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☆ IMF board approves $178 mln loan to Malawi
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Malawian Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Sosten Gwengwe speaks at the State Department in Washington, DC, U.S., September 28, 2022. Kevin Wolf/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBLANTYRE, Nov 15 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund's executive board has approved a loan of about $178 million for Malawi, with an immediate disbursement of about $35 million, the IMF said in a statement on Wednesday. "The decision is a big breather for us and our economy," Finance Minister Simplex Chithyola Banda said in a telephone interview with Reuters. The IMF programme will unlock more financial support from development partners, Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera said in a televised national address late on Wednesday. The World Bank could give Malawi $60 million for trade finance, a $217 million package linked to fiscal reforms and $250 million for agriculture, Chakwera said.

Persons: Sosten Gwengwe, Kevin Wolf, Banda, Lazarus Chakwera, Chakwera, Frank Phiri, Anait Miridzhanian, David Gregorio, Sandra Maler Organizations: Finance, Economic Affairs, State Department, Rights, Monetary Fund's, Malawian, Simplex, Reuters, IMF, Bank, Thomson Locations: Washington , DC, Rights BLANTYRE, Malawi

☆ Meet the Black students who were instrumental in developing the first Covid-19 shots
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Among about two dozen scientists in Graham’s lab were three young students: Olubukola Abiona, Geoffrey Hutchinson and Cynthia Ziwawo. What the world didn’t know at the time was that those three students — Abiona, Hutchinson and Ziwawo — were doing the foundational work for those vaccines to eventually save lives. Geoffrey Hutchinson served in the Peace Corps and taught chemistry to high school students in Mozambique. The fruits of Abiona, Hutchinson and Ziwawo’s labor were evident this week as the United States began to roll out updated versions of the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines. Abiona, Hutchinson and Ziwawo all confirmed Wednesday that although they haven’t made their appointments yet, they plan to get the updated shots.

Persons: Barney Graham’s, Olubukola Abiona, Geoffrey Hutchinson, Cynthia Ziwawo, “, Graham, ‘, ’ ”, Hutchinson, ”, ” Ziwawo, Anthony Fauci, — Abiona, Ziwawo —, Ziwawo, Kizzmekia Corbett, ” Corbett, David Satcher, he’s, Valerie Montgomery Rice, “ They’re, Abiona, Hannah Montana, Austin Steele, CNN Abiona, BioNTech, “ It’s, Dr, Sanjay Gupta Organizations: CNN, Vaccine Research, National Institutes of Health, University of Washington, “, Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy, Diseases, Moderna, Morehouse School of Medicine, David Satcher Global Health Equity Institute, Association of American Medical Colleges, NIH, Disney, David Satcher Global Health Equity Summit, KPMG LLP, Indiana University School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Peace Corps, United States, Pfizer, CNN Health, FDA, Food and Drug Administration, US Centers for Disease Control Locations: China, Bethesda , Maryland, Ziwawo, United States, Atlanta, Graham’s, Nigeria, Mozambique, Abiona, United

☆ Malawi: Their son was banned from school for 3 years because of his dreadlocks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Nimi Princewill | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Although it is not a legal requirement in Malawi, an unwritten policy enforced across government schools meant his son was being denied admission because of his hair. “I felt oppressed,” Nansolo said as he recalled the staff of a state-run secondary school in Zomba, southern Malawi. Then, in 2020, the Malawi High Court placed an interim order compelling public schools to enroll Ishmael and other Rastafari children until a final ruling was reached. Despite this victory, Malawi’s Rastafarian community still faces numerous challenges. Lack of jobs is a big challenge for the Rastafarian community because those in offices are reluctant to employ Rastas,” Nansolo said.

☆ Malawi: Six more bodies found after hippo capsized boat
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Nimi Princewill | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —Rescuers have recovered six more bodies from a river in southern Malawi days after a boat carrying about 37 people was capsized by a hippo on Monday. Police spokesperson Agnes Zalakoma said the bodies were recovered Wednesday from the Shire River in Malawi’s Nsanje district, bringing the death toll to seven. A lawmaker for the Nsanje district, Gladys Ganda, said the villagers were crossing the Shire River to get to their farms at the Malawian border with Mozambique when the boat they were traveling in was struck by the hippo. Police spokeswoman Zalakoma earlier told CNN that accidents are common on the river. In January, a canoe carrying 15 people capsized in the Shire River after hitting a tree trunk, leaving one person dead and six others missing and feared dead, Zalakoma told CNN.

☆ Malawi: Toddler dead, 23 others missing as hippo capsizes boat in Nsanje district
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Nimi Princewill | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —A toddler has died after a boat ferrying more than 30 villagers across the Shire River in Malawi’s Nsanje district was attacked by a hippo, causing it to overturn, authorities said. A police spokesperson, Agnes Zalakoma, said the incident happened early Monday and 23 of the boat’s 37 passengers were missing and feared dead in the water, which is infested with crocodiles and hippos. “Well-wishers managed to rescue 13 people while 23 others went missing and the dead body of the toddler has been found,” Zalakoma said in a statement Monday, adding that the deceased child was only one-year-old. According to a lawmaker for the Nsanje district, Gladys Ganda, the villagers were crossing the Shire River to get to their farms at the Malawian border with Mozambique when their boat was hit by a hippo. In December, a two-year-old Ugandan boy was attacked by a hippo which swallowed half of his body before spitting him out, Uganda’s police said.

☆ Fact Check-Card used at Malawi water kiosk is a prepayment card, not ID
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Pre-payment cards that are used at water kiosks in Malawi have been mistaken for ID cards by people who watched a video of the process online. Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) told Reuters that the video shows a water kiosk in Mchezi, a township on the outskirts of the city. LWB said the card being scanned is a pre-payment card and is unrelated to personal ID. They said the product has not been shipped to Kenya or Nigeria and that the pre-payment card “doesn’t track a user’s digital activity. The video was recorded in Malawi and the cards for the kiosks are pre-payment cards, according to the product owner and the local water board.

☆ Malawians search for relatives buried under the mud as death toll jumps
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

While the storm had dissipated, rain continued to hamper rescue efforts as vehicles struggled on flooded roads. Lieutenant Colonel Dickens Kamisa, who participated in the search, said local authorities identified about eight areas where dead bodies should be buried and were using sniffer dogs to find trapped Malawians. Chifundo Chilimba, a local resident, told Reuters he could not find his family members as the depth of the mud was too deep. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said it was providing food assistance by distributing partially pre-cooked food called corn-soya blend to displaced people. The storm had already killed about 27 people in Madagascar and Mozambique before it lashed Mozambique a second time.

☆ Malawi cholera death toll crosses 1,300: health official
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The death toll from a cholera outbreak in Malawi has crossed 1,300, a senior Malawian health official said on Thursday, as the southern African country battles its deadliest outbreak yet. Cholera outbreaks happen regularly in Malawi, usually in the rainy season from November to March, but they only average an annual death toll of about 100. Malawi has conducted two oral cholera vaccination campaigns, but a global surge in cholera outbreaks means vaccine supplies are under strain. Other African countries, including Malawi's neighbours Mozambique and Zambia, have reported cholera cases. On Sunday, South Africa reported two imported cholera cases from Malawi, with the husband of one of the first two cases subsequently testing positive.

☆ FTX recruited customers in Africa by signaling that crypto would protect them from soaring inflation, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

FTX promoted itself in Africa by signaling crypto would shield people's money from inflation, according to the Wall Street Journal. Many African currencies plummeted last year as the Federal Reserve's interest-rate hikes pushed the dollar higher. FTX also ran glamorous events for young Nigerians and offered all new customers a $5 sign-up bonus, the WSJ reported. African currencies like the Nigerian naira, the Ghanaian cedi, and the Malawian kwacha plunged against the dollar last year as the Federal Reserve's aggressive monetary tightening fueled capital outflows from developing markets. Before 2022, crypto bulls had long pitched digital currencies as a potential hedge against inflation in the developing world.

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