Rapper Akon lights up two more African nations with solar power.

Rapper Akon lights up two more African nations with solar power.The Senegalese-American artist Akon is looking skywards to splash his cash by investing in solar power projects across Africa. The rapper added The Gambia and Cape Verde to his Akon Lighting Africa initiative this weekend, a fund that already helps populations who struggle to connect to limited or absent national grids in 25 African countries. The Gambian village of Sareh Pateh, population 4,000, turned on solar street lights for the first time on Sunday night, along with power for a mosque and a pharmacy. Akon, real name Aliaume Damala Badara Akon Thiam, spent part of his childhood in a Senegalese village without electricity before settling in the United States. In Cape Verde on Saturday the musician met with Economy Minister Jose Goncalves and said he considered the poor but stable island nation to be his next investment prospect.The African Renewable Energy Initiative, launched at the Paris COP21 summit in 2015, aims to bring large-scale projects to the continent. source

Dogs may be able to smell malaria in humans and help with quicker detection.

Scientists hope using dogs could revolutionise how malaria is detected, enabling doctors to identify it quickly and without invasive tests Dogs may be able to sniff out malaria through their acute sense of smell, thereby saving thousands of lives through quick and non-invasive detection, scientists have claimed. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded a grant to commission research into the possibility to scientists at Durham University, Medical Detection Dogs and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, along with counterparts in Gambia. It is hoped the animals may be able to detect odors associated with the condition and which are too subtle to be identified by human smell. Previous research has suggested dogs can be highly accurate in detection cancer in humans. Steve Lindsay, expert in the development of malaria-control measures in the School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences at Durham University and principle investigator in the project, said: “Recent research has demonstrated that patients infected with the malaria parasite produce specific odors in their breath that disappear after treatment of the parasite. We also know that malaria mosquitoes prefer to feed on malaria patients, which they almost certainly identify by their odor. “If dogs can be used to identify malaria-infected individuals, they could be used at ports of entry for screening travelers entering areas that are malaria free, but susceptible to re-invasion. Using dogs for detection of parasites has the advantage that it is non-invasive, portable, does not require a laboratory, is fully functional in field settings and can be used to test a high quantity of samples. By using the dogs, we can quickly find and treat those with malaria and thereby hugely accelerating the speed at which we can wipe out this terrible disease altogether.” Dr Claire Guest, CEO of Medical Detection Dogs which trains animals for medical purposes, said: “Dogs have an extraordinary sense of smell. They can detect parts per trillion; that is equivalent to one spoon of sugar in two Olympic-sized swimming pools. In training trials, they have proven themselves to be 93 per cent reliable at detecting cancer. I feel confident they will learn to detect the odor of malaria.” In August of last year, the use of medical detection dogs for sniffing out cancer was approved for use in an NHS trial following evidence the animals are highly reliable at detecting the disease in humans. In 2015, there were an estimated 214 million malaria cases globally and an estimated 438,000 deaths caused by the disease. culled from the independent.co.uk

RE; FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION.

Gambia bans this practice; one down many more countries to go!!!he Gambian government has introduced a ban on Female Genital Mutilation.Information Minister, Sheriff Bojang, on Tuesday in Banjul announced the order by President Yahya Jammeh, which came into force immediately.He said 158 females who carry out circumcision have stopped since a campaign was launched by the Gambia Committee for Traditional Practices. “In May, the committee urged the National Assembly to heed the call by local chiefs and communities to ban FGM in the country.It is not clear whether legislation would be put in place to enforce the ban,” he said. read more here; http://www.premiumtimesng.com/foreign/west-africa-foreign/193849-gambia-bans-female-genital-mutilation.html.