Author: Sam Turken

SEATTLE — A new study conducted in Ethiopia has concluded that chickens can repel mosquitos, a finding that can potentially help prevent the spread of malaria. The study—led by Swedish University of Agricultural Science professor, Rickard Ignell—demonstrated that some mosquitos are less likely to bite chickens than other animals. People who sleep in a room near a chicken or with the odor of the birds can reduce their chances of being bitten by malaria-carrying mosquitos. Malaria remains a threat in Africa after it killed over 390,000 Africans last year. Although malaria infection and death rates have declined, mosquitos have changed…

SEATTLE — Unlike most U.S. legislation, three anti-poverty measures have avoided falling victim to the partisanship and divisions that currently characterize Congress. Over the past six months, the Global Food Security Act, the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act and the Electrify Africa Act was passed by Congress with bipartisan support. The bills will increase the U.S.’s involvement in improving access to food and energy in developing countries and help make American assistance efforts more efficient. The Global Food Security Act Passed by Congress on July 8, the bill authorizes a comprehensive strategic approach for global hunger relief efforts —…

ACCRA, Ghana — After several decades of limited rice production in Ghana, a new technology is helping to boost the country’s rice harvests. Urea Deep Placement (UDP) has helped increase rice farmers’ yields by as much as 300 percent and limited the negative impacts of rice farming on the environment, according to the U.S. Agency for International Aid and Development (USAID). The fertilizer application technology has also provided rural Ghanaian women with more job opportunities and independence. UDP was introduced to farmers in Ghana through USAID’s Feed the Future initiative, which aims to increase agricultural productivity, empower female farmers and…

SEATTLE — Two new cases of polio in Nigeria, in the northeastern state of Borno specifically, have set off a massive vaccination drive to prevent the spread of the disease across Africa. Over the coming months, the Nigerian health ministry and World Health Organization (WHO) plan to vaccinate about five million children in several rounds across the rest of northeast Nigeria near Lake Chad. The campaign will extend to parts of Chad, Cameroon and the Central African Republic, according to the WHO. “The overriding priority now is to rapidly immunize all children around the affected area and ensure that no other children succumb…

SEATTLE — Kenya and Tanzania plan to build two of sub-Saharan Africa’s largest ports in hopes of facilitating trade in East Africa. The new ports in Lamu, Kenya and Bagamoyo, Tanzania will join the ports at Mombosa, Kenya and Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam as sub-Saharan Africa’s most important shipping centers. By providing transportation routes across land-locked countries in East Africa, the ports will improve commerce throughout a region that has struggled to transport goods to global markets. But Kenya and Tanzania have to finalize the funding of the projects before the ports can be completed. The China Communications Construction Company…

SEATTLE — Nearly six years after cholera became endemic in Haiti, the World Health Organization hopes a new vaccine program can rid the country of the bacterial disease. The WHO, along with the Haitian government, aims to vaccinate at least 868,000 people over the next year and a half. The vaccine will join other cholera-prevention efforts that involve providing access to chlorinated water, improving sanitation and boosting Haiti’s health system, which has struggled to provide adequate medical care. According to the report by the United Nations News Center, the vaccine, which has an efficacy of 65 percent, has been administered…

SEATTLE — The U.S. Agency for International Aid and Development (USAID) will invest more than $38 million in four initiatives to help innovators fight global poverty. The pledged investments, which were announced at the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit, are intended to connect researchers and entrepreneurs with investors and capital to develop ways to expand food security and increase energy access in developing countries, according to a release by USAID. USAID administrator Gayle E. Smith said the investments reflect the U.S.’s commitment to relying on entrepreneurship to fulfill development goals and build “more economically prosperous, secure and globally connected communities around…