🔅 Baby Steps to Prevent Stillbirths & Newborn Deaths
Plus: 🇿🇦 The US-South Africa Showdown Over Weapons Sales, 🇨🇩 Miracle Babies Survive Floods in DR Congo, 🇰🇪 Kenya's Default Deadline: Will They Make it?, ☕ And much more...
Photo of the day: Lake Malawi
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Global Markets: Elon Musk Gets His ‘Velvet Hammer’ to Lead Twitter | Elon Musk just made a big hire. Linda Yaccarino, the former head of advertising at NBCUniversal, will take the helm of Twitter in six weeks as CEO. She’ll be the rare example of a woman leading a major tech company, and if her nickname—the “velvet hammer”—is any indication, she’s the perfect person to get Twitter back on track. Musk’s takeover of the social media platform has been marred by controversy. He fired thousands of staff, overhauled the authentication system, and angered advertisers by introducing blue checkmark fees. Ad sales have dropped sharply, but Yaccarino has a reputation for close collaborations with brands and might just be the one to turn things around.
*Data accurate as of the close of markets across the continent
HEALTH
Baby Steps to Prevent Stillbirths & Newborn Deaths
Babies born in Africa are more likely to be underweight or premature, and researchers are determined to do something about it.
An international team of researchers has called for governments to take simple yet effective steps towards protecting babies and pregnant women.
They are calling for a series of measures that are easy to implement, ranging from providing micronutrient supplements to offering low-dose aspirin.
They also recommend hormone treatments, education on the harms of smoking, and treatments for malaria, syphilis, and bacteria in urine, as well as encouraging healthcare providers to not immediately clamp the umbilical cords.
These measures would come at a cost, but a relatively small one.
The researchers estimate it will cost US$1.1 billion – a fraction of what other health programmes receive.
What’s the scope of the problem they're trying to solve?
The researchers used a new definition of underweight and premature babies based on a database of 160 million live births from 2000 to 2020.
They said that the traditional way to determine a baby had a low birthweight – if it was born weighing under 2.5 kilograms (5.8 pounds) – was "a bit randomly selected" by a Finnish doctor all the way back in 1919.
The new benchmark means that "Quite shockingly, [underweight and premature babies are] much more common once you start to think about it in a more nuanced way."
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OTHER HEADLINES
Across the Continent
🇿🇦 The US-South Africa Showdown Over Weapons Sales | In a political drama fit for a Netflix series, South Africa says that US Ambassador Reuben Brigety has “unreservedly” apologised to South Africa for alleging that the country had sold weapons to Russia last December. President Cyril Ramaphosa had ordered an inquiry and South Africa’s foreign ministry insists there is no record of any arms sale and asked the US to stop "bullying" it. South Africa could have faced major international sanctions if it’s found to have supplied arms while claiming to be neutral. The stakes are high, with the South African economy performing poorly and the rand taking an immediate hit after the US ambassador’s accusation.
🇨🇩 Miracle Babies Survive Floods in DR Congo | Two babies were rescued from the shores of Lake Kivu in DR Congo days after floods killed more than 400 people. How did they survive three days floating in the lake? No one knows for sure. The death toll continues to rise, with more bodies being found in the mud and pile-ups of decomposing bodies wrapped in blankets. It’s a distressing scene and a real humanitarian crisis. UN chief António Guterres says the floods are another illustration of accelerating climate change, which makes extreme rainfall more likely.
🇰🇪 Kenya's Default Deadline: Will They Make it? | Things aren’t looking so hot for Kenya. Bond traders are seeing red flags, with the nation’s extra yield over US Treasuries reaching a distressed level. It’s scary when you consider that Kenya has a big principal payment of $2 billion due next year and only $6.3 billion in foreign reserves. To make matters worse, the government is struggling with the cash to pay civil servants. Will Kenya make it to the finish line, or will default be the name of the game?
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Proverb of the Day
“A healthy person who keeps begging for food is an insult to a generous farmer.”
— Ghanaian Proverb.