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<p>June 15th is UN World Youth Skills Day and this year’s theme is, “Skills for a Resilient Youth in the Era of Covid-19 and Beyond”, apt for these times in any country and on this occasion CNBC Africa spoke the Vice Chancellor of Rwanda Polytechnic, a cluster of 8 technical colleges, Dr James Gashumba on how they’re prepping the youth for resilience.</p>


James Gashumba on why Rwanda should up-skill its youth for post COVID-19 resilience

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<p>Movement restrictions and other efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus have led to unprecedented disruptions to supply chains. And according to the World Bank, additional border-crossing requirements have led to higher transport costs, affecting agriculture and food commodities. Joshua Rugema, CEO of East Africa Exchange joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Here’s how COVID-19 is impacting EA’s commodity markets

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<p>Burundi launched a three-month nationwide coronavirus screening campaign in Bujumbura, so far over one thousand people have been tested since the launch and 41 people tested positive as of last week. Political &#038; Economic Analyst, Jean Claude Nkundwa joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Burundi embarks on a mass COVID-19 testing drive

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<p>The Kigali International Airport is set to open on the first of August; this is great news for many entrepreneurs who depend on commercial flights for their businesses to thrive. CNBC Africa spoke to Gloria Uwizera Kamanzi, Founder and CEO of Glo Creations for how this new development fits into her recovery strategy.</p>


Rwandan entrepreneurs welcome resumption commercial flight operations on August 1

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<p>It’s been announced by the Ministry of Sports that starting this week certain sporting activities including Cricket, Martial Arts, Badminton and Gymnastics, are allowed to resume. These are added to the list of sports that have already been approved like Golf and cycling. So as sports fans the world over anxiously await the resumption of the NBA season at the end of this month and local sports begin to rebound, could this spark the comeback of a sports sector that was only beginning to take flight before COVID-19? Journalist, Ivan Mugisha joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Rwanda gives green light for provisional sports to resume

Rwanda gives green light for provisional sports to resume, here’s how the sector plans to bounce back from COVID-19

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<p>According to the OECD, foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to developing countries are expected to drop significantly as sectors severely impacted by the pandemic including the primary and manufacturing sectors account for a larger share of their FDI. Zephanie Niyonkuru, Deputy CEO of Rwanda Development Board joins CNBC Africa for more&#8230;.</p>


Rwanda sets out COVID-19 economic recovery plan

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<p>Last year helicopter aviation company Akagera Aviation launched several new programs and services including Rwanda’s first scheduled flights to three major national parks and a pilot training academy. Now a year later the industry has been dealt a blow that no one could’ve foreseen, CNBC Africa spoke with the company’s Business Development Manager, Habba Hadijah Kamwesiga on how they decide to rebound now that Covid-19 measures are being relaxed.</p>


This is how Rwanda’s Akagera Aviation plans to bounce back from COVID-19 crisis

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<p>The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the need for digital solutions across various industries, especially in the health sector. Among different innovations, the Government launched the use of robots in the fight against COVID-19, in a move aimed at reducing contact between medics and patients&#8230;.</p>


How Rwanda is leveraging technology in the fight against COVID-19

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<p>British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta agreed to start negotiations for a post-Brexit trade agreement between the two nations. Economic Analyst, Reginald Kadzuzu joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Kenya

Kenya, UK to resume talks on trade deal

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<p>A $70 million investment deal for cold storage; a partnership to see 5G rolled out to the most remote locations; and the beginning of construction for the Nairobi Railway City; these are the headlines making news in Kenya and CNBC Africa spoke to Journalist, Joseph Bonyo for more.</p>


Safaricom

Safaricom, Aviate Networks partner to roll out 5G to remote locations

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<p>The European Union has released an additional 15 million euros to the fight against desert locusts in East Africa ahead of a potential new wave of swarms in the region. This comes after the EU granted 11 million euros back in February of this year for the same. The Food and Agriculture Organisation is one of the bodies set to receive the funds for this and CNBC Africa spoke to Cyril Ferrand, Senior Technical Officer and Team Leader for Eastern Africa Resilience for more.</p>


EU injects additional $17mn to tackle desert locusts ravaging East Africa

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<p>Digital transformation is a regarded as a key to drive up financial inclusion in Africa and open banking is one of the trends that are reshaping financial services. Polys Hadjikyriakos, Chief Business Development Officer at NETinfo Plc explains why the continent should embrace it.</p>


Why Africa should embrace open banking

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<p>Kenya-based SME consultancy firm, Viffa Consult, has begun identifying sectors with growth potential for SMEs and entrepreneurs to explore despite COVID-19 challenges. They’ve today released the first report in what will be a series, all about the coconut commodity market in Kenya. CNBC Africa spoke to Managing Director, Victor Otieno for more.</p>


How to identify potential growth sectors for SMEs amid COVID-19

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<p>In Uganda like elsewhere, COVID-19 has made the situation for small businesses exceptionally challenging. Now in efforts to soften the blow, United Nations Development Programme has in partnership with Stanbic Bank Uganda launched a facility that aims to help small businesses recover from the impacts of the pandemic. Elsie Attafuah, UNDP Uganda Representative joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Uganda unveils new facility to help its SMEs recover from COVID-19


<p>ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) &#8211; Long after the funding for his project was frozen, Bilal Endris has kept a lonely watch over cemeteries in Ethiopia’s capital by slipping cash to gravediggers to alert his team to any sudden spikes in burials.Older tombstones are seen at the Protestant and Catholic cemetery, open for burials amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Wingate, North of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia June 29, 2020. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri</p>



<p>In a nation where fewer than 2% of deaths are registered, an increase in burials may be one of the first signs that a killer disease is on the loose.</p>



<p>The program was set up to monitor deaths related to HIV/AIDS a decade ago. Now doctor Bilal monitors for a spike in fatalities linked to COVID-19.</p>



<p>He has yet to see one, but projects like his are being set up in other African countries where many deaths go unrecorded, making it hard to assess the scale of a disease. In some cases, nations are dusting off programs set up during Ebola outbreaks.</p>



<p>Bilal himself has secured additional funding to restore the program to all 73 of Addis Ababa’s cemeteries from just 10 now.</p>



<p>Only eight countries in Africa &#8211; Algeria, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Egypt, Mauritius, Namibia, Seychelles, and South Africa &#8211; record more than 75% of deaths, according to the United Nations.</p>



<p>In other regions, where official data is readily available, researchers have used the number of deaths from all causes that exceed the average for the time of year to help gauge the number linked to the coronavirus pandemic.</p>



<p>“In Ethiopia and everywhere across Africa &#8230; we go blind.” Bilal told Reuters. “I wanted to turn the health care system into one based on evidence.”</p>



<p>In the capital Addis Ababa, less than 20% of deaths occur in hospitals, Bilal said, so monitoring deaths requires talking to community leaders and burial grounds.</p>



<p>In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, media reports citing gravediggers alerted authorities to an undetected COVID-19 outbreak in the northern city of Kano in April, when deaths surged from a daily average of 11 to 43.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">COUNTING THE DEAD</h3>



<p>Bilal’s project began tracking burials at all graveyards in Addis Ababa a decade ago.</p>



<p>But in 2018, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) froze its funding, as the country had started using other methods to track HIV mortality, according to a CDC spokeswoman.</p>



<p>Bilal scaled back his surveillance to 10 cemeteries and began working for free, paying sources with a tiny grant from Addis Ababa University &#8211; until May.</p>



<p>City officials called him for a meeting, desperate to know whether COVID-19 was cutting swathes through their city, he said. The Ministry of Health did not respond to requests for comment.</p>



<p>Although official figures are still low &#8211; 7,650 confirmed cases and 127 deaths as of Sunday night &#8211; Ethiopia’s outbreak is accelerating. The university has now given Bilal enough support to restart the program in all 73 graveyards.</p>



<p>“It used to be funded by the CDC but now it is funded by Addis Ababa University as everyone, including the government, thinks the program is very important,” said Dr Wondwossen Amogne, an associate professor in infectious diseases at Addis Ababa University and director of research at the university’s Black Lion Hospital.</p>



<p>Health minister Lia Tadesse confirmed the study was being used by the government to monitor any spikes in death.</p>



<p>As a separate initiative, New York-based public health initiative Resolve to Save Lives is working with five other African nations to set up similar programs, including Rwanda and Senegal. The other three don’t want to be named.Slideshow&nbsp;(4 Images)</p>



<p>They will establish the usual death rate by interviewing community leaders, then watch for spikes.</p>



<p>Deciding whether any excess deaths are due to COVID-19 could be tricky, however. People with other diseases are avoiding hospitals for fear of catching the virus, health officials say.</p>



<p>Bilal’s team has begun asking families at burials whether the dead had any possible COVID-19 symptoms, such as a cough or a fever.</p>


sars-cov-2-5090264_960_720

Counting the burials: African nations scramble to track COVID-19

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<p>Rwanda’s coffee prices have taken a hit on the international global market as the effects on the supply chains take their toll on agriculture exports, but could they rebound back soon? Uwera Robinah, International and Regional Market Development Specialist at the National Agriculture Export Board joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


How Rwanda’s coffee industry plans to recover from COVID-19 induced disruptions

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<p>Workers unions demand reopening, public outcry as a health official doesn’t don a mask and Boda Boda drivers sue the Ugandan government; these are the headlines making news in Uganda. Analyst and Chief Strategist at Impact Communication Strategies, Ken Agutamba joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


East Africa

James Gashumba on why Rwanda should up-skill its youth for post COVID-19 resilience

Here’s how COVID-19 is impacting EA’s commodity markets

Burundi embarks on a mass COVID-19 testing drive

Rwandan entrepreneurs welcome resumption commercial flight operations on August 1

Rwanda gives green light for provisional sports to resume, here’s how the sector plans to bounce back from COVID-19

Rwanda sets out COVID-19 economic recovery plan

This is how Rwanda’s Akagera Aviation plans to bounce back from COVID-19 crisis

How Rwanda is leveraging technology in the fight against COVID-19

Kenya, UK to resume talks on trade deal

Safaricom, Aviate Networks partner to roll out 5G to remote locations

EU injects additional $17mn to tackle desert locusts ravaging East Africa

Why Africa should embrace open banking

How to identify potential growth sectors for SMEs amid COVID-19

Uganda unveils new facility to help its SMEs recover from COVID-19

Counting the burials: African nations scramble to track COVID-19

How Rwanda’s coffee industry plans to recover from COVID-19 induced disruptions

COVID-19: Ugandan unions demand reopening of economy

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East Africa

James Gashumba on why Rwanda should up-skill its youth for post COVID-19 resilience

Here’s how COVID-19 is impacting EA’s commodity markets

Burundi embarks on a mass COVID-19 testing drive

Rwandan entrepreneurs welcome resumption commercial flight operations on August 1

Rwanda gives green light for provisional sports to resume, here’s how the sector plans to bounce back from COVID-19

Rwanda sets out COVID-19 economic recovery plan

This is how Rwanda’s Akagera Aviation plans to bounce back from COVID-19 crisis

How Rwanda is leveraging technology in the fight against COVID-19

Kenya, UK to resume talks on trade deal

Safaricom, Aviate Networks partner to roll out 5G to remote locations

EU injects additional $17mn to tackle desert locusts ravaging East Africa

Why Africa should embrace open banking

How to identify potential growth sectors for SMEs amid COVID-19

Uganda unveils new facility to help its SMEs recover from COVID-19

Counting the burials: African nations scramble to track COVID-19

How Rwanda’s coffee industry plans to recover from COVID-19 induced disruptions

COVID-19: Ugandan unions demand reopening of economy

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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