🔅 AfDB Wins Global Transparency Championship
HIV Prevention Shots are 100% Effective! & Kenya's Reshuffle
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HIV Prevention Shots: 100% Effective!
Ladies and gentlemen, hold onto your syringes! The world of HIV prevention just got a shot in the arm (pun absolutely intended). A new study shows that twice-yearly injections are 100% effective in preventing HIV infections in women. That's right, folks - we're talking perfect scores here!
Gilead's wonder drug, Sunlenca, proved to be more effective than daily pills in preventing HIV infections. In a study of about 5,000 women in South Africa and Uganda, the shots were so successful that researchers had to stop the study early.
While daily prevention pills are effective, they come with a tiny problem - people actually have to remember to take them. Shocking, we know. In the study, only about 30% of participants given daily pills actually took them.
The Price is... Not Right (Yet)
Now, here's where our celebratory dance comes to a screeching halt. Gilead hasn't agreed on an affordable price for those who need the shots most. As an HIV treatment, Sunlenca costs more than $40,000 a year in the U.S.
The UN AIDS agency and Doctors Without Borders are urging Gilead to make the drug affordable for all countries.
In conclusion, the HIV prevention landscape is changing fast, and with these new shots, we might be looking at a future where HIV prevention is as easy as getting a bi-annual flu shot.
AfDB: The Transparency Champ That Just Can't Stop Winning
Well, well, well, looks like the African Development Bank (AfDB) is at it again, folks.Â
They've just snagged the top spot in the 2024 Aid Transparency Index, scoring 98.8 out of 100.
This marks the second year in a row that AfDB has been crowned the transparency king. At this point, they might as well start a trophy room for all these accolades.Â
AfDB's President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, was practically beaming as he announced the news.
Gary Forster, the CEO of Publish What You Fund (the organization behind the index), couldn't stop gushing about AfDB's performance. He praised their detailed project reports, environmental studies, and bilingual documentation.!
The index also assessed AfDB's non-sovereign portfolio separately, which ranked 13th out of 50 global institutions. Not too shabby for a side hustle, eh?
So, what's the takeaway here? Well, in a world where transparency can be as rare as a unicorn sighting, AfDB is out there flaunting its crystal-clear practices like it's no big deal. It's setting the bar so high, other institutions might need a ladder just to catch up!
Kenya's Political Drama: From Protests to Power-Sharing
Looks like Kenya's President William Ruto is taking a page from the "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" playbook. After weeks of nationwide protests that had the country in a tizzy, Ruto's decided to shake up his cabinet by inviting some opposition members to the party.
The new "dream team" is a "broad-based" cabinet, complete with four shiny new opposition members. The star of the show is John Mbadi, tapped to lead the powerful finance ministry.
Ruto's calling this new government a "visionary partnership for the radical transformation of Kenya."Â
But hold your applause, folks, because not everyone’s buying it.
The young protesters who've been raising hell for the past six weeks aren't exactly thrilled. They're calling this unity government a "government of national looting."
Prominent activist Boniface Mwangi didn't mince words, tweeting: "Zakayo has appointed corrupt people to fight corruption." For those not up on their Swahili Bible references, Zakayo is the nickname protesters have given Ruto, after a greedy tax collector.
And so, while Ruto's busy playing political musical chairs, the protesters aren't backing down. They're planning another march to present a petition and lay flowers at parliament for those killed in previous demonstrations.
Ruto's response? He's vowed to stop the demonstrations, saying they're causing "mayhem and anarchy."
Food for Thought
“A flea can trouble a lion more than a lion can trouble a flea."
— Kenyan Proverb