Tanzania’s COVID-denying leader urges prayer as cases climb
Nairobi, Kenya AP Tanzania’s COVID-denying President is calling on citizens for three days of prayer to defeat unnamed “respiratory diseases” amid warnings that the country is seeing a deadly resurgence in infections. “Maybe we have wronged God somewhere,” populist President John Magufuli told mourners at a funeral for his chief secretary, John Kijazi, on Friday. […]
Tanzania says no plans in place to accept COVID-19 vaccines
Dodoma, TanzaniaAP Tanzania’s health ministry says it has no plans in place to accept COVID-19 vaccines, just days after the president of the country of 60 million people expressed doubt about the vaccines without offering evidence. Health Minister Dorothy Gwajima told a press conference in the capital, Dodoma, on Monday that “the ministry has no […]
Tanzania’s leader denies COVID. Now countrymen push back.
Nairobi, Kenya AP Tanzania’s President says God has eliminated COVID-19 in his country. His own church now begs to differ. From the local Catholic authority warning this week of a new wave of coronavirus infections, to government institutions now requiring staffers to take precautions, populist President John Magufuli is being openly questioned as the African […]
Communities “left out” as oil pipeline project set to get underway in East Africa
Nairobi, Kenya Thomson Reuters Foundation A multi-billion dollar oil pipeline planned for East Africa could spell disaster for local communities, charities said on Thursday, warning of lost land and livelihoods unless oil firms listen up and change tack. French energy giant Total and its partner China National Offshore Oil Corporation plan to exploit oil reserves […]
Water management: Floods on record-high Lake Victoria expose need for water cooperation
JUSTIN WANZALA, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on calls for the three countries that share Lake Victoria – Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania – to work together to put systems in place to lessen flood damage….
Coronavirus in Africa: Lack of data raises fears of “silent epidemic”
KATHARINE HOURELD and DAVID LEWIS, of Reuters, report on how the shortage of information detailing the spread of COVID-19 in Africa is hampering efforts to limits its spread…
StrangeSights: Of shaving foam and pingpong balls; “revenge shopping” in South Korea; and, test kits return positives on wrong species…
DAVID ADAMS looks at the odder side of life…
Coronavirus in Africa: Tanzanian churches are a hub for prevention (and potential hotspot) for coronavirus
GEORGIA GEE, writing for Religion Unplugged, looks at how houses of worship in the East African country are responding to the coronavirus pandemic…
At least 20 killed in church stampede in Tanzania
At least 20 people were reportedly crushed to death and 16 others injured after worshippers at an outdoor event in Tanzania stampeded to be anointed with blessed oil, according to reports. Thousands had gathered at a stadium in the northern town of Moshi for the Saturday night service led by Pentecostal pastor Boniface Mwamposa. He invited […]
Spotlight gives hope to Africa’s hunted albinos
Thomson Reuters Foundation Increased funding and awareness campaigns are helping to slow the rates of violence against people with albinism in Africa, according to officials and campaigners. In some countries in sub-Saharan Africa, people with albinism – a lack of pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes – are attacked for their body parts which […]