U.S. Ambassador Massinga traveled to Shire, Tigray Region, to visit U.S. Government humanitarian programs and to assess the situation for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the region.  As the United States reorganizes its foreign assistance management, the U.S. remains the single largest donor of humanitarian aid to Ethiopia.  Ambassador Massinga’s visit demonstrated the U.S. Government’s continued commitment to efficiently deliver lifesaving aid to Ethiopia, simultaneously strengthening and securing the United States and Ethiopia.

 The Ambassador visited the Fre Siweat and Mai Dimu IDP sites, where he was able to witness the distribution of food assistance and the provision of health services. The Ambassador also had an opportunity to talk firsthand to people living at these sites, and better understand what life is like for them there.  The Ambassador also held a meeting with humanitarian assistance partners to discuss their ongoing work.

African policymakers are stepping up calls for greater transparency and fairness in how global credit rating agencies assess sovereign risk, warning that opaque and inconsistent methodologies are costing the continent billions in lost investment and higher borrowing costs.

At a workshop that seeks to promote transparency and build capacity around the sovereign credit rating processes used by major international credit rating agencies, finance officials and economists from across Africa said the current system is failing to reflect the true economic fundamentals and resilience of African economies.

“This is a space where power is exercised,” said Raymond Gilpin, Chief Economist for Africa at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). “And when you don’t understand how the power is exercised, you will always be behind.”

The two-day workshop, hosted by the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) in partnership with the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), UNDP Africa, and Africatalyst, is taking place just ahead of the inaugural Africa Annual Credit Ratings Conference, which opens on 21 May. Organizers say the event is meant to equip governments with tools to navigate, challenge, and actively engage in the credit rating process while addressing macroeconomic challenges that impact national creditworthiness.

At a landmark side event during the 78^th World Health Assembly (WHA), Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) joined African Member States in supporting a united call to prevent, detect and respond to antimalarial drug resistance in Africa, which poses a significant risk to 15 years of progress in malaria control and elimination.

The event, led by the Government of Rwanda, brought together a powerful coalition of co-hosts, including Eritrea, Ethiopia, Namibia, South Sudan, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia. Supporting partners included the World Health Organization (WHO), MMV, the RBM Partnership to End Malaria and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). It marks a critical moment in the fight against antimalarial drug resistance.

Antimalarial drug resistance is rapidly gaining ground across the African continent, with evidence of partial resistance to artemisinin reported in Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Currently, artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) remain the WHO-recommended first-line treatment for uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria, with the most commonly used ACT, artemether-lumefantrine, used in 80-90% of all malaria cases across Africa.