Africa

Monkeypox: Cases outside Africa rise to 780 in three weeks

That is roughly triple the 257 cases it reported a week ago.

It says the figure - for the past three weeks - is probably an underestimate and assesses the global risk level as "moderate".

The infection is usually mild, but this is the first time it has spread widely outside Central and West Africa.

The WHO said cases had been identified in 27 countries where it is not already "endemic" - meaning places it is expected to be found.

Stowaway found in South Africa plane wheel at Amsterdam airport

Flights from Johannesburg to Amsterdam take about 11 hours, with the cargo plane believed to have made one stop, in Nairobi, Kenya.

It is very unusual for stowaways on long flights to survive, due to the cold and low oxygen at high altitudes.

The man's age and nationality have not yet been determined, police say.

"The man was found alive in the nose wheel section of the plane and was taken to hospital in a stable condition," Royal Dutch Military Police spokeswoman Joanna Helmonds told the AFP news agency.

Fiji tests cases from African nations

Health Secretary Dr James Fong confirmed the cases of interest were Fijian nationals returning from Africa.

"In Fiji, we currently have Covid-positive travellers in quarantine who arrived in the country from African states before we knew about Omicron.

"They have been quarantined in line with the stringent measures we apply to countries we consider a red zone for ongoing viral spread. Their specimens will be forwarded this week overseas for genetic sequencing."

WHO endorses use of world’s first malaria vaccine in Africa

The World Health Organization has recommended the widespread rollout of the first malaria vaccine, in a move experts hope could save tens of thousands of children’s lives each year across Africa.

Hailing “an historic day”, the WHO’s director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that after a successful pilot programme in three African countries the RTS,S vaccine should be made available more widely.

 

Africa secures 270m Covid-19 vaccine doses

All of the doses will be used this year, promises current AU head South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

This is on top of 600 million doses already secured but is still not enough to vaccinate the whole region.

There are fears that poorer countries globally will wait far longer than richer nations to be inoculated.

Although infection numbers and death rates are comparatively lower across most of Africa, cases are spiking again in some areas.

A new variant of Covid-19 in South Africa is causing particular alarm and makes up most of the new cases.

Africa could become next epicentre of Covid-19 outbreak

UN officials also say it is likely the pandemic will kill at least 300,000 people in Africa and push nearly 30 million into poverty.

The past week in Africa has seen a sharp rise in coronavirus cases.

There have been almost 1000 deaths and almost 19,000 infections across Africa, so far much lower rates than in parts of Europe and the US.

The UN Economic Commission for Africa - which warned 300,000 could die - called for a $US100bn ($NZ166bn) safety net for the continent, including halting external debt payments.

Rare black leopard captured on camera in wild for first time in 100 years

According to National Geographic, biologist Nick Pilford captured the female leopard on a camera trap set up in the Liosaba Conservancy, Kenya, after he received a tip-off that a "panther" had been spotted there numerous times. 

And the trap paid off as he managed to snap a photo of the rarest of the big cats.

"Almost everyone has a story about seeing one, it's such a mythical thing," Pilfold said.

Rhino horn smuggled as jewellery

Wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic revealed an "emerging trend" of making and smuggling beads, bracelets and bangles and rhino horn powder.

The lead investigator told BBC News the trade in rhino horn was now "morphing" into a market for luxury items.

At least 7,100 rhinos are estimated to have been killed in Africa since 2007.

Today, about 25,000 of the animals remain.

Julian Rademeyer from Traffic explained that the production of rhino horn "trinkets" mirrored some of the patterns seen in the trade in ivory.

What a hunter-gatherer diet does to the body

Diet is key to maintaining diversity and was strikingly demonstrated when an undergrad student went on a McDonald's diet for ten days and after just four days experienced a significant drop in the number of beneficial microbes.

Similar results have been demonstrated in a number of larger human and animal studies.

Snow falls in Sahara for first time in 37 years

Their 1984 Band Aid prediction that "there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime" has once again been proven wrong -- and this time in spectacular fashion.

The Algerian town of Ain Sefra, deep in the dry, hot Sahara desert was hit by a freak snowfall on December 19. It's the first time snow has fallen in the region in 37 years.

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