🔅 Ebola in Uganda: Vaccine trials next week
Today’s Issue: Charlize Theron says her native Afrikaans is dying, South Africa’s president calls for a permanent AU seat at the G20, Kenya’s president asks lawmakers not to remove term limits... ☕
Markets
🔻 Nigerian SE: 44,011.22 (-0.08%)
🔻 Johannesburg SE: 72,021.49 (-0.81%)
— Ghana SE: 2,462.80 (0.00%)
🔻 Nairobi SE: 128.77 (-0.19%)
🔻 US S&P 500: 3,949.78 (-0.23%)
🔻 Shanghai Composite: 3,115.43 (-0.15%)
*Data accurate as of close of markets across the continent
Senegal: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised Senegal for its progress in implementing structural reforms, but has noted that these have come at a slower pace than anticipated. The IMF said that the economy should rebound in 2023 with a strong pickup in growth to 8.3% on the back of a temporary boost from oil and gas production.
Global Markets: At COP27, E.U. climate policy chief, Frans Timmermans, said the E.U. plans to provide 1 billion euros for climate adaptation in Africa, as well as 60 million euros for loss and damage. The E.U. will make the contribution alongside four member countries: France, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Ebola in Uganda — WHO to ship trial vaccines next week
What is Happening?
The World Health Organization expects the first doses of the Ebola vaccine targeting the strain behind an outbreak in Uganda to arrive next week.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said an expert committee convened by the agency had evaluated three experimental Ebola vaccines and decided they should all be tested in Uganda as part of the necessary research before being licensed.
The current outbreak in Uganda is the first of the Sudan strain of Ebola in the country in more than ten years.
Why Does it Matter?
The WHO chief said efforts to slow Ebola in Uganda have been largely successful. He said two districts had not reported any cases for 42 days, which is twice the maximum incubation period, suggesting that the virus is no longer present there.
But he noted that a ninth district had reported its first case in the past week. And with six more Ebola cases and two deaths confirmed in Uganda in the last week, the total number is now 141 cases and 55 deaths. Government officials and partners are tracking more than 1,000 contacts of people that contracted Ebola.
While an effective Ebola vaccine against the Zaire strain (that triggered the West Africa outbreak of 2014 that killed more than 11,000 people), the Sudan strain is less common, and research into a possible vaccine against it has not been as advanced.
ACROSS THE CONTINENT
Other Headlines
🇿🇦 Charlize Theron has called Afrikaans a dying language, which has caused a stir among the Afrikaans community in South Africa. Theron, who is of Afrikaans descent, said she grew up speaking only Afrikaans before learning English as a teenager. Some of the millions who speak Afrikaans in South Africa were furious at Theron's comments, with many accusing her of being "ashamed of her roots". Afrikaans is a highly politicised language in South Africa due to its role during apartheid. The imposition of the language in schools was the main reason behind the 1976 Soweto uprising against the apartheid regime, in which at least 170 people were killed, mostly schoolchildren. Today, Afrikaans is the mother tongue of 13% of South Africans.
🌍 South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for the African Union to be a permanent member of the Group of 20 leading economies. The G-20 is a group of the world’s major industrial and emerging economies representing more than 80% of the world’s gross domestic product, and the African Union is an organisation that represents the continent’s 54 countries. Ramarphosa’s proposal would allow African countries to more effectively press the G-20 group to implement its pledge to help the continent to cope with climate change. Ramaphosa made the call Tuesday at the G-20 summit in Indonesia. The G-20 meeting is taking place at the same time as the U.N. climate summit in Egypt.
🇰🇪 Kenya's President William Ruto has urged lawmakers not to remove presidential term limits from the country's constitution in a move that would allow him to stay in power for longer. The Kenyan constitution says that a president can only serve for two terms. However, there has been talk of removing this limit, which has caused many Kenyans to be eager to hear Ruto's position on the matter. Ruto succeeded former president Uhuru Kenyatta after winning hotly contested elections earlier this year. Ruto's party, the United Democratic Alliance, held a meeting of its lawmakers during which the president urged them to focus on laws that could improve the lives of ordinary Kenyans. He asked them to stop "pushing for selfish and self-serving legislation like changing the Constitution to remove term limits."
AROUND THE WORLD
Ukraine's 25b investment fund
What This About?
A new investment fund called the Ukraine Green Growth Initiative has been launched by Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest.
The fund is designed to help rebuild war-torn Ukraine, and its organisers say it could eventually grow to $100 billion. Mr Forrest and his wife have committed $500 million to the fund to invest in primary infrastructures such as energy and telecoms networks.
President Zelensky of Ukraine has welcomed the move, saying it will rebuild modern, green, digital infrastructure.
Why it Matters:
The Ukraine Green Growth Initiative is important because it represents a potential way to rebuild Ukraine after years of war.
The fund hopes to gain the support of sovereign wealth funds and other professional investors, and the fact that it has the backing of prominent investment figures such as Andrew Forrest — but also Larry Fink of investment giant BlackRock — gives it a good chance of success.
That said, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal noted in July that it would cost $750 billion for the country to recover from the war.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Proverb of the Day
“A healthy person who keeps begging for food is an insult to a generous farmer.”
— Ghanaian Proverb.