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  • Harm Reduction Should Guide Regulations in Public Healthcare

    Harm Reduction Should Guide Regulations in Public Healthcare

    Stakeholders in the health sector have been challenged to consider harm reduction as a key guide in driving public health strategies in Africa.

     

    Harm reduction refers to interventions aimed at reducing the negative effects of health behaviours without necessarily extinguishing the problematic health behaviours entirely or permanently.

    Speaking during the third annual Harm Reduction Exchange themed: ‘Amplifying the voice of Harm Reduction advocacy across Africa’, the president of the African Medical Association and the Association of Medical Councils of Africa Dr. Kgosi Letlape challenged African governments to adopt harm reduction approaches when regulating public health challenges.

    Harm reduction, he said, is a more transformative strategy than prohibition-based policies and is better than simply advocating for complete abstinence. Harm reduction is a better approach to reducing tobacco-related death and disease.

     

    “Harm reduction is a practical and transformative approach that incorporates community-driven public health strategies including prevention, risk reduction, and health promotion to empower people who use drugs and their families with the choice to live healthy and self-directed,” Dr. Kgosi said.

     

    “We hope that our lobbying efforts will spark renewed conversations on tobacco harm reduction among all stakeholders, including regulators and policymakers, which could lead to effective regulation and access to noncombustible product alternatives for adult smokers who are unable or uninterested in quitting.”

     

    Across the world, harm reduction strategies have been deployed in public health as a pragmatic and compassionate approach to address various issues, particularly in the context of substance use and other risky behaviors. Some of these strategies include Needle Exchange Programs, supervised injection sites, condom distribution, PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis), Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT), Vaping and E-Cigarettes, and supervised consumption of medications.

     

    “Organizations that practice harm reduction incorporate a spectrum of strategies that meet people where they are on their own terms and may serve as a pathway to additional health and social services, including additional prevention, treatment, and recovery services,” Dr. Vivianne Manyeki said.

     

    On her part, Integra Africa Principal Dr. Tendai Mhizha emphasized the role that journalists and media houses should play in handling misinformation and disinformation in tobacco harm reduction discussions.

     

    “The media play a critical role in accelerating the progress towards full uptake of harm reduction strategies in all spheres of health across the continent. With the advent of technology, we find that misinformation and disinformation are becoming increasingly prevalent with the democratization of the information space. Moving forward, there is a need to ensure that stakeholders are well informed with current and relevant information about the science, the changes that occur and how we can advance towards a smoke-free world,” Dr. Tendai said.

     

    Raising awareness for tobacco harm reduction (THR) as a public health strategy encourages adult smokers who are unable or uninterested in quitting tobacco altogether to migrate to noncombustible product alternatives. THR has the potential to bring about one of the greatest public health achievements of our time,” said Dr. Tendai.

    “Harm reduction is the better path forward. With harm reduction, regulators provide adult smokers with information, choice and support to expand the off-ramp from smoking – while also continuing to drive down underage use. Providing adult smokers with less harmful alternatives to cigarettes is a powerful step in achieving this goal,” Public Health Specialist and Secretary General of Harm Reduction Society in Kenya, Dr. Michael Kariuki said.

    Several African countries have already implemented THR policies and programs. For example, South Africa has legalized the sale of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products. Kenya has also taken steps to regulate THR products and is considering legalizing e-cigarettes.

     

    The harmonization of public healthcare regulation of THR products in Africa would be a positive step towards reducing the harms associated with tobacco use. It would also signal that African governments are committed to public health and protecting their citizens from the dangers of tobacco smoke.

     

    By Ogott Eric

  • TUNL Raises $1 Million to Accelerate Growth of E-commerce Exports from Africa

    TUNL Raises $1 Million to Accelerate Growth of E-commerce Exports from Africa

    TUNL, a parcel shipping platform saving e-commerce merchants between 50 to 80% on international shipping costs, has secured $1 million in pre-seed funding from Founders Factory Africa, Digital Africa Ventures, E4E Africa, and Jozi Angels.

     

    The funding will be used to accelerate the company’s growth in its beachhead market of South Africa and begin building toward launching in other strategic African and emerging markets.

     

    Since its launch, TUNL has grown 35% month-on-month, with over 550 merchants now part of its “shipping club”, with the number of merchants doubling in Q3 2023. TUNL’s merchants have shipped over 8,000 international parcels in 2023, representing exports from South Africa worth R19.5 million.

     

    TUNL was founded in 2022 by Matthew Davey and Craig Lowman. The team is driven by the core belief that opening up cross-border trade is the most powerful lever to unlock the huge growth potential of thousands of SMEs in emerging markets, creating sustainable livelihoods and bringing in foreign currency.

     

    Merchants who ship their parcels with TUNL can drive significantly higher conversion at checkout in overseas markets where low shipping costs are expected.

     

    “Our pricing is completely transparent and democratised. We want to ensure that every business, large or small, can have an equal chance to convert overseas sales by reducing the cost of shipping as much as possible,” says Lowman.

     

    As part of TUNL’s drive towards pricing transparency, it has recently launched AI-driven product classification, which forms the basis for full landed cost pricing (parcel delivery with duties and taxes prepaid) – a first-of-its-kind service for South African e-commerce.

     

    “We are excited to be working with this fantastic group of investors who share our vision,” says Davey. “Their pan-African experience will continue to be a huge boost to TUNL as we scale,” adds Lowman.

  • KLM Replaces Older Generation Aircraft with New Airbus A350 Designed to Burn Less Fuel and Make Less Noise

    KLM Replaces Older Generation Aircraft with New Airbus A350 Designed to Burn Less Fuel and Make Less Noise

    ·         The airline has signed an agreement with Airbus for a total of 50 Airbus A350-900 and A350-1000 aircraft to be deployed on intercontinental flights from 2026.

    ·         The new Airbus A350 constitutes a major step in building a cleaner and quieter fleet, producing 40 per cent less noise and burning 25 per cent less fuel than similar aircraft of the older generation.

    KLM plans to renew its older generation long-haul fleet with Airbus A350 family aircraft in the coming years. The Airbus A350 is acknowledged as the most fuel-efficient and silent aircraft of its generation.

    Wide-bodied in design, the new aircraft has substantial benefits in terms of reducing CO2 emissions and noise impact. Procurement is subject to the recommendations of the KLM Works Council.

    Making the announcement, Air-France KLM Air France KLM General Manager for East and Southern Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana Marius van der Ham said, “Today marks a very special day for KLM. We have taken a big step towards our future with the proposed decision of purchasing a new aircraft. We can make our fleet significantly cleaner, quieter and more fuel-efficient with the A350s. This is important because we are all faced with the major task of becoming more sustainable. Furthermore, it gives us an opportunity to offer our passengers much more service and comfort on intercontinental destinations”.

    The Air France KLM Group has signed an agreement with Airbus for a total of 50 Airbus A350-900 and A350-1000 aircraft, with an option for 40 further aircraft.

    The 50 aircraft have been ordered and will be allocated between KLM and Air France according to local market dynamics and regulatory conditions.

    KLM expects to begin deploying the Airbus A350 on intercontinental flights from 2026, replacing its Boeing 777-200ERs, Airbus A330-200s and Airbus A330-300s.

    The new Airbus A350 constitutes a major step in building a cleaner and quieter fleet, producing 40 per cent less noise and burning 25 per cent less fuel than similar aircraft of the older generation.

    The hull of the aircraft largely consists of reinforced, lightweight materials (composites and titanium), ensuring that longer distances can be covered with less fuel. In combination with the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and other operational innovations and efficiency gains, these new aircraft will significantly contribute to making operations cleaner, quieter and more fuel-efficient.

    Besides, it is expected to enhance customer experience, boost comfort and improve efficiency.

  • Data Infinity unveils modern practical assessment center for Kenyan ICT hires

    Data Infinity unveils modern practical assessment center for Kenyan ICT hires

    A leading regional ICT solutions firm has set in motion the process of improving the quality of ICT workers hired across public and private sector organizations following the establishment of the first modern practical assessment center in Nairobi.

    The new facility, based at the firm’s head office and training center in Kenya’s capital, has been designed to give human resource managers and chief technology officers an objective methodology for testing job seekers’ practical knowledge of various ICT tasks and assignments by measuring a candidate’s ability to meet specific job requirements and assess their skills in areas such as coding, programming, system design, database management among others.

    Speaking when he officially unveiled the center at the firm’s inaugural IT Day, Data Infinity CEO Tim Kitonyi explained that there was a major gap estimated at 60 per cent of new hires in the practical skills and theoretical knowledge many ICT workers displayed at the point of being recruited.

    “This has led to much investment in additional training costs and in some cases loss of crucial time to institute critical IT solutions for these organizations,” said Kitonyi.

    He noted that Kenya was particularly affected due to its positioning as a source of ICT workers for other African countries. Kenya, he added, has acquired the status of a regional leader within East Africa with its position as the ‘Silicon Savannah’.

    This elevated status, noted Kitonyi, is as a result of a number of advantages including a thriving tech ecosystem, digitally skilled talent, geographical positioning endowment, and ICT centric public policies. According to Kitonyi, many organizations contend with, is the struggle to hire good IT people. In software for instance, there is a saying that the market glutted. But for other industry players, it is a classic problem of signal to noise ratio. The real problem is not that there isn’t a large pool of talented software engineers; it’s that they’re hard to identify amongst the even larger pool of mediocre engineers.

    With industry estimates projecting that there are less than 5,000 IT professionals in Africa, Data Infinity has invested heavily in attaining the necessary training and certification requirements so that the firm can contribute effectively to the overall growth of home-grown IT talent. Meeting the demand for 120,000 specialized IT professionals requires an investment of Kshs 48 billion by the year 2030.

    This challenge stems from the fact that in apart from the paper certificates, there are no practical platforms to establish the capabilities of new hires

    “Kenya boasts of dedicated government ministries, authorities and programs along with the existence of widespread digital infrastructure. These fundamentals have elevated the country in the region, and as such attracts regional and international attention, capital, networks and resources and leads to several organizations looking for talent here,” explained Kitonyi.

    The firm is cognizant that Africa has always had the advantage of the ability to leapfrog technology progress to utilize the latest available systems. Fortunately, in addition to education interest in IT education, across the industry Data Infinity has developed local capacity through partnership with global technology leaders such as Oracle, Red Hat and Acronis to deliver cutting edge enterprise ICT systems, focused training and cyber security solutions respectively.

    Available research data shows that Africa’s demand for software solutions that address enterprise-wide issues is estimated at 10 percent annually between 2022 and 2032. Kitonyi pointed out that the need for data insights, customer analyses, and all kinds of business processes have strongly increased due to digitization and data that is collected across organizations.

  • Dettol launches handwashing campaign targeting over 10,000 school-going children in Nairobi slums

    Dettol launches handwashing campaign targeting over 10,000 school-going children in Nairobi slums

    Dettol, a leading disinfection and hygiene solutions provider, has launched a handwashing campaign targeting over 10,000 school-going children in Nairobi’s slums. This timely endeavor coincides with the global observance of Global Handwashing Day, with the theme: “Clean hands are within reach”.

     

    According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), two out of every five schools worldwide lack essential handwashing facilities, thus exposing students to a multitude of diseases. Furthermore, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that unclean hands are the main mode of illness transmission in approximately 80 percent of cases, and bringing it home, the 2023 Kenya Economic Survey shows that in 2022, healthcare facilities reported four million cases of diarrheal diseases, with the majority of these cases affecting children.

     

    Under the banner of “Dettol Global Handwashing Campaign,” this month-long campaign will extend crucial support to five schools located in Nairobi’s Kibra and Mathare slums. The initiative entails the provision of essential water tanks and state-of-the-art handwashing stations along with essential hygiene education within these schools ensuring that clean hands are truly within reach for these deserving children”.

     

    “This campaign underscores Dettol’s unwavering commitment to promoting hand hygiene education throughout the country. Our dedication extends to driving access to quality hygiene products designed to protect against illnesses causing germs, all with the ultimate goal of helping Kenyans maintain personal hygiene and create a safe and healthy environment for all,” said Asif Hashimi, Country Manager, Reckitt Kenya.

     

    To maximize the impact and ensure the success of this campaign, Dettol has partnered with Shining Hope for Communities (Shofco), a local advocacy organization that serves the needs of over 350,000 urban slum residents across ten different slum communities in three major cities in Kenya.

  • Dettol launches handwashing campaign targeting over 10,000 school-going children in Nairobi slums

    Dettol launches handwashing campaign targeting over 10,000 school-going children in Nairobi slums

    By Steve Sabai.

    Dettol, a leading disinfection and hygiene solutions provider, has launched a handwashing campaign targeting over 10,000 school-going children in Nairobi’s slums. This timely endeavor coincides with the global observance of Global Handwashing Day, with the theme: “Clean hands are within reach”.

    According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), two out of every five schools worldwide lack essential handwashing facilities, thus exposing students to a multitude of diseases. Furthermore, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that unclean hands are the main mode of illness transmission in approximately 80 percent of cases, and bringing it home, the 2023 Kenya Economic Survey shows that in 2022, healthcare facilities reported four million cases of diarrheal diseases, with the majority of these cases affecting children.

    Under the banner of “Dettol Global Handwashing Campaign,” this month-long campaign will extend crucial support to five schools located in Nairobi’s Kibra and Mathare slums. The initiative entails the provision of essential water tanks and state-of-the-art handwashing stations along with essential hygiene education within these schools ensuring that clean hands are truly within reach for these deserving children”.

    “This campaign underscores Dettol’s unwavering commitment to promoting hand hygiene education throughout the country. Our dedication extends to driving access to quality hygiene products designed to protect against illnesses causing germs, all with the ultimate goal of helping Kenyans maintain personal hygiene and create a safe and healthy environment for all,” said Asif Hashimi, Country Manager, Reckitt Kenya.

    To maximize the impact and ensure the success of this campaign, Dettol has partnered with Shining Hope for Communities (Shofco), a local advocacy organization that serves the needs of over 350,000 urban slum residents across ten different slum communities in three major cities in Kenya namely Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.

  • Connecting With The Best In The Business At Ziiki Media’s Recording Camp

    Connecting With The Best In The Business At Ziiki Media’s Recording Camp

    Ziiki media just concluded their music recording camp ‘ZiiBeats’ as one of their artist support initiatives that provided a constructive platform for artists from different parts of Africa to collaborate and interface their sounds and abilities.

    The camp was designed to promote cutting-edge partnerships by defying genre norms and enabling experimentation, fusion, and synergy among African producers and artists.

    The talented pool of artists represented an international blend of music makers such as Ghana’s Sarkodie, Nigeria’s Iyanya, Tanzania’s Rayvanny, Nandy, and Yammi, Kenya’s new kid on the block Lexsil.

    On the other hand, the lineup boasted an impressive roster of seasoned songwriters including Baby Son and Raspy from South Africa who provided an invaluable addition to the camp.

    Producer extraordinaire CeeBeaats, one of the leading female music producers in the UK hip-hop scene, was also part of the recording camp, with her ability to dip into multiple genres, specializing in the 90s and noughties hip-hop and R&B, Afrobeats, Amapiano, house, dance, UK Garage and pop accompanied by Tyler ICU, a South African singer, DJ, and music producer is known for his unique sound, which blends elements of Amapiano, Afrobeats, and house music.

    Other producers included the Multi-Platinum Selling producer Yumbs from South Africa and the incredible Blaisebeatz who has been a huge part of many artists’ success stories such as Fireboy DML, Chris Brown and Davido.

    These top-rated producers were not only tasked with collaborating with the artists by introducing them to new musical styles and performance techniques to enable them to compete in the global market but also provided guidance and mentorship.

    With the aim to create future hits, ZiiBeats has created a unique environment where artists exchange ideas, gain new perspectives, and potentially find future project collaborators.

    From learning the art of beat-making to understanding the intricacies of producing hit songs, the expertise and guidance of these featured producers will without a doubt have a ripple effect very soon on the musical scene.

  • Huawei to scale up home connections in fiber to every room initiative

    Huawei to scale up home connections in fiber to every room initiative

    Huawei Kenya has announced that it will step up residential internet fiber and connect more homes to the Internet.

    Speaking during the Conext Conference hosted by TESPOK in Nairobi, Tony Li, Chief Technology Officer of Huawei Southern Africa Region said that scaling up internet access for Kenyans using Fixed Wireless Access, mobile technologies and Fixed Networks, using fiber, are critical to deepening digital inclusion and expanding the country’s participation in the global digital economy. The firm’s Fiber To The Room (FTTR) program is expected to double the number of Kenyan homes with internet connectivity from the current level where it is just under 250,000 in total.

    The aspiration is to get to the innovation of 1 Gbps in every room, targeting homes with large families and houses with multiple rooms and levels, with support for up to 16 rooms and responding to the diverse functional needs of each household such as watching movies in the living room, while people are working, video conferencing, gaming, posting to social media or even livestreaming in their private rooms.

    “Leveraging on the new building code that requires all developments to be fiber ready, our set up will involve placing Wi-Fi enabled optical network terminals (ONT) in every room of an apartment unit. This way, Fiber To The Room (FTTR) allows for consistent internet coverage throughout the home, ensuring uninterrupted high-speed connectivity regardless of which room one is in,” he said.

    The Fiber to the Room (FTTR) all-optical Wi-Fi solution directly extends optical fibers to each room, achieving gigabit coverage everywhere at home. It covers Huawei’s innovative photoelectric composite micro-optical cable and FTTR construction solution which represents a quantum leap in cutting-edge home networking, leveraging the power of fibers characterized by their compact size, feather-light build, virtually eternal service life, immunity to electromagnetic interference, and the limitless potential for bandwidth expansion.

    In a world where seamless connectivity is paramount, FTTR emerges as the ultimate solution to the challenge of delivering flawless home network coverage down to every corner. Residents can now enjoy a fresh and compelling alternative for their networking needs including demands for home services such as online education, video streaming, and online gaming, which has recently increased sharply.

    Tony pointed out that partnership with the government was crucial to delivering these modern experiences to Kenyans.

    “We believe the government has an important role to play in 3 particular areas, namely requiring all new buildings to be fiber-ready, with the manholes and ducts to make it easier and quicker to install fiber, and also enhancing competition in the market. The proposed Building Code is a great step in this direction. Secondly, it is important to reduce fiber cuts through coordination with roads and utility agencies as well as using enforcement of relevant laws. Finally, we need to reduce the costs for wayleaves, speed up approvals, and provide access to other shared infrastructure such as power poles or road ducts,” he added.

    The FTTR market consists of two major segments: The first is indoor optical cable installation provided by construction companies and interior design companies. The second is indoor optical cable installation provided by carriers.

    With the advent of cloud computing, virtual reality, gaming, telehealth, remote services, and high capacity services not yet imagined, Kenyans must grapple with updating its Internet’s infrastructure for the 21st century.

  • WorldRemit Founder Challenges De La Rue’s $9.6 million Somaliland Contract

    WorldRemit Founder Challenges De La Rue’s $9.6 million Somaliland Contract

    Sahimiye Foundation has called on De La Rue, the world’s biggest printer of banknotes, to cancel a contentious $9.6 million contract to print 380 billion SL shillings for the Somaliland government. In an open letter to De La Rue, Sahamiye notes the decision to increase money supply in Somaliland will worsen the economic pain that low income and disadvantaged groups of society are currently experiencing.

    The Foundation warned that the new bank notes would double the money in circulation and cause the local currency to lose value against the dollar. “The highly unusual decision to print money, especially at a time when the country is preparing for presidential elections, is predicted to cause the value of the SL shilling to drop from 8,750 to over 20,000 per dollar,” wrote Ismail Ahmed, Sahamiye’s Founder and Director.

    Ismail further warned that De La Rue’s Somaliland contract posed serious legal andethical questions. He noted that there was  no competitive bidding nor approval by parliament before De La Rue was awarded the contract. “I urge you to cancel the contract and return the $9.6 million that the Central Bank of Somaliland sent you to fund the transaction,” he wrote in the letter addressed to De La Rue CEO’s Clive Vacher.

    Ismail challenged Clive to take a principled stand given that De La Rue had a historyof involvement in corruption scandals and was the subject of several investigationsby the UK’s Serious Fraud Office.

    Born and raised in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, Ismail is a UK-based tech entrepreneur and founder of international money transfer service WorldRemit. He currently serves as the Chairman of WorldRemit. He founded Sahamiye Foundation
    in 2021 to promote education and literacy in Somaliland and the Horn of Africa and advocate for policies that foster development. He in 2021 announced that he would commit more than $500 million of his own wealth to the Foundation over a period of 10 years.

  • A Special Customer Service Week

    A Special Customer Service Week

    The first week of October has traditionally over the years been known as the week where most if not all companies give extra appreciation to customers.

    Let us dissect the origin and purpose of Customer Service Week.

    Customer Service Week is an international celebration of the importance of customer service and of the people who serve and support customers on a daily basis.

    Customer Service Week started in 1987.

    A high point in the week’s long history came in 1992 when the U.S. Congress proclaimed Customer Service Week a nationally recognized event, which is celebrated annually during the first full week in October. For 36 years, CSWeek.com has been the official sponsor of Customer Service Week and has provided how-to information, celebration materials imprinted with the Customer Service Week logo, and inspiration from thousands of service and support professionals who share their celebration stories, plans, and ideas.

    Over the years, thousands of companies across the United States and around the globe have celebrated Customer Service Week. They represent leading financial, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, retailing, hospitality, communications, nonprofits, and educational organizations, as well as government agencies, and others.

    When it comes to Insurance companies Xplico Insurance Company Limited this week has special offers for the customers and agents who are crucial for their business.

    On Monday and Tuesday, there are bonuses for agents who reach targets, there will be fuel vouchers issued to lucky winners at their branches country-wide, and lots of other amazing merchandise. Be on the lookout for any Xplico Insurance Company Limited branch near you.