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Commercial Bank of Africa Weighs Options to Reduce M-Shwari Fees
Commercial Bank of Africa says it is likely to revise down the 7.5 per cent facilitation fees for its mobile phone-based monthly loans via the M-Shwari platform by end of the year.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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This Humanitarian, Aid-Delivering Drone Is Going to Be Edible
After the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, people living in some mountain villages waited weeks for emergency food to arrive. Landslides had taken out roads, and the country's limited number of helicopters couldn't always safely fly where they were needed.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
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Bridge Schools Re-Open Amid Uncertainty, Controversy
On a rainy Monday afternoon, Bridge International Academy (BIA) in Nsumbi in Wakiso district is abuzz with activity. A number of children, dressed in their light green school uniforms, playfully gait about the school compound.
- Categories
- Education
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Child TB Deaths Set to Fall as Kenya Launches New Drugs
More children are likely to survive tuberculosis, the leading infectious disease killer, after Kenya introduces child-friendly medicines on Oct. 1 - the first country in the world to do so.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The Soaring Achievements of Mobile Wallets in India Might Be Inflated
Mobile wallet companies are growing by leaps and bounds and are hot among investors, but doubts have emerged about whether the numbers on usage and transactions being touted by different sets of players do reflect the reality in terms of business.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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South Africa’s Outdated Patent Laws Are Standing in the Way of Affordable, Lifesaving Drugs
The drug used to treat hepatitis B costs more than 10 times as much in South Africa as it does in India. Protests in Pretoria on Sept. 27 sought to highlight the exorbitant prices of many lifesaving drugs in the country. They lay the blame on medical patent laws that allow drug companies to charge full price for medication that can be purchased for much less in other parts of the world. The hepatitis B treatment, for instance, costs about $400 in South Africa, compared to just $35 in India.
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Cash Shortages Cripple Mobile Money in Zimbabwe
The prevailing cash shortages have suffocated mobile money subscribers, who are failing to get their money or do cash-out transactions.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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New Freeze-Dried Vaccines Let You Just Add Water
Researchers at Harvard and MIT have developed a technique that allows the manufacturing of antimicrobial compounds, vaccines, and antibodies from freeze-dried DNA molecules. The technique could allow vaccines to be made on-site in locations that need them, just like mixing up a jug of Gatorade from some powder and water.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Tags
- vaccines
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