African migrants pay high prices to send money home

JOHANNESBURG, 27 February 2013 (IRIN) - New data from the World Bank has revealed that African migrants pay more to send money home to their families than any other migrant group in the world. full report

Mali a “wake-up call” for drug trafficking, says think tank

ACCRA, 5 February 2013 (IRIN) - At the launch of a Ghana-based Commission on the Impact of Drug-Trafficking on Governance, Security and Development in West Africa, its chair, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, said the situation in Mali should serve as a “wake-up call” to the perils of allowing organized crime to escalate out of control. full report

In Brief: Staples, not export crops, key to tackling Africa’s poverty – report

NAIROBI, 18 January 2013 (IRIN) - Africa could reduce its poverty levels faster by focusing more on the production of staples rather than export crops, according to a study by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). full report

GUINEA-BISSAU: HIV/AIDS fight hit by Global Fund cuts

DAKAR/BISSAU, 12 December 2012 (IRIN) - One year after the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, reduced funding to the Guinea-Bissau government body in charge of coordinating HIV prevention and treatment activities, health centres outside the capital are facing medicine shortages, patients are not receiving the treatment they need, and the transport of patients to treatment centres has been cut. full report

IDPs: African IDP Convention comes into force

NAIROBI, 6 December 2012 (IRIN) - The African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) 2009, also known as the Kampala Convention, came into force on 6 December; it is the world’s first legally binding instrument to cater specifically to people displaced within their own countries. full report

HEALTH: Breaking out of the cold chain

DAKAR, 20 November 2012 (IRIN) - Health workers currently immunizing thousands of children and young adults against Meningitis A in Benin are currently doing so without having to spend days preparing ice packs and sourcing generators and fridges to load on trucks because the vaccine has now won approval for being kept at up to 40 degrees Celsius for as long as four days. full report

GUINEA-BISSAU: Cholera on the rise

BISSAU, 14 November 2012 (IRIN) - As cholera case rates decline in Guinea and Sierra Leone, they are on the rise in Guinea-Bissau, with 1,500 cases reported and nine deaths as of 11 November, according to the Ministry of Health. full report

GUINEA-BISSAU: Fear amid human rights abuses

BISSAU, 9 November 2012 (IRIN) - A 21 October attack in Guinea-Bissau - when soldiers stormed barracks near Bissau's main airport, targeting military figures and leaving six people dead - has provoked more fear than the numerous coups and counter-coups of recent years. full report

GUINEA-BISSAU: Falling cashew exports raise hardship

BISSAU, 15 August 2012 (IRIN) - Cashew nut farmers and traders in Guinea Bissau have been left holding tonnes of produce after India slashed imports, and the low prices being offered are increasing hardship in the coup-prone West African country. full report