back…

ADF STAFF When the COVID-19 pandemic spread to Malawi in early April 2020, the nation known as the “warm heart of Africa” for the kindness of its citizens faced a potential crisis. The fast-spreading respiratory disease could easily have overwhelmed the low-income country of more than 20 million people. “COVID-19 could have a disastrously high toll in Malawi,” said Maria Jose Torres Macho, United Nations resident coordinator for Malawi. “Even a fairly low number of cases could overwhelm the health system, cause food shortages and reverse the path of progress the country has been on in recent years.” By early…

ADF STAFF As national economies struggle to reopen from pandemic lockdowns, the African Union is looking to homegrown technology to help businesses while tracking the potential for new outbreaks.  One technology is a smartphone app called PanaBIOS. It lets governments monitor people’s movement — particularly those who may have tested positive for COVID-19 — and curb large gatherings that might turn into superspreader events. The widespread use of PanaBIOS is crucial to the AU’s planned opening of a continentwide free-trade area in 2021. That project, which will let people and goods move across open borders, will require a way to…

ADF STAFF For 11 days in June, 7,800 participants from African nations, the United States and NATO countries trained together on land, sea and in the air as part of African Lion. African Lion is U.S. Africa Command’s (AFRICOM’s) largest and oldest joint annual exercise on the continent. This year’s June 7-18 program was hosted jointly by Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia. The exercise focused on building mission capabilities and strengthening cooperation among the militaries that took part. The 2020 exercise was canceled because of COVID-19. “This exercise is all about readiness,” said U.S. Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, AFRICOM commander. “Readiness…

ADF STAFF The leaders of Uganda and Tanzania recently approved a new Chinese-backed pipeline to transport oil from the continent’s interior more than 1,400 kilometers to the Indian Ocean. Environmentalists say the project threatens the livelihoods of thousands of people, cuts through habitat crucial for the survival of elephants and other wildlife, and promises to increase both countries’ carbon footprint at a time when many countries are trying to reduce emissions. “The East African Crude Oil Pipeline [EACOP] threatens one of the most ecologically diverse and wildlife-rich regions of the world,” Landry Ninteretse, regional director of the Kenya-based nonprofit organization…

ADF STAFF Sierra Leone’s plan to build a $55 million industrial fishing harbor on 100 hectares of beach and protected rainforests continues to cause controversy among fishermen and conservationists. The Chinese-backed project at Black Johnson Beach includes a fish processing plant in a tourist area 35 kilometers south of Freetown, the capital. It borders virgin rainforest that is home to chimpanzees and protected bird species, as well as Western Area Peninsula National Park, where endangered species such as duiker antelope and pangolins live. A nearby lagoon is a breeding ground for fish and turtles and opens up into a river…

ADF STAFF In the swamplands of central Tanzania is a place called Mosquito City. It has the world’s largest captive colony of mosquitoes used for researching the spread of malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases, such as Zika virus and dengue fever. Scientists with the Ifakara Health Institute are working to understand mosquito behavior, such as when they mate. The goal is to learn how to best trap, repel and kill mosquitoes. “Part of our work here is to innovate and create new tools so we can just keep pace,” Fredros Okumu, chief scientist at the institute, said in a video…

ADF STAFF When the first cases of COVID-19 arrived in Senegal, the military jumped into action.  In March 2020, the Senegalese Army traveled to Touba, 190 kilometers east of Dakar, and built a mobile field hospital to handle an anticipated rise in COVID-19 cases that threatened to overwhelm the local hospital.  In a matter of days an empty field was transformed into a 14-tent, 690-square-meter compound in which doctors could perform surgery and diagnose and treat hundreds of patients a day. All treatment was offered to the public for free.    It was an unusual mission for unusual times.  “We…

ADF STAFF When it comes to pandemic diseases, the African continent has been forged in fire. History is replete with examples of deadly illnesses originating on the continent and ravaging populations in nation after nation. Some, such as Ebola, rear their heads fiercely in specific regions at different times, killing and terrorizing populations while the world looks on in fear. Others, such as HIV/AIDS, stubbornly take root in a region and become an endemic health concern for generations, not unlike the ever-present threat of malaria or yellow fever. A few, however, emerge elsewhere and march across the globe, infecting Africa…

ADF STAFF Residents of Senegal’s restive Casamance region are voicing hope after a military offensive drove rebels out of forest strongholds. In January, the Senegalese Armed Forces launched a campaign in the southern region to root out separatists known as the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC). The ground strikes, backed by air support, destroyed three rebel bases. In May, Senegalese forces began another campaign about 30 kilometers south of the regional capital, Ziguinchor. Senegalese commanders let reporters view the abandoned bases where fleeing rebels left behind anti-tank rockets, land mines and AK-47s. Soldiers also uncovered underground bunkers used…