Showing posts with label africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label africa. Show all posts
December 29, 2020
November 10, 2019
July 19, 2018
August 14, 2016
August 4, 2016
July 23, 2016
March 6, 2016
March 4, 2016
December 30, 2012
Ernesto Sirolli: Want to help someone? Shut up and listen!
In
this funny and impassioned talk, he proposes that the first step is to
listen to the people you're trying to help, and tap into their own
entrepreneurial spirit. His advice on what works will help any
entrepreneur.
August 22, 2012
China Investments in Africa
Since 2010, when China pledged over $100 billion to develop commercial
projects in Africa, the continent is rapidly being harvested by China for resources. Map below show China's interests in Africa since 2010.
March 25, 2012
Zombie-like disease spreading in Africa
CNN reported a strange disease currently spreading in Uganda that has WHO and CDC baffled:
Called nodding disease, the zombie-like disorder has spread to more than 3,000 children in Northern Uganda, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) are scrambling to figure it out.
The disease causes the affected children to sit and nod—hence the name—but also has some much weirder, and creepier, effects. The disorder causes severe seizures, amnesiac behavior, stunted development and extreme pyromania. Affected children often start fires or wander off, and more than 200 deaths have been reported from incidences caused by the infected, i.e. fires.
One parent, Grace Lagat, said several villagers have taken to tying infected children up to keep them from wandering off. She says her son, Thomas, often bites and gnashes at the rope to try and get free.
"When I am going to the garden, I tie them with cloth," Lagat told CNN. "If I don't tie them I come back and find that they have disappeared."
The disease has been popping up in smaller outbreaks the past four years, though it is now bordering on a regional epidemic.
With everyone from WHO to the CDC on the case, scientists have still not figured out the cause, or a cure. But, they do know that more than 90 percent of cases occur in areas that are home to the parasitic Onchocerca Volvulus worm, which is carried by insects, and vitamin B6 deficiency could be a factor.
"At first we cast the net wide," CDC disease detection director Dr. Scott Dowell said. "We ruled out three dozen potential causes and we are working on a handful of probabilities."
Though experts don't expect a worldwide epidemic—the disorder doesn't appear to be contagious at this point—they are taking some precautions to ensure it (hopefully) doesn't spread beyond the affected regions.
"We know from past experience an unknown disease could end up having more global implications," Dr. Dowell said.
Called nodding disease, the zombie-like disorder has spread to more than 3,000 children in Northern Uganda, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) are scrambling to figure it out.
The disease causes the affected children to sit and nod—hence the name—but also has some much weirder, and creepier, effects. The disorder causes severe seizures, amnesiac behavior, stunted development and extreme pyromania. Affected children often start fires or wander off, and more than 200 deaths have been reported from incidences caused by the infected, i.e. fires.
One parent, Grace Lagat, said several villagers have taken to tying infected children up to keep them from wandering off. She says her son, Thomas, often bites and gnashes at the rope to try and get free.
"When I am going to the garden, I tie them with cloth," Lagat told CNN. "If I don't tie them I come back and find that they have disappeared."
The disease has been popping up in smaller outbreaks the past four years, though it is now bordering on a regional epidemic.
With everyone from WHO to the CDC on the case, scientists have still not figured out the cause, or a cure. But, they do know that more than 90 percent of cases occur in areas that are home to the parasitic Onchocerca Volvulus worm, which is carried by insects, and vitamin B6 deficiency could be a factor.
"At first we cast the net wide," CDC disease detection director Dr. Scott Dowell said. "We ruled out three dozen potential causes and we are working on a handful of probabilities."
Though experts don't expect a worldwide epidemic—the disorder doesn't appear to be contagious at this point—they are taking some precautions to ensure it (hopefully) doesn't spread beyond the affected regions.
"We know from past experience an unknown disease could end up having more global implications," Dr. Dowell said.
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