Africa Daily

"We import everything and that leads to many challenges such as affordability." A gadget to help a blind person pour a drink and not spill it. Another to count up cash. And yet another to allow them to read a book in six South African languages. These are some examples of the sorts of ‘assistive technology’ now available for people living with a disability. Next week in Nairobi, the ‘Inclusive Africa Conference’ will hear about efforts to get more such technology developed in Africa – and why it’s often out of reach for many of those who need it. Africa Daily discusses these issues with some of those involved. Presenter: Alan Kasujja @kasujja Guests: Calvin Mgogajane, Author and radio presenter; Bernard Chiira, Director of Innovate Now, @startupnanny; Irene Mbari-Kirika, Founder of @inABLEorg Kenya, @IreneKirika2

“Patients will complain of swollen eyelids, watery discharge, crusty eyelids, pain, light sensitivity. And if it is getting more serious, then they will complain of blurry vision.” In today’s episode Alan Kasujja investigates how Benin and Mali successfully eradicated trachoma. The announcement was made by the World Health Organisation this month. This is a disease of the eye caused by bacterial infection. It is the leading infectious cause of blindness, worldwide. Global health authorities say it is a public health problem in over 40 countries in Africa, Central and South America, Asia, the Western Pacific and the Middle East. Nations like Ghana, Malawi, Togo, Morocco and Gambia have all defeated trachoma in recent years. Guests: Kerisha Maharaj and Dr. Amir Kello

Over the past six decades, Dr Edna Adan Ismail has been a nurse and midwife. She has spent her life fighting for maternal health care rights in Somaliland and campaigning against Female Genital Mutilation- a practice which involves the partial or total removal of genitalia. It leaves many women and girls with infections, pain and complications in child birth. She’s been in the news recently because she was awarded The Templeton Prize and prize amounting to almost $1.4 million. The award honours those who “harness the power of the sciences to explore the deepest questions of the universe and humankind’s place and purpose within it”. So today Africa Daily’s Alan Kasujja caught up with Dr Ismail while she was on a trip in London to talk about her life, legacy, maternal healthcare and how it feels to win over a million dollars.

“In diplomacy we always say, there’s no free lunch, there’s a catch somewhere” In this episode, Alan Kasujja speaks to Russian ambassador to Malawi and Zimbabwe, Nikolai Krasilnikov. His country donated 20, 000 tons of fertilizer to Malawi and 18 helicopters to Zimbabwe for policing, wild life protection duties and disaster management. But why is Russia appearing to be going out of its way to find friends in Africa? What’s the end game here? These developments come at a time when South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa is planning to lead an African delegation to the troubled European region. They will be meeting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine and Russia’s head of state Vladimir Putin, in a bid to find a solution to the on-going war. Guests: Nikolai Krasilnikov and Kinsgley Makhubela

“They insulted me: ‘you’re having another boy! When they grow up they become Seleka!’. When I took him for a consultation, I preferred to put a scarf on him and disguise him as a girl. They didn't want to see boys. If they saw them, they threatened to kill them.”In March 2013, the mostly Muslim, anti-government Seleka forces descended on Bangui, the capital of CAR, and overthrew the government of President François Bozizé - killing civilians and looting everything they could lay their hands on. Later, anti-Balaka Christian forces targeted the Muslim population in revenge attacks - and the UN warned of the ethnic cleansing of Bangui. We hear a range of eye-witness accounts of what happened ten years ago – and discuss whether the country is any closer to peace and security.Presenter: Alan Kasujja @kasujja Guests: Samual Murunga and Narcisse Donossio Translated voices courtesy of Médecins Sans Frontières' CAR 10 years of violence project.

Sickle cell disease is an inherited condition which primarily impacts people with genetic ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. It’s caused by a defective gene which alters how red blood cells grow, it mutates them and they become sickle shaped. These cells don’t live as long as healthy blood cells and they can block blood vessels. This can cause severe pain and organ failure. The main a cure is a bone-marrow transplant but anyone seeking this in Tanzania had to travel abroad for this treatment. But the opening of Tanzania’s first bone marrow transplant unit for sickle cell patients looks set to change life for people there. Africa Daily’s Alan Kasujja has been looking at the challenges of living with sickle cell disease and how bone marrow transplants work.

It is now over a month since the conflict started in Sudan. Representatives of the Sudanese army and rival Rapid Support Forces have been negotiating in Saudi Arabia for over a week. But so far all commitments to protect civilians and allow access for humanitarian aid have been broken. In past episodes of Africa Daily, we’ve heard the story of people who’s lives have been turned upside down. Now Alan wants to find out about the two forces behind the conflict and whether either of them has an upper hand. #AfricaDaily

Women in Sub-Saharan Africa are twice as likely to get HIV as men. That’s why it was big news when the World Health Organisation approved a new method of HIV prevention in 2021: the dapivirine ring. It’s a silicone band that women insert vaginally and can leave in for four weeks. The ring slowly releases dapivirine, an anti-retroviral drug that stops HIV in its tracks. It’s been hailed as a game changer, but two years after the ring was approved, fewer than a thousand woman globally are using in. Those who can’t get it are starting to get frustrated. So why are African governments so slow to introduce this new method of HIV prevention? When will women be able to access the dapivirine ring? Presenter: Mpho Lakaje Guests: Shakirah Namwanje and Patriciah Jeckonoviah

Eugenia Kargbo is Africa’s first Chief Heat Officer. She was appointed by the government of Sierra Leone, and is responsible for helping people who are struggling from the effects of extreme heat and ‘burning, suffocating sunshine’. Sierra Leone isn’t among Africa’s warmest countries. Mali is thought to be the hottest country on the continent…and in the world. But Sierra Leone has been experiencing higher and higher temperatures in recent years. And Eugenia says it is a much less comfortable place to live today than when she was growing up. So, what solutions does she have for the heat in Sierra Leone? And could these be ideas that help people across Africa? #AfricaDaily

“There are gangs who’ve realised that gay people cannot go to the police so that makes them ‘good victims’ for blackmail... Everybody you speak to has been kitoed or knows someone has been kitoed. And that’s just how rampant it is.”Do you know what the word Kito means? Or Kitorist? Or Kitoed?In Nigeria it’s come to mean when people, usually gangs, use online dating apps to entrap gay people - and then blackmail them. It often involves the victim being attacked and humiliated on film – with the footage then shared on social media. But queer activists are attempting to fight back. For Africa Daily, Mpho Lakaje speaks to Ian Wafula, the reporter on a BBC Africa Eye documentary on the subject, as well as to Nigerian Queer Activist, Walter.To watch the full documentary search for Kito: Blackmailing LGBT Nigeria on the BBC News Africa YouTube page.