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This week the Kenyan Capital Markets Authority announced measures being taken and laws being reviewed in efforts of protecting the markets and ending IPO droughts; as the region begins slowly opening up, will we see more East African countries following suit? Tanzania Securities LTD CEO, Maro Kohi joins CNBC Africa for more.

CMA announces measures to encourage investment on the securities exchange

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Nigeria&#8217;s National Bureau of Statistics has released the country’s unemployment data for the first time in nearly two years. Nigeria&#8217;s statistics office pegged its unemployment rate at 27.1 per cent in the second quarter of the year up from the 23.1 per cent reported in the third quarter of 2018. Tilewa Adebajo, CEO of CFG Advisory joins CNBC Africa for more.

Nigeria releases unemployment data after nearly two-year hiatus

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United Capital says the COVID-19 lock-down and ban on inter-state travel depressed the second-quarter performance of companies in the consumer goods space. Head of Research United Capital Wale Olusi, joins CNBC Africa for more.

United Capital on how COVID-19 has impacted Nigeria’s consumer goods sector

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South African retailer Woolworths said on Friday its profits for the 52-weeks to June 28 could plunge by as much as 70% due to the impact of the coronavirus crisis, high tax rate, and adoption of IFRS 16 accounting standards.



Woolworths said its headline earnings per share (HEPS) &#8211; the main profit measure in South Africa- would fall by between 60% and 70% compared to the 342.9 cents it reported a year earlier.



The owner of David Jones in Australia also impaired the carrying value of certain store assets, which will only negatively impact earnings per share and not HEPS.

Woolworths

S.Africa’s Woolworths warns annual profits could fall by 70%

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South African president Cyril Ramaphosa has sound the alarm on corruption and mismanagement of the COVID-19 procurement of contracts and funding that was meant to pave the road for recovery from the pandemic. Legal organisations have been called upon to clamp down on corrupt individuals, which so far, are mostly government employees. So how does one trust the very institutions that are meant to repair the country, yet are the same institutions that are hindering growth and recovery? The Attorney General Alliance of Africa and the National Prosecution Authority hosted a discussion this week on this matter and Kim Robinson, Country-Coordinator for AGA-Africa joins CNBC Africa for more.

AGA-Africa on how to build public trust in state institutions during COVID-19

LAGOS (Reuters) &#8211; More than a quarter of Nigeria’s workers were not in the labour force in the second quarter of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday, in the country’s first unemployment data published since 2018.



The unemployment rate stood at 27.1% in the second quarter.



It stood at 23.1% in the previous report, which dates back to the third quarter of 2018.



Second-quarter unemployment among young people aged 15-34 was the highest at 34.9%.



Nigeria has been hard-hit by the fallout from the new coronavirus pandemic, grappling not only with its own outbreak, but also from a plunge in oil prices after lockdowns worldwide.



The country had 48,116 confirmed cases and 966 deaths as of Friday.



Nigeria entered the pandemic without having fully recovered from a 2016 recession that left more than 13 million people unemployed.



The World Bank has warned Nigeria faces a recession that will be “much more pronounced” than in 2016 and potentially the nation’s worst financial crisis in four decades.

People working in apple factory

Nigeria’s unemployment rate 27.1% in Q2 -NBS

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After review from the country’s monetary policy meeting, Rwanda’s Central Bank has maintained the repo rate at 4.5 per cent as the country’s economy starts to bounce back from the shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic, CNBC Africa’s Arnold Kwizera spoke to the Central Bank Governor, John Rwangombwa for more.

BNR Governor Rwangombwa: Why Rwanda’s Central Bank kept repo rate unchanged

NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) &#8211; Peter Njeru used to live in central Nairobi’s rundown Michuki Memorial Park because he had nowhere else to go. Now the 28-year-old is restoring and guarding the green space, one of about 200 jobless former park residents hired to help with the work.



“This park was my home with other street families, though people were dumping here illegally,” he said, noting that he used to collect and sell plastic bottles and metal scraps to buy food.



But after being evicted in 2017, he was hired for a few months to help clear trash in the park &#8211; and began guarding it in his spare time.



Now he has a full-time job keeping clean the once trash-choked Nairobi River that runs through the green space, earning enough to rent a house for himself and his family.



Kenya’s capital city is one of the fastest-growing in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the United Nations, and more people, trash and homelessness have taken a toll, along with new challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic.



But a government effort to better protect and restore parks in the city &#8211; particularly along the Nairobi River &#8211; is now having a significant payoff, not just in jobs but in green spaces to beat the heat and cope with virus restrictions, backers say.



The effort is part of a broader push to expand green infrastructure in Kenya’s capital, including ensuring widened road corridors have good sidewalks and drainage to prevent flooding, as well as more trees.



Maurice Kavai, an environmental compliance officer with Nairobi City County government, said such changes, including better water service and waste management, will help residents cope not just with the coronavirus crisis but with worsening climate change impacts and future pandemics.



Already it’s improving air quality and making the city a more pleasant place to work, said Loyd Ngere, a carpenter who sells wood furniture near expanded sidewalks along the road to Ngong.



The roadside is much less dusty, he said, and “my wares are visible to customers who often pass by because many people prefer walking due to good and safe pedestrian sidewalks”.



The effort to improve Michuki Memorial Park began in March, when the government allocated 30 million Kenyan shillings ($278,000) to rapidly rehabilitate the park to create more green space for social distancing, said Julius Wanjau, who runs Nairobi’s central business district.



“Early this year, the place was a criminal hideout, a (space for) illegal charcoal dealing, a dumping site, a home to many street families in Nairobi,” he said, with evicted families continuing to move back into the park.



But since the park was again cleared, 1,200 tons of garbage removed, and other improvements made, “now the place is clean with cool air and you can even find fish in the Nairobi River, which were never there before”, Wanjau said.



By asking former residents of the park what they wanted to see change, and giving them priority doing casual work to improve it, the project has also created what Wanjau calls “ambassadors” for the green space, committed to protecting it.



“They understand this place,” he said.



The timing of the work also has, coincidentally, helped cushion many of the city’s most vulnerable families economically through the city’s pandemic lockdown, providing work as other jobs dried up.



Phillip Dinga, who works for the C40 alliance of cities pushing for climate action and advises Nairobi officials, said the kind of changes Nairobi is making are crucial across Africa, both to cater for swelling urban populations and cut disaster risks.



Carrying out such work is a good way to use government spending to spur economies trying to recover from the COVID-19 economic slowdown as well, he said.



“We want to transition Nairobi to a world-class resilient city,” he said, including with air quality that meets World Health Organization standards.



Nairobi is moving towards that both by installing air quality monitors and working to make non-motorised transport &#8211; such as walking and cycling &#8211; easier and more pleasant, Dinga said.



Clement Ngoriareng, of the Kenya Forest Service, said his agency and others also are trying to identify more open spaces in the city that could be managed as urban forests to provide cooling, fresh air and recreation spaces.



Chris Kiptoo, principal secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Forest, said green, environmentally smart policy was key to both making cities more liveable and recovering effectively from the virus slowdown.



“The solutions lie with us,” he said during an online event, particularly in terms of finding “a deal that balances nature and people”.

Op-Ed: Jubilee, Kanu formalise coalition as internal battles rage in Kenya

Facing COVID-19 and climate threats, Nairobi ramps up green efforts

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; In an Italian bistro in an upmarket Johannesburg neighbourhood, smiling patrons chat at candle-lit tables in a scene reminiscent of less-troubled times before the COVID-19 pandemic.



But there’s no alcohol on the menu. Instead, diners order red or white “coffee” served in grey mugs, the tell-tale sign of a modern-day South African speakeasy.



Under one of the world’s strictest lockdowns, South Africa banned alcohol to lower hospital admissions for injuries from drink-related violence and accidents and ease the burden on healthworkers facing the worst coronavirus outbreak in Africa.



But businesses from wine makers to restaurants to informal taverns say the ban is costing jobs at a time when the economy is on its knees and President Cyril Ramaphosa is coming under pressure to end the prohibition as infection rates fall.



“Am I happy with what I’m doing? No,” said the bistro owner, who asked not to be named, adding that alcohol sales had saved him from firing half a dozen staff. “They’ve turned everybody into criminals.”



Restaurant workers, among the hardest hit by layoffs, protested last month calling for the right to sell alcohol while lobby group Agri SA said the ban had cost the wine industry 3.3 billion rand ($189 million) and 117,000 jobs.



Local media reported this week that the government body charged with managing the health crisis has recommended loosening lockdown restrictions and that has fueled speculation the ban might be lifted, possibly as soon as this weekend.



The presidency did not immediately respond to requests for comment.



‘NON-ALCOHOLIC?’



Introduced in March, restrictions on alcohol sales have spawned a thriving underground industry, complete with bootleggers and online traders offering doorstep delivery.



More recently, as authorities allowed sit-down dining to resume, some restaurants have joined the illicit trade.



Just doors down from the Italian bistro, Reuters found at least two more restaurants flouting the ban, seating drinkers in back rooms or serving wine in bottles labelled “non-alcoholic”.



According to statistics through July, South African police had arrested over 6,000 people on charges related to the ban.



But with alcohol now so readily available to thirsty South Africans, some question whether the measure is still enforceable &#8211; and bootleggers who once thrived under the ban are taking a hit to their business.



“A lot of people have their own contacts now,” one 27-year-old bootlegger told Reuters.



As the underground trade flourishes, however, legitimate businesses complain they are paying the price.



Since the ban came in, Dutch beer maker Heineken has dropped plans to build a new 6 billion rand ($345 million) brewery while Anheuser-Busch InBev’s South African Breweries has postponed a 5 billion rand investment.



In recession even before the pandemic, South Africa’s economy is now set to contract by more than 7% this year with a unemployment rate above 30%.



The growing economic fallout, coupled with indications the outbreak may be receding, have piled pressure on President Ramaphosa to end the prohibition.Slideshow&nbsp;(2 Images)



“Illicit alcohol trading is shooting through the roof and government is losing billions in tax and excise income,” Mihlali Xhala, head of the corporate chamber of Agri SA, said in a statement this week. “If our main priority is economic recovery, this is definitely not helping.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">‘TRAUMA CARNAGE AS USUAL’</h3>



South Africa has recorded more than 560,000 coronavirus cases and more than 10,700 deaths, by far the highest recorded total on the African continent. Daily new cases have now fallen to their lowest level since mid-June.



But despite progress in curbing the spread of the disease, some experts warn that repealing the alcohol ban risks eroding the benefits that have allowed the health system to cope.



“Going back to business as usual will go back to trauma carnage as usual,” said Professor Leslie London, head of public heath medicine at the University of Cape Town.



Before the lockdown, alcohol-related cases accounted for roughly 40% of hospital trauma admissions, according to the South African Medical Research Council.



In the two months after the ban was introduced, the health department in Western Cape province &#8211; an early epicentre of the virus &#8211; recorded a 40% to 50% drop in trauma cases.



“It substantially removed an unnecessary burden on the health services, which enabled hospitals to ready themselves for COVID-19. There is no dispute possible about that,” said the University of Cape Town’s London.



Four months into the lockdown, however, some South Africans now say they too need relief.



“You’re locked up in one space,” said one drinker, who asked not be named, served wine from a bottle labelled “non-alcoholic” at a tapas bar down the road from the Italian bistro.



“The main reason for buying alcohol is just to kind of regain some of those moments of just letting loose.”

How Coronavirus Decimated The Restaurant Industry Overnight

South African speakeasies boost calls for end to COVID booze ban

Secondary Education in Africa: Preparing Youth for the Future of Work

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Edward Kieswetter, Commissioner of the South African Revenue Service charged with the job of collecting the country&#8217;s dwindling tax in the teeth of the COVID-19 pandemic. How much are we missing, how much did the ban on alcohol and cigarettes cost the county&#8217;s coffers? What can be done about it? He joins CNBC Africa for more.

Here’s how much tax SA has lost to COVID-19 induced alcohol

Here’s how much tax SA lost due to COVID-19 induced alcohol, tobacco ban

NAIROBI (Reuters) &#8211; Tourist operators in Mauritius fear that an oil spill from a Japanese ship will further damage their businesses, already reeling from the coronavirus epidemic, and could cost jobs if their pristine beaches are spoiled.



Tourism generated 63 billion rupees ($1.6 billion) for the economy last year. In May, the central bank said that in the past two months alone, the nation had lost 12 billion rupees in foreign exchange due to the fall in tourism.



Willow River-Tonkin, who owns a kite-surfing business, said local guides would be some of the hardest hit.



“It is really going to affect the communities down there, especially for the fisherman, the local guys that live there, you know that’s how they make money from tourists,” said



“Taking them out to go diving to go snorkelling, to go wake boarding, to go see dolphins and all that sort of thing you know and all of that is going to affect it, if we don’t get it under control very soon.”



The MV Wakashio, owned by Nagashiki Shipping and operated by Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd, struck a reef and went aground off the Indian Ocean island’s southeast coast on July 25. It began leaking oil last Thursday.



Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth declared a state of emergency last Friday.Slideshow&nbsp;(5 Images)



Romina Tello, the 30-year-old founder of sustainable tourism agency Mauritius Conscious, said that border closures due the coronavirus had already battered tourism. Mauritius shut its borders on March 19 and has had only 344 cases of COVID-19, of which 332 have recovered and 10 have died.



It is still closed to international air travel.



The southeast coast where the oil spill happened is famous for snorkelling, kite surfing and people visiting the sea flora and the fauna of Mauritius, Tello said, as well as sailing, as boats tend to travel to the islands nearby.



“We are trying to activate domestic tourism. But now, it is impossible for me to recommend for people to travel to the southeast coast due to the smell and they can’t swim because of the spill,” she told Reuters.

Op-Ed: Tourism sector in Mauritius devastated by COVID-19

Mauritius tourism, reeling from COVID, now hit by oil spill

NAIROBI (Reuters) &#8211; Mauritius’ Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth said on Wednesday nearly all remaining oil had been removed from a damaged Japanese ship, which leaked about 1,000 tonnes in a threat to tourism already hurt by the coronavirus pandemic.



“At the time I’m talking to you, almost all the oil has been removed from the ship,” Jugnauth told reporters, according to remarks shared by his office.



All fuel had been removed from tanks, but there was some residue in parts of the ship, his office added.



Tourist operators fear the spill will further damage businesses already reeling from the epidemic and could cost jobs if pristine beaches are spoiled.



Tourism generated 63 billion rupees ($1.6 billion) for the economy last year. In May, the central bank said that in the past two months alone, the nation had lost 12 billion rupees in foreign exchange due to the fall in tourism.



“It is really going to affect the communities down there, especially for the fisherman, the local guys that live there, you know that’s how they make money from tourists,” said Willow River-Tonkin, who owns a kite-surfing business.



“Taking them out to go diving, to go snorkelling, to go wakeboarding, to go see dolphins and all that sort of thing you know, and all of that is going to affect it, if we don’t get it under control very soon.”



The MV Wakashio, owned by Nagashiki Shipping and operated by Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd, struck a reef and went aground off the Indian Ocean island’s southeast coast on July 25.



It began leaking oil last Thursday.



Romina Tello, the 30-year-old founder of sustainable tourism agency Mauritius Conscious, said border closures due to the coronavirus had already battered tourism.Slideshow&nbsp;(5 Images)



Mauritius shut its borders on March 19 and has had only 344 cases of COVID-19, with 10 deaths.



The southeast coast where the oil spill happened is famous for snorkelling, kite surfing, sailing, sea flora and fauna, Tello said. “We are trying to activate domestic tourism. But now, it is impossible for me to recommend for people to travel to the southeast coast due to the smell and they can’t swim because of the spill,” she told Reuters.

Mauritius says almost all oil removed from damaged Japanese ship

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s Sasol warned on Tuesday it will report an annual loss after a drop in oil and chemical prices and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic hit earnings.



The world’s top producer of motor fuel from coal said its headline loss per share is expected to be between 8.72 rand ($0.4949) and 14.86 rand in the year to June 30, compared with headline earnings of 30.72 rand per share during the same period a year ago.



Sasol said lower global chemical and refining margins and a 18% decrease in the rand per barrel price of Brent crude oil had hurts earnings.



Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) is also expected to fall by as much as 37% to between 30 billion rand to 39.5 billion rand.



The company said it had recorded impairments in some of its cash generating units after a weakening economy and the fair value impact of starting discussions to find a partner for its U.S. Base Chemicals assets.



Sasol has embarked on a review of its assets and set out to find a partner at its U.S. Base Chemicals operations in an effort to avoid a potential $2 billion rights issue after a slump in the oil price and the impact of the new coronavirus weighed on the company’s ability to pay its debt.



Investors have been concerned by the company’s debt, largely due to delays and cost overruns at its Lake Charles Chemicals project (LCCP) in Louisiana, that forced its former joint-CEOs to resign in a bid to restore shareholder confidence.



Sasol is expected to release its full-year results on Aug. 17.



($1 = 17.6200 rand)

Sasol_Garage_in_Boksburg

Sasol warns of annual loss as lower oil price and pandemic weigh

NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) &#8211; In the last three months, teacher Faith Njeri has been a regular customer at a courier service office in Nairobi, collecting parcels sent from her village three hours drive north of the capital.



When the coronavirus pandemic closed the private school where she taught, “I was left jobless,” she said. Efforts to feed her family by washing clothes failed “as people avoided any intrusions in their homes for fear of getting infected with the virus.”



With three hungry children and no alternatives, she called her parents in her home village, asking them to send food to keep the family afloat.



“We did not have any money, and we needed to survive,” she said. “When it became apparent that hunger would kill us instead of the virus, we turned to our people back in the village.”



As coronavirus-related restrictions and economic downturns make bringing in an income harder, many urban families in Kenya &#8211; and in other countries around the world &#8211; are looking to their rural families for help.



In some cases, the calls for help represent an abrupt turnaround in relations, as city dwellers with jobs, who once sent regular cash to support their families at home, now find themselves the ones in need of help.



The added burden on rural families &#8211; some of them struggling to feed themselves as more extreme weather linked to climate change hurts harvests &#8211; has been substantial, they and farm experts say.



“Most (rural) families have been constrained as the little they had was sent to Nairobi to sustain their relatives,” said Phillip Oketch, a dairy expert with the Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Project.



Njeri’s mother, who farms in Gathuthi, in Nyeri County, said 30% or more of her earnings have gone to sustain her jobless children and grandchildren in Nairobi through the pandemic.



Previously, her four children sent home about $500 each year, she said &#8211; but this year they have instead sent four of her grandchildren to live with her in the village, to try to ease costs in the city.



Joseph Kimathi, another farmer from the village of Katheri in Meru County who has sent food to his children in Nairobi, said the pandemic had created a substantial financial burden for farmers.



“I had to forego profits and ensure the survival of my three children in the city, whose forms of livelihoods were suddenly cut by the pandemic,” he said.



Kenya’s lockdown eased in early July but an economic downturn linked to the COVID-19 pandemic means many urban residents are still receiving a reduced paycheck or struggling to find work, Oketch said.



Doreen Akinyi, who lost her job as a hotel waitress, said she continues to rely on a weekly pack of fish and maize flour sent by her aging mother in Mambo Leo, a village in Kisumu County.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">PRESSURE ON HARVESTS</h3>



Zaverio Chabari, executive director of the non-profit Strategies for Agro-Pastoralists’ Development Kenya, said the need for rural families to send food to city relatives has been particularly difficult as the country grapples with harvest losses to flooding and locust swarms this year.



“By the time the COVID pandemic struck, much of the food at the farms was already ruined,” Chabari said.



Transportation also for a period was a challenge thanks to coronavirus-linked movement restrictions and road flooding &#8211; though Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture quickly classified food transport as an essential service.



Gladys Miriti, head of the Grassroots Development Initiative Foundation-Kenya and one of those receiving food from her home village during the pandemic, said the situation had provoked substantial psychological stress for many urban families.



At the height of the lockdown, “they did not have money as most of them lost their jobs, they had children to feed, movements were restricted, the virus cases kept on surging and so a mix of fear, hopelessness, and uncertainty engulfed the people,” she said.

shutterstock_227423392

As coronavirus steals jobs, urban Kenyans look to their rural families

LONDON (Reuters) &#8211; The number of people in work in Britain fell by the most since 2009 in the three months through June as the coronavirus crisis took a heavy toll on the labour market, even with the government’s huge jobs protection scheme still in place.



Led by a record plunge in self-employed workers, there were 220,000 less people employed in the second quarter, the Office for National Statistics said.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="275" height="183" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/london.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-376521"/></figure>



Separate tax data for July showed that the number of staff on company payrolls had fallen by 730,000 since March, sounding the alarm about a potentially much bigger rise in joblessness.



Mounting job losses are expected as Britain winds down its job retention scheme which protects employees. It is due to close at the end of October.



“The cracks evident in the latest batch of labour market data are likely to soon turn into a chasm,” said Ruth Gregory, senior economist at Capital Economics.



British finance minister Rishi Sunak said the figures showed the government’s support programmes were working but job losses were inevitable.



“I’ve always been clear that we can’t protect every job, but &#8230; we have a clear plan to protect, support and create jobs to ensure that nobody is left without hope,” he said.



The unemployment rate unexpectedly held at 3.9% but that reflected an increase in people who had given up looking for work and who were therefore not considered to be unemployed, and people who said they were in work but were getting no pay.



Economists polled by Reuters had expected the unemployment rate to rise to 4.2%. Last week the Bank of England forecast the jobless rate would hit 7.5% at the end of this year.



“Government needs to step in and help those who are likely to lose their job retrain for new openings in different sectors,” KPMG economist Yael Selfin said.



The number of self-employed people fell by a record amount in the three months to June, led by older workers, while the number of employees rose &#8211; something the ONS said was partly accounted for by workers reclassifying themselves as employed.



The number of people claiming universal credit &#8211; a benefit for the unemployed and those on low pay &#8211; rose to 2.689 million in July, leaping by 117% from March.



Pay fell by the most in more than 10 years in the April-June period, down 1.2%, reflecting how workers on the job retention scheme receive 80% of their pay. Excluding bonuses, pay fell for the first time since records began in 2001.



However, there was a small increase in job vacancies in the three months to July.



“The increase was driven by small businesses (less than 50 employees), some of which reported taking on staff to meet coronavirus (COVID-19) guidelines,” the ONS said.

london

UK suffers biggest job losses since 2009 as COVID hits

Across Africa hundreds of thousands of people have contracted Covid-19 since the outbreak in late 2019.



 While official statistics are cause for concern the true numbers are undoubtedly much higher.The outbreak has exposed the weak underbelly of our Continent’s health care systems. For too long they have been under-resourced, under-funded and sometimes mismanaged. As Africa braces for a rise in infections it is time to look at what can be done to improve healthcare before it is too late.



 Health is an investment in a nation’s wellbeing and a vehicle for national value creation. Healthy girls and boys go to school, healthy women and men contribute to society, live longer and lead more productive lives. Healthy people are able to save financially, vaccinate their children and do not place added strain on a country’s health infrastructure. There is a direct benefit to investment in healthcare and unlocking economic growth. If only it was that simple.



 Across Africa there is still much work to be done in building our ability to cater to the millions of patients who need vital medicines or hospital care each year. Many pharmaceutical companies, like MSD, have the capacity to be part of the solution. But, one thing is clear: We cannot do it alone. To radically improve access to medicines and vaccines and for improved healthcare, we need partnerships. The investments that have really paid off in terms of exponential increase in health impact have been done with partners. Medicines Save Lives. 



Partnerships Save Nations.For decades, vast parts of West Africa were suffering from deadly outbreaks of Ebola for which there was no cure. The 2014 outbreak was one of the largest, resulting in over 4000 deaths as the virus spread across DRC, Guinea,Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone. In 2014, MSD had a vaccine in its portfolio to prevent the damaging consequences of an Ebola outbreak.



 There have been further Ebola outbreaks since 2014, but they have been curtailed. We now have over 300 000 doses of the vaccine saving lives in the region. This breakthrough was only possible due to partnerships with African governments, the World Health Organisation,NGO’s, the scientific community and the local communities. Accelerate towards One African Market I am often caught saying ‘vaccines don’t work, vaccination does’. If you don’t get a vaccine, you are not protected. It is not good enough to just make the product available, we have to ensure it gets to those who need it.



 We want to support the acceleration of ‘One African Market’. Right now patients in sub-saharan Africa are often not getting access to lifesaving products due to regulatory delays. The vision of having one African Medicines Agency,like the European Medicines Agency in Europe, is a great one. If we all focus on patient access as the goal, we should be partnering to make this vision a reality so that patients don’t have to suffer.



 Let’s aim to leapfrog not catch up Big data and the power of digital have the potential to transform health in a fundamental way. Already in many African countries, a whole generation jumped from no internet to accessing internet on their phones – completely leapfrogging dial up on their desktops. Rather than playing catch up, Africans should be using data and digital to enable a fundamental shift in how we seek and provide healthcare. We have an opportunity to reimagine healthcare.



Dr. Priya Agrawal – Managing Director, MSD South Africa and Sub Saharan Africa

Clarification on COVID-19 “hotspots” as SA moves to level 3 lockdown

Coronavirus

CMA announces measures to encourage investment on the securities exchange

Nigeria releases unemployment data after nearly two-year hiatus

United Capital on how COVID-19 has impacted Nigeria’s consumer goods sector

S.Africa’s Woolworths warns annual profits could fall by 70%

AGA-Africa on how to build public trust in state institutions during COVID-19

Nigeria’s unemployment rate 27.1% in Q2 -NBS

BNR Governor Rwangombwa: Why Rwanda’s Central Bank kept repo rate unchanged

Facing COVID-19 and climate threats, Nairobi ramps up green efforts

South African speakeasies boost calls for end to COVID booze ban

Secondary Education in Africa: Preparing Youth for the Future of Work

Here’s how much tax SA lost due to COVID-19 induced alcohol, tobacco ban

Mauritius tourism, reeling from COVID, now hit by oil spill

Mauritius says almost all oil removed from damaged Japanese ship

Sasol warns of annual loss as lower oil price and pandemic weigh

As coronavirus steals jobs, urban Kenyans look to their rural families

UK suffers biggest job losses since 2009 as COVID hits

COMMENT: How Africa should use data and digital to protect itself.

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Coronavirus

CMA announces measures to encourage investment on the securities exchange

Nigeria releases unemployment data after nearly two-year hiatus

United Capital on how COVID-19 has impacted Nigeria’s consumer goods sector

S.Africa’s Woolworths warns annual profits could fall by 70%

AGA-Africa on how to build public trust in state institutions during COVID-19

Nigeria’s unemployment rate 27.1% in Q2 -NBS

BNR Governor Rwangombwa: Why Rwanda’s Central Bank kept repo rate unchanged

Facing COVID-19 and climate threats, Nairobi ramps up green efforts

South African speakeasies boost calls for end to COVID booze ban

Secondary Education in Africa: Preparing Youth for the Future of Work

Here’s how much tax SA lost due to COVID-19 induced alcohol, tobacco ban

Mauritius tourism, reeling from COVID, now hit by oil spill

Mauritius says almost all oil removed from damaged Japanese ship

Sasol warns of annual loss as lower oil price and pandemic weigh

As coronavirus steals jobs, urban Kenyans look to their rural families

UK suffers biggest job losses since 2009 as COVID hits

COMMENT: How Africa should use data and digital to protect itself.

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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