AIDF Africa Summit, 26 - 27 February, Kenya

News & Updates

21 September 2016

Sustainable water management in African agriculture

In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where agriculture is predominantly rainfed, farmers’ access to water is often limited based on seasonal variation. Yet water scarcity in the region is not necessarily caused by a physical lack of water, but rather by an ‘economic water scarcity’. This implies that the necessary public investments in water resources and infrastructure are not substantial enough to meet water demands in an area where people do not have the means to make use of water sources on their own. In fact, in many parts of SSA there is plenty of water available.

21 September 2016

Kenya: Frozen lives of refugee populations

Kenya has one of the largest refugee populations in the world. The East African country hosts over 600,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers. They are mostly from Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Eritrea, Burundi and Uganda. The majority of refugees in Kenya live in the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps. It is estimated that more than 50,000 refugees and asylum seekers live in Kenya’s urban areas.

21 September 2016

Interview with Lena Wahlhed, Director Alliance Development, HemoCue at AIDF Africa Summit 2016

HemoCue is a global leader in a field of near patient testing. Our solutions are being used in high end hospitals as well as in the most rural undeveloped villages – without compromising accuracy. They are being used in emergency situations, in standard routine care as well as in mobile screening programs and mobile hospitals – in any climate. We have been on the African continent since > 15 years.

21 September 2016

Foresight Africa 2016: Africa’s priorities for the year ahead

According to the Foresight Africa report, by the Brookings Institution‘s Africa Growth Initiative, in 2016, African countries will have to react to many changes and challenges coming from outside the continent such as shifting dynamics in the global economy; potential adverse effects of China’s and other emerging economies’ economic slowdown; and decreasing commodity prices, all of which will require mitigation and policy reform.

21 September 2016

Addressing child mortality and transmission of polio virus in Nigeria

Low routine immunization (RI) coverage rates remain a major problem in Nigeria. Over 40% of under-5 years old deaths in the country are attributable to vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs). Furthermore, the country remains one of only three polio endemic countries in the world, alongside Afghanistan and Pakistan. Unless drastic measures are taken to improve coverage of routine immunization urgently, Nigeria cannot adequately reduce child mortality or accelerate progress towards the achievement of MDG 4 goal

19 January 2016

Where there is light, there is hope - how solar power can provide improved healthcare

At the AIDF Africa Summit 2016, NRS International will be participating in a conference panel session on Improving the Lives of Displaced People (3 February, 2.20pm). In this article we explore how solar power can provide IDPs and people living off-the-grid safe access to energy and light, and improved healthcare.

19 January 2016

[INFOGRAPHIC] WASH in Sub-Saharan East Africa

The AIDF infographic shows that 66% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa have access to water and only 30% have access to sanitation. Poor sanitation leads to diarrheal diseases, which are responsible for 17% of all deaths of children under five. The Uganda country study showed that over 75% of the population lack a safe place to go to the toilet and 20% don’t have access to safe water. Furthermore, every year over 8,000 children die from diarrhea caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation.

10 December 2015

Kärcher Futuretech water treatment systems in use in Kathmandu

According to information from the UN, around 4.3 million people were affected by the consequences of the two severe earthquakes in Nepal. To safeguard the population's supply of drinking water, mobile water treatment plants from Kärcher Futuretech were deployed very quickly after the first earthquake. With a 24/7 operational and technical hotline and drinking water experts on hand, Kärcher Futuretech also supported the Federal Agency for Technical Relief.

10 December 2015

International Volunteer Day

5th December was recognised as the International Volunteer Day (IVD) dedicated to celebrating the ongoing efforts of volunteers around the world and the importance of donating time and energy for the benefit of others. IVD was established by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly through Resolution 40/212 on 17 December 1985.

19 November 2015

Celebrating UN World Toilet Day with keynote confirmation from UNICEF

Today’s UN World Toilet Day highlights the largest international development challenges – ending the global water, sanitation and hygiene crisis. While access to improved drinking water sources has been mostly on track and 91% of the global population now have drinking water, access to sanitation is the most lacking target of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). According to the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme report (2015), 2.4 billion people or 68% of the world’s population live without adequate sanitation and 946 million people who defecate in the open.

10 November 2015

[report] Mobile for Development: Transforming Global Healthcare

As technological changes and solution-based innovations forge ahead in near future, the mobile landscape will be transformed. The health sector is increasingly adopting mobile health interventions as it strives to meet patient demand. Once mHealth becomes integrated into public health systems, personalised medicine and population health management will become more desirable.

04 September 2015

[E-book] Best Practices and Lessons Learnt in Emergency Procurement

Looking ahead to the AIDF Global Disaster Relief Summit 2015, the Aid and International Development Forum (AIDF) has released the AIDF Guide to Emergency Procurement. Within disaster relief logistics, procurement accounts for 65% of total expenditures. The latest figures released by the United Nations Procurement Division found the total procurement of goods increased by $826 million, a jump of 12.1 percent. This reflects a stark trend: the last decade has seen a sharp increase in the number of natural disasters across the world.