🔅 Africa’s Cholera Outbreaks: A Recipe for Disaster?
Plus: Tik Tok’s biggest star — Khaby Lame — is making moves, Nigeria reinstates old banknotes, Africans run away from Tunisia, Kenya’s LGBTQ ruling, And much more... ☕
Photo of the day: Lamu, Kenya
Markets — Year to Date:
🔺 Nigerian SE: 55,529.21 (+8.35%)
🔻 Johannesburg SE: 78,293.01 (+7.81%)
🔺 Ghana SE: 2,386.82 (-2.34%)
🔺 Nairobi SE: 126.17 (-1.02%)
🔻 US S&P 500: 4,045.64 (+5.79%)
🔻 Shanghai Composite: 3,328.39 (+6.80%)
AI Stocks Are All the Rage Right Now: It's a gold rush for A.I. stocks! After A.I. enterprise company C3.ai posted better-than-expected revenue and profit forecast for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2023, shares of AI-based product makers shot up on Friday. We're talking about a 16% surge in C3.ai stock, plus gains of 5-20% in other major AI stocks. What's driving the A.I. fever? OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google-parent Alphabet's A.I. ambitions, and Microsoft's investment in OpenAI's ChatGPT, to name a few.
*Data accurate as of the close of markets across the continent
HEALTH
Africa’s Cholera Outbreaks: A Recipe for Disaster?
Africa is facing cholera outbreaks in 12 countries, with the island nation of Madagascar, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe the latest to detect cases:
Cholera is a water-borne disease, and with increased rainfall in countries such as Malawi, control efforts are being slowed in some areas.
The WHO has warned that climate change could make cholera epidemics more common, as the bacteria that causes the disease can reproduce more quickly in warmer water.
It's also got a short incubation period, which can make it difficult to contain when it spreads.
So what’s being done?
The World Health Organization (WHO) is urging countries to up their support for countries facing cholera outbreaks, and so far, 3.4 million doses of the oral cholera vaccine have been sent to Kenya, Congo and Mozambique, where cases are increasing sharply.
But what’s concerning is that there’s an overall shortage of the oral cholera vaccine amid global demand since other countries such as Lebanon and Syria are also facing outbreaks.
So is this a recipe for disaster?
It’s certainly a worrying time, and as the WHO’s Dr Patrick Otim put it: “It’s very important that we support these countries to be able to respond at the point where the outbreaks have not become too big.” Malawi is already facing its worst outbreak ever, with hundreds of cholera deaths.
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OTHER HEADLINES
Across the Continent
🇳🇬 Nigeria's Supreme Court Reinstates Old Banknotes | The Supreme Court recently ruled in favour of extending the use of old banknotes until the end of the year, after they were abruptly pulled from circulation. This was a major issue in the election, which saw a record-low turnout of 29%. The court ruled that the central bank had not provided enough notice or consulted with the public, so the directive to stop the circulation of old notes was declared invalid. The old notes were replaced with newer ones, but the problem was that there were not enough to go around, leading to chaotic scenes at banks, cash shortages, and frustrated citizens who rely on cash for everything from transportation to groceries. People even resorted to attacking banks and burning cash-dispensing machines in protest.
🇸🇳 TikTok's Biggest Star Joins Italia's Got Talent | TikTok’s most-followed content creator, Khaby Lame, is taking a break from his shrugs and life hacks to join the judges’ panel of Italia’s Got Talent. The Senegalese-Italian social media star, who gained fame after being laid off from a factory job, is bringing his signature charm to the show. Move over, Simon Cowell—Khaby Lame is ready to take the stage.
🇨🇮🇬🇳 West Africans in Tunisia are Flocking Home | Things are getting tense in Tunisia. President Kais Saied’s recent inflammatory remarks about migration—that it was a “plot” to change the country’s demographic profile—have caused some trouble. Dozens of sub-Saharan African migrants have been detained, and now Ivory Coast and Guinea are repatriating their citizens with specially charted planes. It’s not just words that are causing a stir: migrants have lost their jobs and housing overnight, and some have even been physically assaulted. Saied has denied being racist, but the African Union condemned his statement as “shocking”, and even Tunisia’s own tennis star, Ons Jabeur, has spoken out against the discrimination. Tunisia may be an A.U. member, but Saied’s statements will leave you wondering...
🇰🇪 Kenya’s LGBTQ Ruling | In Kenya, the Supreme Court has ruled in favour of an LGBTQ activist, but the government is sticking to its anti-LGBTQ guns. The ruling allows an activist to register an LGBTQ rights organization, but President William Ruto says, “it will happen in other countries but not in Kenya.” He also encouraged religious leaders to ramp up education on traditional values. LGBTQ Kenyans are still criminalized by a colonial-era law, and activists haven’t been successful in getting it scrapped. Meanwhile, a coastal city held protests against the Supreme Court decision.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Proverb of the Day
“Anyone who sees beauty and does not look at it will soon be poor.”
— Yoruba Proverb.