The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has urged African Union member states to strengthen their surveillance systems to curb the spread of Marburg virus disease that was detected in Guinea last week.
The latest United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report shows a forthcoming global shift of food insecurity towards Africa. It also points to multiple trends that threaten to undermine decades of global progress towards ensuring universal access to safe, nutritious food. The report says around 690-million people worldwide suffered from undernourishment in 2019. Africa didn’t have the largest number of undernourished people in absolute terms (about 250-million against 380-million in Asia). However, it did have the highest proportion of citizens living without sufficient access to calories (about 19% against 8.3% in Asia).