Support to smallholder farmers, women, youth top agenda @Mauritania

NaijaAgroNet:

The imperative of supporting smallholder farmers, women and youth are top on the agenda for a forthcoming meeting between the President of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Mr. Gilbert F. Houngbo, and Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The meeting, according to David Florentin Paqui of IFAD Communications Division in Nouakchott, affirmed to NaijaAgroNet, said would be witnessed by senior officials of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, to discuss how investment in agriculture could ensure food and nutrition security and create jobs for rural people, particularly women and youth.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that in Mauritania, 41 per cent of the population lives in rural areas, and half depend on agriculture for their income, whereas farming generates 25 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), hence, small farms are vital for the country’s food security as well as its economy.

During an official three-day visit to the country starting Monday, April 9, Houngbo hinted his meeting with the Mauritanian President and Prime Minister, Yahya Ould Hademine would have support for smallholders farmers, women and youth top on agenda.

In addition, NaijaAgroNet gathered that a joint working meeting with the Minister of Economy and Finance, the Minister of Agriculture, the Minister of Livestock and the Minister of Environment will focus on the role of smallholder farmers in ensuring food security in Mauritania, the challenge of climate change, and the opportunities agriculture can offer to young people in rural areas.

Investing in a new generation of smallholder farmers is essential. Of Mauritania’s 4 million people, 40 per cent are under 15 years of age, 60 per cent are under 25 and only 5 per cent are over 60. Half of the population derives their livelihoods from raising crops and livestock and fishing. Although the country is self-sufficient in red meat and fish, it imports 60 per cent of other staple foodstuffs, particularly rice, vegetables, sugar and cooking oil.

IFAD and the government of Mauritania are working together to improve food security and nutrition, increase the incomes of poor rural households, create jobs and reduce the country's dependence on food imports. Since 1980, IFAD has financed 14 projects and programmes in Mauritania for a total of $342.3 million, including $136.2 million from IFAD’s own resources, directly benefitting nearly 190,470 Mauritanian rural households.

Houngbo will deliver a keynote address at the opening session of the Regional Implementation Forum organized in Nouakchott by the West and Central Africa Division of IFAD. Later, he will join Lemina Mint El Ghotob Ould Moma, Minister of Agriculture, in Kiffa to meet with rural people benefiting from an IFAD-supported Poverty Reduction Project in Aftout South and Karakoro – Phase II designed to help build, an economic and social fabric based on sustainable natural resource management that is inclusive of poor rural households, particularly women and young people. Because of its achievements in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, this project was a recipient of a 2017 IFAD Gender Award.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Mandela University Abuja breaks through with cancer treatment

NaijaAgroNet:

Just 17 years after Nelson Mandela sold the dream of a state of the art institution to drive Africa’s advancement in science and technology to former World Bank President Jim Wolfenssohn, the Abuja-based institution inspired by Mandela dream is making strong strides in the battle against cancer, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Three students of the African University of Science and Technology, Abuja, whose Board Chair is Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and President is Professor Kingston Nyamapfene, have in separate research efforts come up with very promising findings that are likely to make a difference in the global search for a cure to the deadly disease.

The studies include the work of Kwabena Kan-Dapaah on “Implantable Composite Devices for the Localised Treatment of Breast Cancer”; John David Obayemi’s work on Nano- Particles For Breast Cancer Detection And Treatment and Salifu T. Azeko’s work which was centred on “Biodegradation among others.

These efforts are in addition to the widely reported groundbreaking discovery in cancer treatment by a young Sierra-Leonian female student of African University of Science and Technology, Sandra Musujusu. Musujusu is developing an alternative treatment for a subtype of breast cancer commonly found in black women.

According to the student: “My research is actually centered on the development of biodegradable polymers for treatment of breast cancer… I will be focusing on triple negative breast cancer, which is actually the aggressive subtype of breast cancer that is common with women from African ancestry.”

The Sierra Leone native’s research was unveiled in July last year  when World Bank director Jaime Saavedra Chanduvi visited the Nigerian school as a part of his assessment tour of the 10 African Centers of Excellence locations, funded to encourage research to benefit African countries facing problems.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Ghana to host first Autism Talent Show

NaijaAgroNet:

Twellium Foundation, manufacturers of Verna Mineral water, Afi Antonio Foundation and Autism Society of Ghana to host Ghana’s first autism talent show on Saturday,14^th April,2018 at the Aviation social centre, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The project which aims to create awareness on autism, erase stereotypes associated with the condition, and challenge the perception that children with autism cannot live their dreams to the fullest. The campaign will showcase different talents of children living with autism, which includes painting on canvas, drawing, dancing, beading, etc

Giving details of the event to the public, Mrs. Afi Antonio-Addo, Executive Director of the foundation revealed the theme for this year’s world Autism day which fell on 2^nd April is “Empowering Women and Girls with Autism" a theme that is in line with Verna and its stakeholder’s vision of touching lives of women and girls in Ghana.

For this purpose, Twellium Industrial Company Limited through Verna Changing Lives Campaign has for the past year been creating awareness about Autism by engaging 3 beautiful girls living with autism, who have dreams of becoming models.

On the day of the event, the public is invited to witness the kids taking part in activities such as painting on canvas, beading, modeling, drawing etc.

Arts and crafts produced by the children during this event will be sold to invited guest and money raised will be  used to purchase equipment and tools to support selected Autism Training Centres in the country that admit and support these children.

Isaac Oyimah/ED, Op

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

African Continental Free Trade Area: Moving African integration further forward

Commentary@NaijaAgroNet:

Twenty years ago, I hoped for an Africa that would draw closer and forge forward boldly, despite a bag of mixed fortunes. Rwanda had just been blighted by genocide; the ubiquitous coup d’état still reared its ugly head in West Africa; although a tentative calm prevailed in Central Africa, political tensions simmered below the surface; Zaïre was in the throes of the ‘first Congo war’; the civil war in Somalia grew in magnitude and intensity; Ethiopia began an experiment in state-led macroeconomic planning; a democratic South Africa rose from the ashes of Apartheid, a veritable validation of the OAU’s ultimate goal of political liberation for Africa.

An interim period of positive change ensued, a growth fuelled by new media including the Internet, greater multiculturalism and a stronger attachment to democratic principles.

In March 2018, 44 of the 55 African Union Heads of State and Government enacted the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement (AfCFTA) in Kigali, Rwanda at its 10th Extraordinary Session, under the able leadership of H.E. President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger, with H.E. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda as current AU Chairperson and H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the AU Commission. Once in force AfCFTA will be the largest trade zone in the world, increase intra-African trade by 52% by the year 2022, remove tariffs on 90% of goods, liberalise services and tackle other barriers to intra-African trade, such as long delays at border posts.

The end of colonialism in the early 1960s created 55 African countries which cut arbitrarily across ethnic, cultural and traditional boundaries. They established the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to promote unity and solidarity on one hand yet emphasised territorial sovereignty on the other. This hamstrung the OAU insofar as national affairs were concerned, and helped create regional economic blocks or communities (RECs) in the mid-1970s.

RECs engendered political and economic integration. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the East African Community (EAC) signed agreements for the free movement of goods, services and people. There are now 8 AU-recognised RECs and a number of sub-regional bodies that are actively pursuing Africa’s integration agenda.

In 1991 the Abuja Treaty established the African Economic Community (AEC), building on RECs for integration. At the 2001 OAU Summit, African Heads of States and Government adopted the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) as a further vector to accelerate African economic co-operation and integration. The Summit recognised the importance of OAU input into REC programme planning and implementation. In 2002, the Constitutive Act of the AU was adopted in Lomé, Togo, formally replacing the OAU.

These milestones show that African economic integration is best pursued on a regional basis.

Rethinking Africa’s priorities is urgently called for. In this regard Agenda 2063, a consolidated strategy for sustained political and economic integration and prosperity, was launched by African Heads of State and Government at the 50th Anniversary of African Unity in 2013. Agenda 2063’s first Ten-Year Implementation Plan (2013-2023) draws heavily on NEPAD’s experiences. Beyond these broad strokes in development priorities and programmes, African development must be translated into concrete action.

While business and consumer confidence have improved, investment, trade and productivity have not. This has a direct impact on both foreign and domestic investments in Africa, particularly in infrastructure. As the world’s second-fastest growing region, Africa holds much promise for those willing to invest time to study our local economies and identify opportunities presented by a booming middle class with an endless appetite for consumables.

Although the Africa Report 2017 shows that virtually all countries plan large infrastructure projects and understand the need to industrialise, Africa cannot afford to be an ‘investment risk’ for infrastructure projects that advance sustainable inclusive development.

To this end, the AU-NEPAD Continental Business Network (CBN) continues to de-risk infrastructure projects in order to attract financing, especially through Pension and Sovereign Wealth Funds. In September 2017, NEPAD and the CBN initiated an Africa-led and Africa-owned campaign to increase African asset owners’ contributions to African infrastructure from approximately 1.5% of their assets under management (AUM) to 5% of AUM. By using financial resources available on the continent and strengthening public-private partnerships, infrastructure investments should increase. The CBN has called for a more strategic engagement with domestic institutional investors in support of this campaign.

The AfCTA, is a monumental step for Africa; another significant milestone in Africa’s integration process. I have to however aptly point out that the AfCFTA was signed in Kigali the capital that experienced complete turmoil some 24 years ago but is now poised to become the futuristic “Wakanda.”

*Dr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, a former Prime Minister of Niger, is the current CEO of the African Union’s NEPAD Agency. 

African, Continental, Free, Trade, Area, Moving, African, integration, forward, 

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Expert says Nigeria invests too little on people’s health

NaijaAgroNet:

Nigeria has been investing too little and inefficiently in the health of her people, so says the Director, Health, Nutrition, and Population Global Practice, World Bank Group, Dr. Olusoji Adeyi, NaijaAgroNet reports.

Adeyi in a keynote address entitled “Financing Universal Health Coverage in Nigeria” to the 2018 Nigeria Health Financing Forum in Abuja, said recently that Nigeria is underperforming in health financing when compared to other Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) and countries in the Upper-Middle-Income (UMIC) Group.

As said by him, investing in health would lead to economic growth, reductions in mortality account for about 11 per cent of recent economic growth in low-income and middle-income countries as measured in their national income accounts.

This, he said, would see to a more complete picture of the value of health investments over a time period given by the growth in a country's ‘full income,’ which is the income growth measured in national income accounts plus the Value of Additional Life Years (VLYs) gained in that period.

Dr. Adeyi noted that between 2000 and 2011, about 24 per cent of the growth in full income in low-income and middle-income countries resulted from VLYs gained.

According to him, the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) means that all people could use the essential health services they need, of sufficient quality to be effective, while also ensuring that the use of these services does not expose the user to financial hardship.

This definition of UHC, he said, embodies three related objectives, including equity in access to health services; the quality of health services should be good; and People should be protected against financial-risk.

Further, he explained that equity in access implies that everyone who needs services should get them, not only those who can pay for them, while the quality of health services should be good enough to improve the health of those receiving services; whereas, people should be protected against financial-risk, to ensure that the cost of using services does not put people at risk of financial harm.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Water infrastructure intelligent, wise move for Africa

NaijaAgroNet:

The water infrastructure intelligent would have effect on water demands  on the continent, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The chief executive officer (CEO) for Siemens Southern and Eastern Africa, Sabine Dall’Omo, gave this insight in South Africa, saying that the rapid urbanisation across the continent is expected to have effect on water demands, just as its estimated that by the year 2030, the world will need 40 per cent more water than its current accessible, reliable supply.

NaijaAgroNet also reported that compounding the issue, according to the UN’s Water for Life Report, is that approximately 300 of the 800 million inhabitants in Sub-Saharan Africa live in a water-scarce environment. While in South Africa’s Western Cape region there is a drought that one meteorologist referred to as a once-in-628-years weather event.

“Water is vital to human existence. We depend on the resource to carry out important economic activities and provide proper sanitation, which are crucial elements to well-being and health.  If neglected there will far reaching implications for government, business and ultimately society,” Dall’Omo.

Awareness about the importance and finite availability of the resource are crucial to widespread behaviour change and necessary to ensure environmental sustainability, and capacity for future generations.  Water education should not be restricted to scientific or factual knowledge but be holistic and include decision makers, water technicians, communities, stakeholders and media to promote systemic change.

When a resource is in such short supply, managing and producing it effectively is essential. Digitalization of the existing infrastructure is just one water wise move for both the public and private sector.

The water industry has been focused on ushering in a new era of water management, with an emphasis on automation, the Internet of Things (IoT) and more sophisticated data management and analysis software that enables the water end user or plant operator to have valuable, actionable information.

This proactive focus is driving digital transformation for both utilities and industrial plants, and enables them to not only detect and react to an issue when it occurs but also predict and prevent issues from occurring.

In South Africa, local municipalities are losing up to 36 per cent of bulk water due to pipe leaks and theft. Smart water management technologies and digital management systems combined with faster response times could dramatically increase water reliability and significantly reduce losses.

Prioritising the use of intelligent, networked systems will conserve energy, avoid water losses and curb resource consumption. By having a 360 degree view of a water system, solutions can be pre-emptively identified.

As we progress further into the Fourth Industrial Revolution, agility and inventiveness will become a pivotal requirement for the new world order. Climate change and global water shortages are a collective concern.  In the latest World Economic Forum Global Risks Report, water crises ranks 20th as one of the risks respondents are most concerned about for doing business in their country in the next 10 years.

To overcome this risk we will need to deploy major innovations. Imagine using 3D virtual technology to see a realistic representation of an existing water plant and overlaying how automation, drives, pumps, instrumentation and electrical components can best be implemented to ensure positive outcomes.

In 2016, Siemens and Bentley Systems, a global leader in software solutions for advancing infrastructure, initiated a strategic alliance agreement to drive new business by accelerating digitalization. Bentley’s advanced knowledge in the field of water infrastructure means that customers are able to simulate processes in water plants allowing for predictive maintenance, resource optimization and energy data management.

Another way in which Siemens is catalysing creativity in the digital economy is through a recently hosted 48 hour hackathon - #DigihackAfrica2018 - which brought together Siemens engineers alongside IoT and digital industry experts from IBM, IoT.Nxt, Atos and Wits University to work on ideas that will have the potential to disrupt the IIoT environment in Africa. 

The winning team presented a decentralised intelligent water management system. The fully automated water accounting and leak detection system is made up of intelligently linked instrumentation from Siemens, flow meters and pressure transmitters linked to a GPRS 3G module that sends signals back to an in-house cloud based system. Through a mobile app, water technicians and engineers on the field will have real-time monitoring access to the flow of water in any water infrastructure network on a device. The winning team will travel to Siemens HQ to further develop their idea and receive seed capital towards making their idea commercially viable.

The value of investment in R&D in Africa to find solutions to the water crisis should not be underestimated. Being able to have foresight about future problems and develop solutions, with a uniquely African view and relevance, will provide the continent with a competitive edge.

Ultimately, effective and smart water management will enable governments and utilities to provide a safe and reliable resource to its people. Improved water stewardship pays high economic dividends and technology can help to make this happen. It seems like a smart start and a step in the right direction to find sustainable solutions that work for Africa and in Africa.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Applause for Lagos: As more women embrace family planning

NaijaAgroNet:

It was an applause time for the centre of excellence, Lagos as more women have embraced the state family planning programmes, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Investigations by NaijaAgroNet, showed that some Lagos women gave this indication in chat at the weekend, highlighting the fact that they have overcome the myths, challenges and misconceptions surrounding family planning uptake and the likely side effects.

This follows recent reports that the uptake of family planning method in Lagos State has been on the rise, dispelling the myth and misconception on family planning thereof.

Amongst the most common of these myths are perceptions that family planning causes excessive bleeding and infertility. However, a soaring number of women have overcome these challenges.

A few of them who shared their experiences with NaijaAgroNet, explained how they overcame the myths, challenges and misconceptions surrounding family planning uptake and the side effects.

One of the women, Mrs Fatiyasat Abdul, (real name withheld) a 34 year old trader and a mother of three had little knowledge of Family planning when she got married over a decade ago.

Abdul said she belonged to the group of Nigerian women that believe it is God that gives children and provides for their upkeep, hence no faith in family planning.

This perception, however, changed when Fatimah Abdul was pregnant with her second child five years after marriage, when a health provider educated her about family planning and its benefits.

Mrs Abdul narrated her experience in Lagos, pointing out how her initial excitement about the advantages of family planning was dampened by friends who discouraged her about it, claiming that family planning will make her bleed, become infertile and then develop fibroids.

“My friends in the market place discouraged me, saying family planning will make me not to have children again, and blood will be gushing out of my body without stopping. That actually discouraged me.”

However, Abdul remarked that if not for her husband who encouraged her to go back to the hospital after she had her second child, she probably would not have continued the family planning.

“I was always afraid to do it because of what my friends told me. That was why I had to stop after six months of using the injectable. I was able to space my children because my husband used the withdrawal method. But when I finally gave birth to my last child, I went to the family planning unit of Lagos Island Maternity Hospital. They educated me on the benefits of family planning along with the side effects which can be managed.

“It was at that point I realized that what my friends at the market place were saying was all lies and I also realized that my husband struggles to pay the school fees of our children and he could be helped if we embrace family planning,” she said.

And for Betty Samson, a 42-year old beautician and a mother of two said she heard about family planning over the radio and was able to do injectable, when she travelled to South Africa, after her first child.

Unfortunately, she experienced some complications as she was bleeding continuously after her menstruation. When she went back to the clinic to report her experience, the provider asked her to continue.

When the bleeding continued, she stopped the use. After 10 years, she has conquered her fears and decided to go back to using a family planning method but this time, an implant.

Meanwhile, a survey conducted by the Performance Monitoring and Accountability (PMA2020) identified that Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) in the state has increased drastically in recent time.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Jukuns say 'Army protecting herdsmen' back Gen. Danjuma, demand Commission of Inquiry on atrocities

ITREALMS:

The apex socio-cultural organisation of Jukun people, Jukun Development Association of Nigeria (JDAN) has reiterated claims that the Nigerian Army is shielding herdsmen to attack their community, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This is coming as they drums support for their elder kinsman General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (rtd), who at the weekend, called on his people to rise and defend themselves against rampaging Fulani herdsmen and their colluding military partners, reports ITRealms.

National Presidentm JDAN, Chief Bako Benjamin said in Lagos, alongside top executive of the association on Monday, that majority of Nigerians are unaware of the calamity and atrocities that has befallen Jukun people in the last four years and the nation's press does not pay enough attention to report to the world the silent ethnic cleansing and genocide ongoing in southern and central Taraba.

Also, he said rather than lampooning Danjuma for his candid view which was coming after a thorough analysis of the situation, the Nigerian military should have launched an investigation into the weighty allegation and fish out her culpable members.

JDAN, he said, demands for a Commission of Inquiry to look into several cases of atrocities, human rights violations and banditry committed by some security forces in Jukunland  against the innocent people, who are being killed by herdsmen, whose homes and farmlands are being burnt with wanton impunity and whose lives means virtually nothing to the very people who have sworn to defend them and the nation against aggression.

On developments in some parts of the country, especially Taraba State, Bako said the retired General was speaking exactly the minds of his people and out of frustration, stressing that Danjuma statements was a reflection of what presently goes on in Taraba and elsewhere around the middle belt, where several villages and town have been sacked and indigenes chased away by Fulani herdsmen who invaded their communities with the full backing of security operatives. 

"Rather than carpet our revered elderstatesman, the Jukun people have been anxiously waiting for the time when Fulani herdsmen who have killed entire villagers in our land will be arrested and paraded. We are peace loving people, but our people are being arrested in our land and been killed by those who otherwise came for pasture for their cattle," he said.

Bako lamented that parading Jukun youths on Sunday, barely 24 hours after Gen Danjuma’s criticism of their handling of their roles for taking pictures of the ongoing violence in their land, is simply exposing the ugly underbelly of the Nigerian military and heir complicit in the whole tragic saga unfolding in Taraba State, adding that where that is the case, the pople would be left with no choice than to defend themselves. 

“We are anxiously waiting for when Fulani herdsmen that have killed and wiped off entire villages in our land would be paraded. We have not travelled to anybody's land to look for trouble, but our people are been arrested in our land for snapping pictures. What Jukuns expected is for the Nigerian military and the federal government to launch an investigation into the weighty allegations that  General Danjuma raised not to be beating about the bush in denials without substance,” he said.

Bako further alleged that there are widespread reports of glaring bias and nepotism by the Nigerian military's Operation Ayem Kpatuma particularly in Takum and Ussa local government areas since they arrived.

For example, he said, there was no single presence of Fulani herdsmen in the two local government areas for over a year now since their last mass killings of the people, which saw them abandon the area and flee until the soldiers arrived on the same day with them in the name of Operation Ayem Kpatuma.

“No sooner had they arrived in the peaceful communities that burning of houses and killings resumed. As if that's not enough, the soldiers went about unleashing a campaign of terror and intimidation against Jukun people, breaking into homes and confiscating hunting dane guns, cutlasses, bows and arrows, and left the Fulani herdsmen fully armed with their weapons to continue their campaign of terror in the countryside.”

We have evidences where severally attempts by our youths who were driven out of their villages to defend their communities against the herdsmen by soldiers until the herdsmen are done.

“Jukun Development Association of Nigeria (JDAN), is eagerly waiting for a commission of inquiry into the atrocities that was committed against our people in Takum and Ussa local government areas to  clear the good name of the Nigerian Army and bring the collaborators and perpetrators to book,” Bako insisted.  

Benjamin observed that close to 50 villages in southern and central Taraba exist only in name as Fulani herdsmen has wiped out the indigenous population and are presently commandeering the villages.

He said persistent plea on the government to come to the rescue of the people have fallen on deaf ears and atrocities got worse with each passing day.

 “When operation Ayem Kpatuma was launched by the federal government, Jukun people jubilated and thought their misery has come to an end, only to discover that military operatives of the program started arriving together with thousands of Fulani herdsmen that had fled the area previously with their cattle.

“Our fear was confirmed when no sooner they arrived in the peaceful communities that burning of houses and killings resumed.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Presidency explains private sector role in National Food Security Council

NaijaAgroNet:

The Presidency has explained the role of private sector in the recently inaugurated presidential national food security council, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Senior Special Assistant to the President, (Media & Publicity), Garba Shehu, informed NaijaAgroNet that the private sector will play an advisory role in the National Food Security Council recently by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The President, he said, is aware of the huge interest indicated by the private sector since the composition of the Council was announced, as well as the reservations expressed by groups that felt left out.

“We wish to emphasise that the Council constituted by the President was more of a think tank that would focus mainly on policy, while various groups from the private sector would be called upon to make sectoral presentations from time to time,” he said.

The presidency further assured that everybody will be carried along as the Council will work closely with all stakeholders.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that the Council will be inaugurated by President Buhari on Monday, March 26.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Listeriosis outbreak looms in Nigeria, 15 African countries, says WHO

NaijaAgroNet:

Listeriosis outbreak is looming in Nigeria and 15 other African countries, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), reports NaijaAgroNet.

Confirming this development, WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, listed other redline countries to include Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

“This outbreak is a wake-up call for countries in the region to strengthen their national food safety and disease surveillance systems,” Moeti declared.

Experts have described Listeriosis as a bacterial infection most commonly caused by Listeria monocytogenes, which could cause severe illness, including severe sepsis, meningitis, or encephalitis, sometimes resulting in lifelong harm and even death.

They also said that listeria is ubiquitous and is primarily transmitted via the oral route after ingestion of contaminated food products

As said by WHO an estimated 200 South Africans have died since January 2017 as a result of contaminated ready-to-eat meat products that are widely consumed in the country and may also have been exported to two West African countries and 14 members of the South African Development Community.

South African health authorities recently declared the source of the outbreak as a factory in Polokwane, in the country’s northeast.

Isaac Oyimah with additional reports from ThePunch.

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology