Nairobi, Kenya 31st July 2021
Month: July 2021
Discovering China’s “democratic centralism” with Dale Fox
Nairobi, Kenya 31st July 2021
How Chinese lawmakers work for the good of the people
Nairobi, Kenya 31st July 2021
Xi Jinping as an avid reader of world masterpieces: A lifelong pursuit of reading
Nairobi, Kenya 31st July 2021
Hello Africa) Food supplement program supporting Zambia’s vulnerable communities
The food supplement program run by the Women’s Federation for World Peace is providing critical nutrition to vulnerable populations in Zambia when COVID-19 creates a lot more hardships.
LUSAKA, July 31 (Xinhua) — It is a Friday and 12-year-old Henry Chileshe is already at a health facility eagerly waiting for the arrival of a van carrying a range of food items.
Like many individuals from vulnerable households in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, Chileshe has become accustomed to visiting a health facility once every week to receive soya flour and some eggs among other things.
“I collect on behalf of my mother who has been unwell for some time and is unable to come through herself,” he explains while putting the eggs properly so they do not break.
He added that he and his four siblings also benefit from the food supplements intended for his mother, an HIV-positive patient.
The food supplement program that Chileshe and others have been benefiting from is an initiative of the Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP) in Zambia that started over a decade ago.
The organization works in collaboration with health facilities. Health facilities identify vulnerable children and adults in need of food supplements and WFWP provides food to those in need for free.
Beneficiaries are often children suffering from malnutrition and adults who are chronically ill and not able to meet their own nutritional needs.
“Initially, the idea was to help mothers of malnourished children meet dietary needs of these children. Vulnerable adults who are HIV-positive and are in need of food supplements are also given,” explained Evelyn Silwamba-Daka, WFWP Secretary in Zambia, who is also in charge of WFWP food program.
Silwamba-Daka mentioned that WFWP food program is being implemented in partnership with two government-run health facilities located in Lusaka’s low-income communities of Mandevu and Garden and currently has over 150 beneficiaries.
She further stressed the need for more public-private partnerships to help meet the high demand for food supplements in low-income communities, stating that in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, most vulnerable homes are now relying on food supplements to avert hunger and starvation.
She also revealed as a way of economically empowering mothers of malnourished children, WFWP also conducts free tailoring courses and helps them purchase sewing machines so that they can raise money to buy food for their households.
Twenty four years old Vanessa Siamukumbe, also one of the beneficiaries, revealed that the food supplements have been helpful in boosting her children’s growth as well as ensuring food security in her home.
Siamukumbe noted that prior to being on the program, her twins who are almost two years old now, were underweight. But after a few months of feeding them porridge made from soya flour, the children registered great improvements.
“The twins are now healthy and very active. They have since gained weight,” she said.
“Even my four-year child is also benefiting from the same food stamps I get for the twins,” she said.
Siamukumbe said that the food supplements have been helpful in ensuring that her children always have something to eat when she does not have the resources to buy food.
Mirriam Bwalya, who is a mother of five, explained that many homes are not able to make ends meet because of the economic malaise resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I shudder to imagine what would have happened if this food program was not there. Vulnerable families are now literally relying on food supplements to avert hunger and starvation,” Bwalya said.
Hello Africa) Kenya’s rhino population rises 11 pct amid zero poaching in 2020: IFAW
Kenya’s rhino population grew 11 percent in 2020 compared to a year ago amid the East African nation’s hard efforts in fighting wildlife crimes.
NAIROBI, July 31 (Xinhua) — An international wildlife organization said Friday there was an 11 percent increase in rhino numbers in Kenya from 1,441 in 2019 to 1,605 in 2020 and no rhinos were lost to poaching last year.
James Isiche, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) regional director for East Africa said the last eight years have seen a continuous decline in rhino poaching incidents, which is a testament to the measures put in place to safeguard rhinos.
Isiche said the COVID-19 pandemic elicited fears of an increase in wildlife poaching. However, he said measures put in place by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and partners like IFAW ensured the safety of these prehistoric animals highly sought after for their horns.
“We congratulate all wildlife security partners and agencies for this major achievement in fighting wildlife crime and keeping Kenya’s rhinos safe. We are glad that the rhino population in Kenya has increased and for the first time in a long time had no rhinos die due to poaching,” Isiche said in a statement issued in Nairobi.
He said IFAW is glad to have a long-standing partnership with KWS and lauded the staff who put their lives in harm’s way just to ensure that Kenya’s wildlife heritage is preserved.
In 2015, KWS put in place a forensic laboratory with a genetic database of rhino and elephant DNA as well as a monitoring system to help obtain critical data, which enables scientists to track endangered species and, if needed, link them to suspected poachers.
(Hello Africa) Kenya says 3 northern white rhino embryos created to save iconic species
Kenyan authorities and conservation partners have announced the successful creation of three additional northern white rhino embryos as efforts to save the iconic herbivore gather steam.
NAIROBI, July 31 (Xinhua) — Kenyan authorities and conservation partners on Friday announced the successful creation of three additional northern white rhino embryos as efforts to save the iconic herbivore gather steam.
Najib Balala, cabinet secretary for tourism and wildlife, said the creation of three healthy northern white rhino embryos, which brought the total number produced so far to 12, marked a milestone in efforts to halt the extinction of the rare species.
“With 12 pure northern white rhinoceros embryos so far developed, the project should now focus on the next steps of embryos’ transfer into surrogate females,” Balala said in a statement issued in Nairobi.
A consortium of local and foreign scientists in early July retrieved 17 eggs from one of the remaining female northern white rhino sheltered at Olpejeta conservancy in northern Kenya, and airlifted them to Italy for fertilization.
Two embryos were produced using sperm from a deceased northern white rhino bull called Suni and the third one was produced from semen retrieved from another deceased northern white rhino bull called Angalifu who died in 2014 and lived in San Diego, the United States.
Scientists hailed the genetic diversity of northern white rhino embryos that have been produced so far, expressing confidence in their ability to transition to healthy calves once they are transferred to surrogate mothers.
Kenyan scientists and their counterparts from Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research of Germany and Safari Park Dvur Kralove of the Czech Republic have since 2019 embarked on producing the next generation of northern white rhino species through artificial insemination.
Thomas B Hildebrandt, leader of the BioRescue project that focuses on producing the next generation of northern white rhinos, said the transfer of embryos to surrogate mothers will be conducted by the end of 2021.
He said two southern white female rhinos that have been identified as surrogate mothers are living at an enclosure within Olpejeta conservancy for enhanced monitoring of their ovulation cycles and ensuring that the transfer of the embryos is seamless
Foreign students learn history of Long March by visiting exhibition in NW China
Nairobi, Kenya 31st July 2021
People in flood-hit Henan show gratitude toward visiting firefighters
Nairobi, Kenya 31st July 2021
An Afghan doctor takes root in Quanzhou, China
Nairobi, Kenya 31st July 2021
The whistling African 
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