🔅 Climate Change: Malaria's Migration
Plus: Kenya’s election hacking, Ghana's investment in lithium, The Ghanaian transforming colonial-era trains into Creative Spaces, And more... ☕
Photo of the day: Brazzaville, Congo
Markets - Year to Date:
🔺 Nigerian SE: 53,804.46 (+4.98%)
🔺 Johannesburg SE: 80,227.19 (+8.52%)
🔻 Ghana SE: 2,414.43 (-1.21%)
🔺 Nairobi SE: 128.02 (+0.43%)
🔺 US S&P 500: 4,079.09 (+6.67%)
🔺 Shanghai Composite: 3,224.02 (+3.45%)
Nigeria's Oil Boom: Good news, Nigeria: Your oil production is up! According to NNPC’s Group Chief Executive Mele Kyari, your barrels per day (bpd) went from less than 1 million bpd in July 2021 to 1.6 million bpd as of last week. That means Nigeria is on track to meet its OPEC quota of 1.8 million bpd.
*Data accurate as of the close of markets across the continent
HEALTH
Climate Change: Malaria’s Migration
Climate change has been a major concern, especially when it comes to the displacement of animals and plants.
But one study has taken a closer look at one species that is being impacted; mosquitoes.
The study focused on sub-Saharan Africa, and their findings were... concerning.
What did the study find?
As the planet warms, plants and animals (especially invertebrates) are seeking cooler temperatures, either by moving to higher altitudes or by moving closer to the poles.
This study found that mosquitoes that transmit malaria in sub-Saharan Africa have moved to higher elevations by 6.5 meters (21 feet) per year and away from the Equator by 4.7 kilometres (3 miles) per year over the past century.
That same pace is consistent with climate change and may explain why malaria's range has expanded over the past few decades, the authors said.
What does this mean for us?
The rate of displacement confirms experts' worst fears about the impact of climate change on infectious diseases. Warmer climates are expected to be advantageous for mosquitoes because they and the parasites they carry reproduce faster at higher temperatures.
And it gets worse; the study may be underestimating the change by not factoring in the accelerated pace of global warming in more recent years.
So what can we do?
The study is a reminder for countries to prepare for the spread of diseases. It is also a reminder to take climate change seriously in order to slow down and hopefully stop the spread of malaria.
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OTHER HEADLINES
Across the Continent
🇰🇪 Election Hacking in Kenya | Kenya’s political elites were getting in on the hacking game before last year's presidential elections. Dennis Itumbi, a senior strategist with close ties to the Kenyan president William Ruto, recently admitted that his Telegram account was infiltrated in the lead-up to last year’s election. The culprit? A former Israeli special forces operative and his team of hackers have made a business selling their services to sway democratic elections. The hacker, Tal Hanan, never explicitly confirmed he had been hired to work in Kenya, but he showed off his skills to undercover reporters who posed as consultants. He targeted two Telegram accounts and one Gmail account linked to pro-Ruto advisers. Hanan denied any wrongdoing. Ruto won the election, but this news serves as a reminder of the potential risks to new democratic systems. In a separate development, Raila Odinga, the veteran opposition politician who lost last year’s election, has claimed that he hired “ethical hackers” to provide him with evidence that the poll was rigged. He gave no proof to back up his statement. Meanwhile, the Guardian recently revealed a failed plan by the same Israeli hacker to discredit the Nigerian president in 2015. Google and Telegram both declined to comment.
🇬🇭 Ghanaian Transforms 19th Century Trains into Creative Spaces | Ibrahim Mahama, a Ghanaian artist known for draping jute sacks over architectural structures, is up to something special. He’s turned some 19th-century British colonial-era trains into creative spaces, transforming the carriages into classrooms, sculptures, libraries, studios, and residencies. After his first attempts in 2014 and 2016 to acquire the trains, Mahama found success in 2017 ahead of his exhibition at the Whitworth Gallery in Manchester. And, just like that, two of the carriages were transported almost 700km from the south of Ghana to Tamale in the north. At a cost of £24,000, Mahama’s mission is to give people access to art, regardless of their status in society. In his own words, “It doesn’t matter whether it is state-owned or privately owned but at the end of the day, the most important thing is that it is publicly accessible to everyone.”
🇷🇼 Rwanda Denies Involvement in Congo War Crimes | Amnesty International recently reported that fighters from the M23 rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo killed at least 20 men and raped 66 women and girls in November. M23 spokesperson Willy Ngoma denied the report, saying “none of his soldiers would commit rape”. But Amnesty said it interviewed survivors and witnesses who described “groups of M23 fighters going house-to-house in Kishishe, summarily killing every adult male they found and subjecting scores of women to rape, including gang rape”. Amnesty called on the Congolese authorities to investigate the alleged crimes and hold the perpetrators to account. It’s a grim reminder of the ongoing conflict in the region.
🇬🇭 Ghana's $30 Million Bet on Electric Vehicles | Ghana is getting ready to go electric—and they’re investing big bucks in the process. The state-owned Minerals Income Investment Fund is in talks with Atlantic Lithium to invest up to $30 million in the company’s lithium mine project. If everything goes according to plan, the fund will take an equity stake in Atlantic Lithium and the company will list on the Ghana Stock Exchange. The lithium that Atlantic Lithium will be mining is a key component in batteries used for electric vehicles—and it looks like Ghana is ready to hop on the EV bandwagon. The fund is hoping to develop lithium processing and battery manufacturing to support an electric vehicle market in the region, and with a $30 million investment, they’re definitely putting their money where their mouth is.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Proverb of the Day
“Counsel and advice him, if he refuses to listen, then let adversity teach him.”
— Ethiopian Proverb.