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Opinion: Mr. Trump’s ‘Gag Rule’ Will Harm Global Health
With a single memorandum, President Trump may well have made it harder for health workers around the world to fight cancer, H.I.V., Zika and Ebola. The memorandum, signed on Monday, reinstates and expands a policy barring health organizations abroad, many of which provide an array of services, from receiving federal funds if they even talk to women about abortion as a method of family planning.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Tags
- public health
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India’s MFI sector yet to get over demonetisation impact
The microfinance industry is still facing challenges two-and-a-half months into demonetisation, with repayment collection taking a hit in some rural pockets where cash supply is yet to become normal and in parts of Maharashtra and poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, raising the spectre of a deterioration in asset quality.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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MRC Injects R10M Into Fight Against Life Threatening Health Conditions
CAPE TOWN- The Medical Research Council (MRC) has put up R10 million to boost the development of medical technology and programmes focused on the reduction of life-threatening health conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa. Specific emphasis will be placed maternal and child health care.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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MoneyGram Agrees to Merge with Ant Financial
MoneyGram (NASDAQ: MGI), a global provider of innovative money transfer services, and Ant Financial Services Group, one of the world’s leading digital financial services providers and parent company of Alipay, a global mobile payment platform, today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which MoneyGram will merge with Ant Financial, with stockholders of MoneyGram being offered $13.25 per share in cash. The transaction will connect MoneyGram’s money transfer network of 2.4 billion bank and mobile accounts and 350,000 physical locations with Ant Financial’s users, who enjoy a broad suite of technology-based financial services, including payments, credit and insurance products. The combination will provide consumers in over 200 countries and territories with convenient and accessible financial services, which furthers Ant Financial’s mission to promote equal access to financial services globally.
- Categories
- Technology
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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Zika Vaccine Could Be Delayed, Unaffordable After US Army Grants Exclusive Rights to Pharma Company
The U.S. Army’s plan to grant exclusive rights to a promising Zika vaccine to a major pharmaceutical company has raised questions about whether that threatens its future affordability and availability to people in developing countries.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- vaccines
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Viewpoint: Emerging markets should welcome low-cost private schools
MORE than 250m children in developing countries are not in school. Those who do attend often fail to learn anything. According to one study of seven African countries, primary-school pupils receive less than two-and-a-half hours of teaching each day; teachers are absent from class about half of the time. Even when they show up, theirs is a Potemkin pedagogy, lecturing to nonplussed pupils. Only about a quarter of secondary-school pupils in poor countries would reach the basic level of attainment on standardised international tests.
- Categories
- Education
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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What makes Senegal’s digital currency different?
Towards the end of last year, a regional bank for francophone west Africa, Banque Régionale de Marchés (BRM), issued a digital currency in Senegal (which it initially dubbed the eCFA but has since decided to rename). It acts similar to other digital currencies and consumers can interact with it across existing payment platforms, such as electronic and mobile wallets.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Government departments lap up digital payment solutions in India
Online payment service providers and mobile wallet companies have recorded a huge surge in queries and sign-ups from various governmental departments across sectors such as education, health and power, in the last two months. The tie-ups come at a time when these departments have been instructed to carry a majority of their transactions through digital modes to eliminate corruption and reduce the dependence on cash.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- fintech
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