THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced it will pay an additional EUR3 million to the Airport Communication Project (AIRCOP), financing its work to 2016. AIRCOP is run by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the World Customs Organisation (WCO) and Interpol, and aims to strengthen anti-narcotic detection, interdiction and intelligence capacities in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. …

West African airports have imposed comprehensive health checks on passengers to fight the spread of the Ebola virus. In the region’s most populous country Nigeria, widespread passenger medical screening is under way, using screening, protection, detection and healthcare equipment, some donated by the USA government and Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

Time was when energy projects funded by developed world institutions in poorer jurisdictions tended to be large – major power plants and large infrastructure projects. And while these have certainly had benefits, the value of smaller smarter investments in rural areas is increasingly appreciated.…

Chinese investment in sub-Saharan Africa’s textile processing sector is creating new capacity for finishing, but progress is uneven. Whilst China’s growing presence in the region is far from universally popular, industry figures consulted by International Dyer across the continent were generally positive about the trend.…

SUB-SAHARAN African makers of cosmetics and personal care products are profiting from a growing and increasingly stable regional market, where economic growth is increasing demand for personal luxuries.

A report, ‘Business in Africa – Corporate Insights’ by Dianna Games, Standard Bank South Africa estimates that more than half of Africa’s population would be living in urban areas by 2030 and 60% by 2050, when the population would be about 2.4 billion, compared to 1 billion now.…

The decision to ban 15 medical schools in Cameroon from training doctors has sparked anger, although it has been welcomed by the country’s medical profession.

The National Commission for Training in Medicine, Pharmacy and Dentistry’s move in August has prompted the Vice Chancellor of the Catholic University of Bamenda Michael Suh Niba to call the decision “unjust and unjustifiable”.…

The decision to ban 15 medical schools in Cameroon from training doctors has sparked anger, although it has been welcomed by the country’s medical profession.

The National Commission for Training in Medicine, Pharmacy and Dentistry’s move in August has prompted the Vice Chancellor of the Catholic University of Bamenda Michael Suh Niba to call the decision “unjust and unjustifiable”.…

The vice-chancellor of Cameroon’s English-speaking University of Buea (UB) has declared she is determined to soothe tensions on her campus which have led to a series of violent strikes by students. Buea is one of two public English-speaking universities in majority-Francophone Cameroon.…

IF there is one paint ingredient that marketers agree should be left off the label, it has to be lead. General and scientific opinion agrees this metal causes health problems and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), working with the UN Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) has embarked on plans to eliminate architectural and household lead paints in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2020.…

IF there is one crime condemned worldwide it is the sale and smuggling of counterfeit medicines. Sometimes close copies and sometimes dangerous substances – this crime kills on a grand scale.

Counting the number of its victims accurately is difficult, because of the subversive nature of the trade, but some think-tanks have tried.…