ADF

Although outbreaks of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases have surfaced all over the globe, no continent has been harder hit than Africa. The Ebola epidemic was West Africa’s first real experience with the virus. What began as an epidemic outbreak quickly escalated into a humanitarian, social, economic and security crisis. Schools, markets, businesses, airlines, shipping routes and borders closed. The epidemic claimed the lives of more than 11,300 people and infected more than 28,500, bringing devastation to families, communities, and the health and economic systems of the three most affected countries [Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone]. As of August 4,…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Every morning, hundreds of men converge on a dry lakebed in Ethiopia, where they cleave at the ground with axes to extract salt. They toil under the gaze of camels that will carry the salt bricks to market, in a trek historians estimate has gone on since the sixth century. But with the government opening the isolated northern region to investors and tourists by cutting new roads through surrounding mountains, the laborers, traders and caravan drivers say their traditional way of life could soon be lost. “If it continues like this, it will stop our work,” miner Musa…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Nigerian airline pilot Ademola Odujinrin, known as “Lola,” has become the first African to fly solo around the world. The 38-year-old left Washington, D.C., in September 2016 aboard a Cirrus SR22, a small, single-engine airplane, and stopped in more than 15 countries on five continents during the journey, according to a statement by his foundation, Transcend. Odujinrin landed at his starting point at Dulles Airport, just outside the United States capital on March 29, 2017. “I want African children to think: ‘I can do this, too!’ ” Odujinrin said. The website Earthrounders lists Odujinrin as the first African…

VOICE OF AMERICA The Kenyan government says it will open the border with Somalia to boost trade and allow the flow of people between the two countries. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta also pledged to help Somalia fight al-Shabaab militants and support and train government workers. His remarks came after a March 2017 meeting in Nairobi with Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed. The borders have remained closed for the past 25 years since Somalia descended into conflict. However, people living along the borders and refugees have found a way to get into Kenya. The countries will begin by opening two border…

The Ebola outbreak exposed weak spots in the continent’s health systems. Officials are determined to fix them. ADF STAFF A meningitis outbreak in Nigeria’s northwest showed the progress that has been made since the Ebola crisis and the work that still remains. Beginning in December 2016, a highly contagious form of cerebral spinal meningitis emerged in Zamfara State. Meningitis is a deadly bacterial infection that swells the spine and the brain, definitely an illness that should be taken seriously, according to the

A conversation with Dr. John Nkengasong of the Africa CDC on how to anticipate the next pandemic ADF STAFF Dr. John Nkengasong is a virologist who has spent his life searching for cures to the world’s deadliest diseases. During a 22-year-career at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, he held numerous posts including chief of the International Laboratory Branch and co-chair of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief Laboratory Technical Working Group. A native of Cameroon, he is the founding chairman of the board of directors for the African Society for Laboratory Medicine and previously served as…

To Intervene in Crises and Sustain Missions, African Militaries Must Make Logistics a Priority COL. UDUAK UDOAKA/U.S. AIR FORCE A significant development in the post-Cold War period has been African states’ active involvement in peacekeeping operations. Of the 105,078 personnel deployed in support of nine United Nations peacekeeping missions in Africa, more than half are uniformed Africans. Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Africa have the largest contingents of the 38 African countries contributing peacekeepers. Even states that were once devastated by war, such as Sierra Leone, are now deploying peacekeepers. Despite their provision of troops to U.N. and African-led operations, most African…

The African Standby Force Can Deploy in Times of Natural Disasters, Humanitarian Crises ADF STAFF Africa has for years been working toward creating a force that could respond quickly to security crises anywhere on the continent. Known as the African Standby Force (ASF), it brings to bear 25,000 personnel — 5,000 from each of five Regional Economic Communities (RECs) — to intervene and secure peace during a crisis. Military, police and civilian personnel comprise the ASF. Thousands from all over the continent gathered in Lohatla, South Africa, in October 2015 for Amani Africa II, an exercise to test the readiness…

ADF STAFF Government officials and citizens packed into the stands of Freedom Square in Owerri, Nigeria, on May 29, 2017, to mark an important date in the country’s recent history. Police officers, Nigerian Army personnel and civilians marched through the public square about 80 kilometers north of Port Harcourt in Imo State. But they weren’t there to celebrate a person or a battle; they were celebrating a form of government. The assembled crowds were commemorating Democracy Day, a yearly celebration of the restoration of democracy after years of military rule in the federal republic. The holiday marks May 29, 1999,…

Tracking and Relieving Hunger Can Be a Challenge. The Key for Soldiers? Knowing Their Role By the time the world hears about a famine, it’s probably too late. International aid organizations say early alerts and rapid responses to food shortages are the only ways to save lives. Before the United Nations declared famine in Somalia in 2011, it had issued 16 warnings that danger was imminent. Those warnings mostly were ignored and, by the time famine officially was declared, 120,000 people had died. “Once famine takes root, it’s that much harder to recover,” wrote Aryn Baker in Time magazine. “Yet the call…