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Eliminating mother to child transmission of HIV is possible. And Botswana is celebrating becoming the first country in Africa – and the first country with a high burden of HIV – to be awarded a Gold Tier status by the World Health Organization (WHO), for its efforts to eliminate vertical transmission of HIV completely.

This is a huge accomplishment for a country with one of the most severe HIV epidemics in the world, which in 1999 had an estimated HIV prevalence among adults as high as 30%.

Women living with HIV who do not receive antiretroviral (ARV) medicine have a 15–45% chance of transmitting the virus to their children during pregnancy, labour, delivery or breastfeeding. That risk drops to less than 5% if treatment is given to both mothers and children throughout the stages when transmission can occur.

According to UNAIDS’ Spectrum report 2024, around 360,000 people are currently living with HIV in Botswana, with 98% of pregnant women living with HIV receiving treatment. Vertical transmission has dropped to just 1.2%, resulting in fewer than 100 infants being born with HIV in 2023. The goal is to reach zero.

The Path to an HIV-free Botswana

The Triple Elimination Initiative, led by WHO, in close collaboration with UNICEF and UNAIDS, aims to halt vertical transmission of HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B, by encouraging countries to integrate services to improve the health of mothers and children. In May 2025, Botswana’s Gold Tier status on the Path to Elimination of HIV, was unanimously agreed by the global validation committee, which assesses programme interventions, laboratory services, engagement of Civil Society Organisations and evaluates data against a set of elimination criteria.

The attainment of ‘Gold tier’ status by Botswana can be attributed to several high impact initiatives:

• Pioneering interventions over the years, such as the early adoption of Option B+ (lifelong treatment for all pregnant and breastfeeding women with HIV), free antiretroviral therapy for all, including non-citizens since 2019, and decentralisation of services through District Health Management Teams.

• Digitising data collection systems with the Open Medical Record System (Open-MRS);

• Championing the empowerment of community health workers (CHWs) through increased training;

• Strong government leadership, including committing domestic resources.

• Embracing the crucial importance of Civil Society Organisations, which engage communities in reducing stigma and violence, testing partners and encouraging adherence to PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) and treatment;

Support from 2gether 4 SRHR

2gether 4 SRHR is a joint UN Regional Programme, in partnership with Sweden, which brings together the combined efforts of UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF and WHO to improve the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of all people in Eastern and Southern Africa.

The regional validation secretariat of the Triple Elimination Initiative includes the same UN agencies, which continue to support Botswana through its validation process, with funding support from 2gether 4 SRHR. In phase one of the programme (2018-2023), Botswana was supported as the first country globally to apply for the Path to Elimination of HIV. To meet these rigorous data requirements, 2gether 4 SRHR established a data mentorship programme, aiming to build the capacity of Ministries of Health across the region, to analyse and use data to prove progress on the path to elimination of vertical transmission of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B.

Countries including Botswana also received financial support from 2gether 4 SRHR to develop HIV Prevention Roadmaps. These evidence-based, people-centred, HIV prevention plans focus on reducing new infections and ensuring long-term sustainability of prevention programming which can withstand funding shocks.

Botswana was also one of ten countries to develop action plans to engage men in HIV prevention and leveraged the existing “Brothers Arise” #Nanogang campaign, to work with men to increase their uptake of HIV services and create male friendly platforms to discuss norms. In consultation with the Ministry of Health, a guide for best practice services for men and boys is now in use.

This major milestone should be celebrated not only in Botswana, but across the Region. With 2.6 million new HIV infections in children averted since 2010, the 57% decline in new HIV infections among children in Eastern and Southern Africa is one of the top global public health achievements in decades. Botswana demonstrates that an AIDS-free generation is possible.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of UNFPA – East and Southern Africa.

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Two and a half months after the forced suspension of its activities by Libyan authorities, following a wave of repression that affected ten humanitarian organizations present in the West of the country, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reaffirms its willingness to resume its medical services and its support to the Libyan authorities. The organization also remains very concerned about the health of its former patients and the interruption of access to healthcare for the most vulnerable populations in Libya.

On March 27, 2025, MSF was forced to suspend the medical aid it was providing in the country, following the closure of its premises by the ISA and the interrogation of several members of its team. All MSF staff were released, but after the crackdown, MSF was forced to evacuate its international employees from Libya and to terminate the contracts of its Libyan staff.

Since mid-March, the Internal Security Agency (ISA) of Libya began summoning and interrogating the staff of international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) providing care to migrants and refugees in Libya.

“MSF is ready to resume the medical projects that were underway for tuberculosis (TB), mental health and maternal health, for any patient in need of care, and in collaboration with the relevant Libyan authorities” states Steven Purbrick, MSF head of mission for Libya, “provided that the safety of our staff and patients is guaranteed, MSF calls for its suspension to be lifted.”

MSF had received no formal notification of the basis for the ISA actions and regrets this intimidatory crackdown which compromises access to medical care. MSF is deeply concerned with the consequences for patients’ health. Among them, migrants and refugees are subjected to abuse and violence with severe health consequences and acute medical needs. MSF’s referral mechanism to UNHCR or IOM to evacuate migrants and refugee patients identified as medical priority cases has now come to a halt.

Before the suspension of activities, MSF was treating a cohort of more than 300 Libyan, migrant and refugee patients, mostly for TB care, antenatal care and psychological support, especially for survivors of violence. Some patients were in a critical situation. MSF managed to refer most of them to other facilities, such as the National Center for Disease Control, but also lost contact with several of them.

“Two of our TB patients died in Misrata immediately after our suspension. We hear that a further four other inpatients have since passed away in the same facility” says Carla Peruzzo, medical coordinator for MSF in Libya. “We are very concerned about patients with chronic diseases like diabetic patients in need of insulin and people in need of dialysis, with kidney chronic disease.”

MSF was supporting the only public center for TB patients in Libya. The TB unit was implemented by MSF within the Misrata Chest Hospital in 2020.

Medications destined for donation to public hospitals were locked inside MSF’s premises, which MSF will now be obliged to destroy due to the loss of temperature control.

“The medical needs met by MSF are not always covered in Libya’s public health system, which faces structural challenges, such as understaffing and shortages of medication supply”, explains Carla Peruzzo. “A breakdown in TB treatment can lead to the development of a drug-resistant form of the disease, rapid deterioration in the patient’s state of health and even death”.

Over the years MSF had successfully developed a technical collaboration with the National Tuberculosis Program to reinforce capacities to detect cases in specialized facilities, review national guidelines of the central laboratory in Tripoli and support the department of health education. MSF is ready to continue its planned support to the National Tuberculosis Program and the rest of its medical activities.

MSF in Libya

MSF has been working in eastern and western Libya since 2011, providing primary healthcare, TB diagnosis and care, mental health support and maternal health consultations.

In 2023, MSF provided emergency medical support following the flooding in Derna, supporting two primary health care centres and providing medical consultations to almost 5,000 people. MSF also provided mental health services after the disaster.

In 2024, MSF conducted 15,018 medical consultations, 3,024 mental health consultations, and 2,035 consultations on tuberculosis.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Médecins sans frontières (MSF).

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It happened in seconds. The doors of the health facility flew open. A young man was rushed in, barely breathing, his family screaming behind him. Blood was everywhere, on the floor, his clothes, the hands of those trying to steady him. And without hesitation, the health workers moved towards him instinctively. There were no questions asked, no moments wasted, just an instinctive rush to save a life, guided by their training and dedication.

Later, we learned it was a suicide attempt. He had ingested rat poison. But in that critical moment, nothing else mattered to the health workers fighting to stabilize him. There was no time to ask questions, assess risks, or think of their own safety.

As I stood there, watching, one thought wouldn’t leave me: What if this had been something else? What if the blood, later discovered to be palm oil, carried something more? What if the man was unknowingly infected with mpox, or another infectious disease spreading quietly through communities?

This is the daily reality faced by health workers across Sierra Leone. They are the first to respond, the first to make contact, and the first to put themselves at risk, often without knowing what dangers they might encounter. When hesitation could lead to death, their instinct to save lives overrides every fear. They are the backbone of our health system, yet they remain dangerously exposed.

But who ensures their safety? In Sierra Leone, mpox is not a distant threat. Since the first case was reported earlier this year, the virus has spread to all 16 districts. Thousands have been infected. Health workers are on the frontlines, not only caring for known cases, but often unknowingly exposed to patients who may not yet show symptoms.

Mpox can spread through close skin to skin contact, bodily fluids, blood. The very acts of care, cleaning wounds, delivering babies, providing urgent treatment carry huge risks.

Dr. James Squire, the National Incident Manager, summed it up clearly: “Our health workers are our greatest asset. If we lose them, we lose everything.”

We have lived this before, and the painful memory still lingers. During the Ebola crisis, several health workers died. The loss was catastrophic, not just for families and communities, but for the entire health system that was already so fragile. We cannot afford to allow history to repeat itself.

This time, we have a tool, we didn’t have then: vaccines. In a remarkable show of solidarity, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a nation familiar with the challenges of mpox and Ebola outbreaks extended a helping hand. With the coordination and support of the World Health Organization (WHO), the DRC generously donated 75,000 doses of mpox vaccine to Sierra Leone.

Fatmata, a health worker at a district hospital, expressed it poignantly: “We rush into danger without hesitation. But at the same time, we have loved ones waiting for us back home. We want to continue serving, but we also need to feel secure.”

When health workers are vaccinated, entire communities are safer. Economies thrive. And outbreaks are contained before they spiral. The ripple effect of protecting one health worker reaches far beyond the four walls of a health facility.

Now is the moment. Every health worker in Sierra Leone – nurse, doctor, cleaner, ambulance driver, laboratory technician – must be vaccinated.  No one who steps into a space of care should be left unprotected.

Dr George Ameh, WHO Representative in Sierra Leone, emphasized: “We are at a turning point. The vaccines have arrived. Now we must act. Every health worker vaccinated is one pillar strengthening the entire health system. This is one of the tools we have to halt the outbreak.” 

The health workers who rushed toward that patient didn’t stop to ask whether it was safe. They acted because that’s what they do. They show up, every day, in every crisis. But showing up should not cost them their lives. This time, we have a chance to protect them before they pay that price.

In addition to pre-exposure vaccination against mpox and post exposure management, heath workers and all frontline workers should always observe strict infection prevention and control procedures and use personal protective equipment (PPEs) when handling suspected and confirmed patients.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Health Organization – Sierra Leone.

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When an outbreak of peste des petits ruminants (PPR)—also known as sheep and goat plague—threatened to wipe out people’s livelihoods in Kamasasa village, Sierra Leone, quick action from trained Sierra Leone Red Cross Society volunteers and local authorities stopped the spread of disease and minimized its damage on the community.

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a highly contagious viral disease affecting small animals, such as sheep and goats. PPR can be fatal and outbreaks, if left undetected, can have devastating consequences for people’s livelihoods, particularly in pastoral communities.

In Kamasasa, a village in north-west Sierra Leone where people are reliant on goat and sheep farming to make a living, an outbreak of PPR struck in September 2022 and threatened to wreak havoc in the community.  

“It was all over the town,” explains Pa Adikali Sesay, Chief of Kamasasa village. “Everywhere you would go, people would say that their goats were sick. Some people would be crying because they were losing hope. If there was an emergency and they or their children got sick or if they need to pay school fees for their children, how would they pay for those things if all the animals died?”

Having never experienced a PPR outbreak before, people were unsure what to do. And misinformation was spreading alongside the disease. Some farmers even fled the village, believing that their animals were under some form of mystical attack.  

But thankfully, local Sierra Leone Red Cross Society volunteers were on hand to support the community. Trained in epidemic control and community-based surveillance through the Community Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness Programme (CP3), they immediately recognized the disease as PPR, rapidly reported the outbreak to local animal health authorities, and mounted an effective response to halt its spread.

“Our volunteers started mobilizing the community, sensitizing them, telling them not to eat these animals,” says Osman Justin Conteh, CP3 Manager with the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society. “We separated the sick from those that are not sick so that then the disease will not continue to spread. Then specimens were collected and sent to the lab. We supported the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to treat these animals, vaccinating more than 10,000 goats and sheep against PPR.”

This quick, coordinated action made sure that PPR stopped spreading in the community and that sick animals were able to recover, with volunteers earning thanks and recognition from community members. 

Sorie Daba Sesay, a farmer from Kamasasa village, says: “The Red Cross arrived and told us to look for animals that were sick or had died. They helped get medicine to the sick goats so they would get better and not get sick again. We say to the Red Cross, thank you!” 

And Kamasasa village chief, Pa Adikali, adds: “The Red Cross did an incredible job. Without their intervention, we could have lost all our animals. The Red Cross arrived right when we needed their help.”

This PPR outbreak response is just one example of many disease outbreaks detected, reported and responded to through the CP3 programme in Kambia. Since the programme began in 2018, Sierra Leone Red Cross Society teams have improved their capacity to prepare for and respond to epidemics and developed close partnerships with human, animal and environmental health authorities to keep communities healthy and safe. 

“The coming of CP3 and the Red Cross has helped us greatly in trying to mitigate the death toll of goats and sheep,” says Ibrahim Harri Sesay, District Livestock Officer with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in Kambia. “They have trained over 250 volunteers across the districts here. CP3 volunteers are all over in the communities. They are with them, they know their problems. If there are any problems with disease, be it animal or human, they report to us directly and we react appropriately.”

The activities featured in this article were delivered as part of the multi-country Community Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness Programme (CP3) which ran from 2018-2025. 

Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), CP3 supported communities, Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and other partners to prepare for, prevent, detect and respond to disease threats. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

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This morning in Luanda, on the margins of the US-Africa Business Summit, H.E. President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço of the Republic of Angola received H.E. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Chairperson of the AU Commission and his delegation, at the State House. The Chairperson briefed the President on the regional developments, including the situations in Eastern DRC, Sudan, South Sudan, the Sahel, and Somalia, as well as ongoing efforts to mobilise sustainable funding for African-led peace support operations.

President Lourenço commended the Chairperson’s leadership in advancing peace, security, and regional integration, and encouraged continued diplomatic engagement in resolving ongoing conflicts, and AU activities in support of Agenda 2063.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Union (AU).

Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) (www.AfricaFC.org), Africa’s leading infrastructure solutions provider, today announced that the Republic of Angola has become its latest sovereign shareholder. This strategic equity investment further strengthens Angola’s partnership with AFC and underscores the country’s confidence in AFC’s mandate to accelerate sustainable development and regional integration through transformational infrastructure.

As a member of the Africa Finance Corporation since 2022, Angola has deepened its strategic partnership with the institution through a landmark equity investment commitment of US$184.8 million. This bold move reflects Angola’s confidence in the AFC’s institutional strength and its ambition to help shape Africa’s development agenda from within. It builds on nearly US$1 billion in AFC investments across Angola’s priority sectors—power, rail, logistics, and critical minerals—core to the country’s industrialization and economic diversification strategy. The investment also signals growing momentum for African-led capital solutions to drive long-term, transformative growth across the continent.

Earlier this year, the Fundo Soberano de Angola, Angola’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, also made a US$25 million equity investment in AFC. Together, these investments reflect a cohesive national strategy to advance Angola’s infrastructure and industrial development agenda through close collaboration with the Corporation.

With this milestone investment, Angola becomes the second Lusophone African nation, after Cape Verde, to join the growing list of equity investors in AFC. This underscores the Corporation’s expanding pan-African footprint and its commitment to accelerating the continent’s structural transformation through strategic, high-impact partnerships.

“Angola’s capital commitment underscores the impact of sovereign alignment with AFC’s mandate to catalyse Africa’s transformation. It affirms the value of combining national vision with AFC’s model of delivering critical infrastructure, deploying innovative financing solutions, and forging catalytic partnerships across the public and private sectors”, said Samaila Zubairu, President & CEO of Africa Finance Corporation. “This marks a significant step in AFC’s journey to broaden shareholder representation across Africa”.

Dr. Vera Daves de Sousa, Angola’s Minister of Finance, said: “Angola’s shareholding investment in AFC signals our strong belief in the power of partnerships to deliver lasting economic transformation. The Corporation has been a trusted ally over the last few years, financing strategic sectors including infrastructure, energy, and industrial projects critical to our diversification efforts, and we look forward to a continued, mutually beneficial partnership”.

AFC and Angola have had a strong collaborative history over the years, exemplified by initiatives such as the Lobito Corridor project, where AFC is acting as lead developer alongside other partners. This transformational multi-country transport network connecting Angola, Zambia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has the potential to unlock new industrial and value-chain opportunities across key sectors, including mining, agriculture, energy, and tourism. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Africa Finance Corporation (AFC).

Media Enquiries:
Yewande Thorpe
Communications
Africa Finance Corporation
Mobile: +234 1 279 9654
Email: yewande.thorpe@africafc.org

About AFC:
AFC was established in 2007 to be the catalyst for pragmatic infrastructure and industrial investments across Africa. AFC’s approach combines specialist industry expertise with a focus on financial and technical advisory, project structuring, project development, and risk capital to address Africa’s infrastructure development needs and drive sustainable economic growth.

Eighteen years on, AFC has developed a track record as the partner of choice in Africa for investing and delivering on instrumental, high-quality infrastructure assets that provide essential services in the core infrastructure sectors of power, natural resources, heavy industry, transport, and telecommunications. AFC has 45 member countries and has invested over US$15 billion in 36 African countries since its inception.

www.AfricaFC.org

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Rack Centre, West Africa’s leading Tier III carrier – and cloud -neutral data centre, has signed a strategic collocation agreement with TelCables Nigeria, a subsidiary of Angola Cables (www.AngolaCables.co.ao) and one of Africa’s most connected network operators. Through the partnership, TelCables Nigeria is deploying its high capacity network and cloud infrastructure together with four international subsea cable systems (SACS, MONET, SEBRAS and EllaLink) directly into Rack Centre’s carrier ecosystem in the region. The move delivers the most resilient, low-latency south-bound routes to Europe, the Americas and Latin America, mitigating the risk of future cable-cut outages along West Africa’s coast and powering next-generation cloud services across the continent.

“Our unique Africa – to – Latin America route via SACS, combined with MONET, SEBRAS and EllaLink, gives customers the lowest – latency paths to the Americas and Europe,” said Fernando Fernandes, CEO of TelCables Nigeria. “Businesses in latency sensitive sectors: financial services, content delivery and real-time communications will experience faster transactions, reduced lag and an enhanced user experience. By hosting at Rack Centre we also localise Clouds2Africa resources, price them in naira, and remove expensive ingress/egress charges or FX exposure.”

Partnership highlights

• Robust dark-fibre integration: TelCables Nigeria is lighting diverse, redundant dark-fibre rings into Rack Centre, ensuring always-on performance.
• Clouds2Africa platform on-net: Customers can consume scalable IaaS, PaaS and CDN services from within the data sovereign walls of Rack Centre, paying in NGN.
• Direct on-ramps to AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, supporting hybrid and multi-cloud strategies alongside Dedicated Internet Access, IP Transit and remote Internet Exchange (IX) peering.
• Low-latency routes to three continents, including the only direct Africa to Latin America path, plus shortest-hop connections to Europe and the USA.

Supporting Rack Centre’s expansion strategy

Rack Centre’s 13.5MW data centre campus designed with its recently launched LGS2 facility that delivers a design PUE of 1.35 and powered from sustainable energy sources, already hosts 70+ carriers, ISPs and network operators.

Lars Johannisson, CEO of Rack Centre, said:

“Adding a global operator of Angola Cables’ calibre through TelCables Nigeria dramatically deepens our connectivity fabric. We can now offer 99.95 % SLA routes to more destinations, enabling enterprises, governments and cloud providers to meet performance and data-residency requirements while keeping traffic local.”

With features such as N+2 high-efficiency cooling, an integrated Building Management System and AI-ready high-density racks, LGS2 combines capacity, sustainability and innovation reinforcing Rack Centre’s position as a critical digital hub for Nigeria and West Africa.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Angola Cables.

For Media Enquiries:
Ada Ibelegbu
Senior Marketing Associate
Rack Centre
Email: ada.ibelegbu@rack-centre.com
M: +234 80 904 03 473
T: +234 1 700 5515

About Angola Cables:
Angola Cables is an international ICT solutions provider operating a 33,000 km subsea-cable network (WACS, SACS, MONET) and 50,000 km of partner routes, linking the Americas, Africa, Europe and Asia. The company runs Tier III data centres in Fortaleza (Brazil) and Luanda (Angola), manages the Angonix IXP, and maintains 30+ PoPs worldwide. CAIDA ranks Angola Cables among the top-25 global ISPs (2023). www.AngolaCables.co.ao

About Rack Centre:
Rack Centre is West Africa’s leading Tier III carrier and cloud neutral data-centre operator. Since 2012 it has specialised in colocation and interconnection, offering customers a technically superior, physically secure and cost-efficient environment. The campus hosts 70+ carriers, ISPs and global Tier 1 networks, with direct links to every subsea cable landing on Africa’s Atlantic coast including Equiano and, soon, 2Africa. www.Rack-Centre.com