Togo received an outstanding achievement award as the first ever country globally to eliminate four NTDs during the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for Africa meeting held in Lomé. Between 2011 and 2022, Togo has successfully eliminated dracunculiasis (Guinea worm disease), elephantiasis (lymphatic filariasis), human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) and trachoma.
NTDs are a group of 20 diseases which are preventable and treatable, but 1.7 billion people around the world still require NTD interventions. Many NTDs debilitate, disfigure and disable. By preventing children from going to school and adults from being able to work, NTDs trap individuals and whole communities in cycles of extreme poverty.
Togo has demonstrated a remarkable record of success. As the first country acknowledged by WHO as having won its fight against four NTDs, it eliminated all four diseases in a span of just eleven years. Togo previously achieved transmission-free status for Guinea worm disease in 2011. In 2017, it became the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to eliminate elephantiasis as a public health problem and, in 2020, became the first African country to achieve the same status with sleeping sickness.
Togo becomes the first country globally to eliminate four neglected tropical diseases
JCR affirms Afreximbank’s long-term issuer rating at A-, with a “Stable” outlook
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has announced that Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) has affirmed its long-term issuer rating of A- and maintained the “Stable” outlook. The affirmation of Afreximbank’s issuer rating is testament of the Bank’s ever strengthening credit profile and positions to continue to expand and escalate its interventions in Africa, in whose long-term economic development it plays a pivotal role.
JCR Rating Agency noted, in its assessment, the strategic role that Afreximbank’s current Sixth Strategic Plan (2022-2026) plays towards the Bank’s fulfilment and deliverance of its mandate, as well as its crucial work in support of initiatives aligned with the goals of the African Union (AU). Moreover, JCR identified strong shareholder support for Afreximbank’s operations, citing as evidence the healthy progression of capital increases since 2014 as well as the African Union supported US$6.5 billion General Capital Increase (GCI) approved by the Bank’s Board of Directors in June 2021.
First African-manufactured medicine to prevent malaria approved by WHO
Sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine (SP) is a well-tolerated, effective and affordable medicine used to prevent malaria in pregnant women and infants; Nearly all malaria cases and deaths occur in Africa, yet until now, the continent was completely reliant on imported quality-assured SP; This breakthrough responds to the need for local production of quality medicines for use in Africa, a major gap that was critically highlighted when the COVID-19 pandemic left the continent with limited access to vital health products in 2020
Local supply of a medicine used to prevent malaria across Africa received a boost recently, as the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a quality certification to the first African manufacturer of a key antimalarial drug used to prevent infection in pregnant women and children. Called pre-qualification, this certification will enable Kenyan manufacturer Universal Corporation Ltd (UCL) to support regional efforts to combat malaria through local production of high-quality sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP). UCL’s pre-qualification was achieved with funding from global health agency Unitaid and support from MMV.
Seifu Tura to Defend Chicago Marathon Title
Ethiopian Seifu Tura leads this year’s Bank of America Chicago Marathon field, joined by some of the world’s best athletes who will be vying to dethrone them at the World Athletics Elite Platinum Label road race on 9 October.
In the men’s competition, the 2021 Chicago marathon winner who clocked 2:06:12 Seifu will clash with his compatriots Herpasa Negasa, Dawit Wolde and Asrar Abderehman, plus Uganda’s Stephen Kissa and Kenya’s Benson Kipruto.
Negasa had a breakthrough in 2019 when he shaved almost six minutes from his PB in Dubai to run 2:03:40. He heads to Chicago after a second place performance in Seoul, clocking 2:04:49.
Wolde boasts a marathon personal best of 2:04:27, set in 2021 to finish third in Rotterdam, while Abderehman made headlines in February when he broke the course record at the Zurich Seville Marathon, taking three minutes off his PB to run 2:04:43.
Kissa, a Tokyo Olympian in the 10,000m, brings years of track speed to the road, running 2:04:48 for his debut marathon in Hamburg in April. Kipruto’s 2:05:13 personal best may not be the fastest in the field, but he has performed well at the marathon distance, winning the Boston and Prague Marathons in 2021 and finishing third in Boston this April. He also finished seventh in London in 2020 and won the Toronto Marathon in 2018.
