The number of coronavirus cases and deaths in Africa have dropped to their lowest levels since the pandemic began, marking the longest decline yet seen in the disease, according to the World Health Organization. In a statement on Thursday, the U.N. health agency said COVID-19 infections due to the omicron surge had “tanked” from a peak of more than 308,000

An estimated 250 million people in Africa lack access to daily food, with the number impacted in west and central Africa expected to reach a record high. Officials and aid groups from more than 50 African countries meet this week in Equatorial Guinea to discuss ways of improving the continent’s agricultural food systems. The U.N. World Food Program says the

A study by the World Health Organization finds the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa to be a fraction of the true number of people infected with the coronavirus that causes the disease. A new analysis of the spread and the presence of asymptomatic cases of SARS-CoV 2, the virus that causes COVID-19, finds infections in Africa skyrocketed from

GENEVA— Nearly 100 people have died in international waters after setting off from Libya in an overcrowded boat, international organisations said.   A commercial tanker, Alegria 1, rescued four people from a life raft in the Mediterranean early Saturday morning, the Doctors Without Borders charity said.   “We know from our initial contact with Alegria 1 that the survivors reported

Cameroon is struggling to contain a cholera outbreak that has sickened 6,000 people with the bacteria and killed nearly 100 since February. Authorities have dispatched the ministers of health and water to affected areas and have begun quarantining cholera patients to prevent it from spreading.   Cameroon’s Public Health Ministry said the number of cholera patients received in hospitals was

U.N. peacekeepers in Mali have deployed to the northeast border with Burkina Faso and Niger after reports of civilians being massacred. The U.N. says Mali’s U.N. peacekeeping mission, MINUSMA, has deployed forces to Mali’s northern Tri-border area amid increasing insecurity. A U.N. statement to the media released Thursday said that “attacks by armed terrorist groups have had a devastating impact

The U.N. refugee agency says some 46,000 Congolese who fled violent clashes early this week in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province need emergency assistance. The fighting, which erupted March 28 between M23, a rebel military group, and the Congolese army in Rutshuru territory in North Kivu province, sent an estimated 10,000 people fleeing for safety across the

Mali’s army said Friday that it had killed 203 combatants in an operation in the center of Sahel state, an apparent uptick in violence in the conflict-torn country. The army said the March 23-31 military operation took place in Sahel’s Moura area, which it termed a “terrorist fiefdom.” Soldiers killed 203 militants, arrested 51 people and seized large quantities of

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message to the African Union Continental Workshop, in Abuja today: Ladies and gentlemen, it is an honour to address this vital workshop to discuss progress on both the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063.  I thank the African Union and its partners for organizing it. We live in a

GABORONE, BOTSWANA — Botswana has become the first country in Africa to approve the use of the Texas-made COVID-19 vaccine Corbevax. Botswana’s president and California biotech company NantWorks made the announcement Monday as they began construction of a plant to produce COVID-vaccines and drugs to fight cancer.   CEO of biotech firm NantWorks Patrick Soon-Shiong announced on Monday that Botswana’s