MIL Africa Engine

Source: APO

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The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that nearly three months into the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Bundibugyo strain continues to spread, with Bas-Uélé now becoming the sixth affected province.

As of 12 August, 4,665 confirmed cases and 2,184 deaths have been recorded by the national authorities, with a case fatality rate of nearly 47 per cent.

As the outbreak expands, food assistance is also being scaled up to support patients and communities affected by Ebola.* Starting tomorrow, the World Food Programme (WFP) will extend its hot meal programme to additional Ebola treatment centres in the provinces of Haut-Uélé and Ituri.

Since the end of May, WFP has provided more than 260,000 hot meals at treatment and isolation centres across the provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu.

WFP also provided food to families affected by Ebola and people under confinement, reaching 27,000 people, while supporting 36,000 people facing acute food insecurity in affected areas.

This assistance is particularly important, as 2.6 million people are facing acute food insecurity across Ebola-affected areas in eastern DRC at crisis level or worse. More than half of them are in the province of Ituri, the epicentre of the outbreak. However, the level of response is far outpaced by the scale of needs.

Partners warn that the outbreak is deepening food insecurity. The food security sector is only 25 per cent funded, so urgent additional funding is needed to ensure life-saving food aid reaches those who need it.

*Donations made to UN Crisis Relief help UN agencies and humanitarian NGOs reach people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with urgent support.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA).

Source: APO

The Ethiopian Food and Drug Authority (EFDA), with technical support from the three levels of the World Health Organization (WHO), conducted an assisted self-benchmarking of Ethiopia’s national regulatory system for medical devices, including in vitro diagnostics, from 27 to 31 July 2026.

The exercise assessed strengths and gaps in the regulatory system and informed the updating of EFDA’s Institutional Development Plan. It marks an important step towards strengthening public health protection, building confidence in medical devices, advancing regulatory harmonization and work-sharing, and supporting local manufacturing and access to export markets.

The assessment used the WHO Global Benchmarking Tool Plus Medical Devices (GBT+MD), which evaluates regulatory systems against more than 250 indicators. Assisted self-benchmarking is a WHO-guided preparatory assessment distinct from the formal benchmarking, through which WHO independently evaluates a regulatory system to determine its maturity level.

Opening the exercise, Professor Francis Kasolo, WHO Representative to Ethiopia, the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, emphasized that strong regulatory systems not only protect patients but also create an enabling environment for innovation, local manufacturing and economic opportunities.

Agnes Sitta Kijo, Technical Officer with WHO’s Regulatory Systems Strengthening team, explained that the assessment covered seven regulatory functions: national regulatory systems; registration and marketing authorization; post-market surveillance; market surveillance and control; licensing of establishments; regulatory inspections and laboratory testing; and clinical trial oversight.

During the week-long exercise, EFDA staff assessed the regulatory system against the GBT+MD indicators, while WHO experts provided technical guidance and supported verification of the findings. The exercise concluded with EFDA and WHO reviewing the findings and agreeing on an updated Institutional Development Plan and a roadmap towards formal WHO benchmarking.

Ethiopia achieved WHO Maturity Level 3 for the regulation of medicines and vaccines as a non-producing country in 2025. EFDA Director General Heran Gerba said the experience and institutional capacity gained through this achievement had prepared EFDA to apply the same commitment to strengthening the regulation of medical devices.

Medical devices – from diagnostic tests and thermometers to surgical equipment – are essential for disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment and monitoring. With an estimated 2 million kinds of medical devices available globally, effective regulatory oversight is critical to ensuring their safety, quality and performance.

Professor Kasolo reaffirmed WHO’s commitment to supporting Ethiopia in strengthening its regulatory system for medical devices and other medical products, including vaccines and blood and blood products, contributing to improved access to safe, effective and quality-assured health products.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of WHO Regional Office for Africa.

Source: APO

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Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher has allocated US$1 million from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund to support the cholera response in Cameroon’s Far North Region.

The funds will help the UN and its humanitarian partners provide support in cholera prevention, treatment, and safe water and sanitation.

The allocation targets 230,000 people in the Far North Region, with a focus on children, as well as refugees in Minawao camp and communities at high risk near borders.

As of 12 August, more than 1,250 cases and 31 deaths had been reported across nine health districts. The outbreak, which began in late June, continues to expand geographically and has already exceeded the scale of recent cholera outbreaks recorded in 2019, 2022 and 2024.

The outbreak is affecting remote and insecure areas that become harder to reach during the rainy season, increasing delays in access to treatment. Conditions in Minawao refugee camp, which hosts more than 81,000 refugees and where 80 cases have already been recorded, further increase the risk of transmission.

The 2026 Cameroon Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, which calls for $319 million, is just over a quarter funded

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Source: APO

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The U.S. Mission to Nigeria hosted a speaker program August 10-13, 2026, as part of the Freedom 250 initiative, bringing U.S. Speaker Dr. Gregg BeVier, an expert in livestock development to speak to Nigerian agribusiness leaders and government officials.  This program underscores the United States’ priority of increasing two-way trade and investment opportunities between the United States and Nigeria.

The initiative featured three complementary events:  In Abuja, Dr. BeVier spoke at the All-Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture, with support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agriculture Service and engaged government officials from the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development and the Livestock Reforms and Implementation Committee to discuss how American private sector agricultural partnerships can drive livestock development.

Dr. BeVier connected with audiences across the 30 American Spaces in Nigeria to discuss opportunities for youth to engage in livestock productivity improvements.  He also joined several other U.S. animal husbandry companies at the U.S.-Nigeria Livestock and Feed Connect event, a curated business-to-business event bringing American and Nigerian livestock businesses together to discuss potential partnerships.

Advancing Shared Prosperity

This program was designed to advance U.S. prosperity by supporting a more favorable business climate in Nigeria, with a focus on the agricultural sector as part of the flagship Commercial and Investment Partnership.

The program builds on longstanding exchange initiatives, including the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) and the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), and will create new networks for future engagement, including potential Fulbright and IVLP opportunities focused on agricultural finance and trade.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Nigeria.

Source: APO – Report:

The Southern Region’s education office has presented certificates of recognition and monetary awards to 65 exemplary female teachers selected from the region’s 12 sub-zones.

At the ceremony, attended by the Minister of Education and the Governor of the Southern Region, it was reported that the main criteria for the awards included professional ethics, commitment to work, lesson planning and implementation, relations with parents and the community, and personal efforts to develop professional capacity.

Mr. Hibtizgi Kidane, head of the region’s education office, expressed his expectation that the award-winning teachers will serve as role models and play their due part in enhancing the quality of education.

Dr. Halima Mohammed, Minister of Education, said that although the participation and capacity of women in education are encouraging, greater efforts are needed to achieve better outcomes. She also called for the recognition program to include all exemplary teachers.

There are 3,943 female teachers working from the pre-school to high-school levels in the Southern Region, accounting for about 55% of the region’s total number of teachers.

– on behalf of Ministry of Information, Eritrea.

Source: APO

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The United States Consulate General in Lagos is pleased to announce the arrival of its new Consul General, Mr. Brandon Hudspeth.  Consul General Hudspeth begins a three-year tenure as the senior U.S. government representative across the 17 states of southern Nigeria.

Mr. Hudspeth, an accomplished diplomat and a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, succeeds Consul General Rick Swart who retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in July.  Mr. Hudspeth is serving in Lagos for the second time having previously been the Political-Economic Section Chief from 2020 to 2022.

“I am honored to return to Lagos as the U.S. Consul General,” Consul General Hudspeth said.  “I know firsthand the strength of the U.S.-Nigeria partnership and the extraordinary energy, ingenuity, and entrepreneurial spirit that Nigerians and Americans share.”  Consul General Hudspeth noted that he looks forward to reconnecting with old friends, building new partnerships, and working alongside Nigerians to expand trade and investment, drive innovation, strengthen collaboration in the technology and creative industries, and create new opportunities that advance shared prosperity for both countries.

Consul General Hudspeth brings two decades of diplomatic experience spanning Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Washington.  Most recently, he served as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Windhoek, Namibia.  His earlier assignments include serving as Director of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement at the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines, where he led U.S. civilian assistance programs supporting law enforcement, rule of law, counter-narcotics efforts, and maritime security cooperation.  He also served as Political-Economic Section Chief in Bamako, Mali; Nonimmigrant Visa Chief in Havana, Cuba; and Political-Military Officer in Kabul, Afghanistan.  In Washington, D.C., he served in the Department of State’s Operations Center, on the Secretariat Staff supporting the Secretary of State, and as a Desk Officer in the Bureau of African Affairs.

A native of Texas, Consul General Hudspeth is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Morehouse College, where he received a Bachelor’s in Political Science and Economics.  He earned a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School.  He was also a Distinguished Graduate of the National Defense University, where he obtained a Master of Science in National Resource Strategy.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Nigeria.

Source: APO

Ugandan legislator, Hon. Naome Kabasharira has urged African countries to treat cybersecurity as a national security priority, warning delegates at the 55th CPA Africa Region Conference in Malawi that the continent’s rapid digital growth is outpacing its cyber defences.

Hon. Kabasharira (NRM, Rushenyi), who made a presentation on “Cybersecurity Threats, Digital Misinformation, and the Role of African Parliaments in Protecting the Digital Future,” argued that Africa’s growth in mobile money and artificial intelligence is creating new vulnerabilities that state-sponsored actors and organized crime networks are increasingly seeking to exploit.

“I urge African governments to strengthen regional and international cooperation because cybercriminals operate without regard for national borders; we need timely information-sharing and coordinated law-enforcement action amongst ourselves to build a collective defense against digital threats,” she said on Friday, 14 August 2026.

The lawmaker said Africa’s cybersecurity preparedness remains uneven, urging parliaments to modernise laws to combat emerging threats such as AI-enabled cybercrime, ransomware and identity theft.

Kabasharira called for greater investment in infrastructure, including funding for Computer Emergency Response Teams, digital forensic laboratories and cybersecurity workforce development, alongside stronger data protection frameworks that give citizens rights over their personal information and hold organizations accountable for data breaches.

She further addressed the growing danger posed by AI-generated content and deepfakes, which she said are eroding trust in government, the media and democratic institutions.

Hon. Kabasharira called on African parliaments to enact fair laws governing new technologies that protect citizens from false information without discouraging innovation.

“The result can be a broader erosion of trust in public institutions, the media, and democratic processes,” Kabasharira said, adding that an effective response must combine proportionate regulation with sustained digital literacy and public awareness campaigns.

Concluding her remarks, Kabasharira told fellow delegates that Africa’s prosperity is closely tied to the security of its digital ecosystems.

She urged parliamentarians to position themselves as central actors in building cyber resilience across the continent, ensuring that technology continues to serve as a driver of prosperity, inclusion and democratic progress rather than becoming a tool of exploitation.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Parliament of the Republic of Uganda.