Save The Date For African Fashion Week In London (AFWL) 2017

Over 100 African fashion designers and exhibitors will feature at the 7th edition of Africa Fashion Week between Aug.11, 2017 and Aug.12, 2017 at the Grand hall of the Freemasons in London. Ronke Ademiluyi, founder, Africa Fashion Week Nigeria/London on Wednesday disclosed that the event would be an exhibition of the African fashion whose creations had become unique designs and brands. She said that the designers and exhibitors would be coming from Ghana, Togo, Kenya, South Africa, Congo, Tanzania, Mozambique, Senegal, Uganda and Cameroon.“Some Nigerian designers that will, also, be participating include: Signature Secret, Neopele, Lady Biba, Step Up, Sheila Black Style, House of Bo and Joela Bags.“The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), will lead a delegation of Nigeria’s best emerging designers that will also be accompanied by the Council’s catwalk show,” she said. Ademiluyi also said that 10,000 guests are expected to grace the two-day show at the Freemasons Hall in London to be entertained by 60 catwalk shows with daily exhibitions.

“This year’s show will hold in two days; with five shows, that will have 60 designers on the catwalk, along 40 exhibitors,” she said Ademiluyi said that the African show would be part of activities to promote African fashion before the international community.“Africa Fashion Week London, a sister event to the just concluded Africa Fashion Week Nigeria, is a celebration of African designs, talents and diverse ethnic fashions in the United Kingdom (UK).“It is going to be a celebration of African designs, talents and the diverse ethnic influences that contribute to the development of fashion industry in the UK.“Samson So boye, an established London-based fashion stylist and a creative director behind the brand `Afro chic’ who has worked as a freelance stylist for publications will be our head stylist for AFWL 2017 .

 She said that since the debut of the programme in 2011, it had been identifying and promoting new and emerging designers inspired by the rich culture of Africa and contemporary designs. The princess said that AFWL had become Europe’s largest event for African and African inspired fashion. Ademiluyi said that the show was conceived at promoting new and emerging designers that were inspired by the rich African culture incorporated into contemporary designs. She said that AFWL had become the platform through which designers boost their creativity in African fashion at international markets, as well as the nation’s tourism industry. Ademiluyi, founder of Africa Fashion Week London/Nigeria, said that Africans should appreciate what they had and make efforts to promote them to the rest of the world. The 2017 Africa Fashion Week, Nigeria organised in conjunction with the Lagos State Government, in April and June, showcased the nation’s iconic pride with the theme: “ Celebrating the vibrant Pulse of Africa”.

More than half of the population in Sierra Leone facing food shortages

 

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - As Sierra Leone recovers from the deadly effects of Ebola, more than half the population face food shortages, and many will not cope if further disasters such as drought or floods strike, U.N. food agencies said on Thursday.

Food shortages in most of the West African are caused by problems that predate the Ebola outbreak, the World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said.

Some 3.5 million people do not have enough safe and nutritious food to eat, the agencies said in a report published on Thursday. 

Of that number, around 600,000 people face severe food shortages and are not prepared for sudden shocks such as food price increases, floods or droughts. 

 

The report said the number of people "severely" affected by a lack of food has increased by 60 percent since 2010.

The Ebola outbreak - now officially over - worsened food shortages in some districts, notably Kailahun and Kenema, but in most of the country the problem is chronic, the report said.

"The results confirm that drivers of food insecurity are low agricultural productivity, poverty and a lack of resilience," Nyabenyi Tipo, FAO representative in Sierra Leone, said in a statement. 

Poor roads, the difficulties farmers face in reaching markets, gender inequality, and a lack of alternative means of generating an income, also play a part, Tipo added.

 

Most of the population relies on agriculture for their survival, the report said. 

Rice production fell by 15 percent over the last five years, and only about four percent of farmers grow enough rice to meet their needs for the whole year, Tipo said.

On average, 99 percent of agricultural workers use manual tools and only ten percent have access to better seed varieties, the report said. 

Ebola killed more than 11,300 people and infected some 28,600 as it swept through Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea from 2013 in the world's worst outbreak of the disease.

During the epidemic, many farmers were unable to grow or sell their crops because of travel restrictions, border closures and quarantines, as well as fear of infection. 

Food production in Sierra Leone's bread basket and epicenter of the epidemic stalled, and weekly markets ceased trading because there was nothing to sell, according to the World Bank.

The World Health Organization declared Sierra Leone free of the deadly hemorrhagic fever on March 17, Guinea on June 1, and Liberia on June 9.

According to Thursday's report, the Sierra Leonean districts of Kailahun, Kambia, Port Loko, Pujehun, and Tonkolili have the highest levels of food insecurity.

By identifying vulnerable regions, agencies hope to improve food production and people's access to food, and help communities become more resilient to future crises, the WFP said. 

(Reporting by Lin Taylor @linntayls, Editing by Alex Whiting; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters that covers humanitarian issues, conflicts, global land and property rights, modern slavery and human trafficking, women's rights, and climate change. 

Liberia asks IMF for additional finance and more time

Dear Madame Lagarde

In March 2014, Liberia was hit by the unprecedented outbreak of the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). (photo: IMF Chief Lagarde and president Sirleaf). 

The outbreak permeated the social and economic fabric of our country, significantly undermining our economic activities and thwarting our medium-term development program – the Agenda for Transformation (AfT).

However, the measures put into place, including actions aimed at preventing and controlling infection rates, increasing community engagements and ensuring safe burials, as well as the support of our development partners and the international community, have led to successful containment of the epidemic.

On September 3, 2015 our country was declared Ebola free for the second time by the World Health Organization (WHO). Liberia became the first of the three most-affected countries in West Africa to have been declared Ebola free after more than a year of battling the epidemic, even though more recently there have been a few isolated cases.

We are grateful to the IMF for the financial support it provided to Liberia during the crisis for a total of US$130 million through an ad-hoc augmentation under the ECF, disbursement under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF), and debt relief under the Catastrophe Containment and Relief (CCR) Trust.

The economic impact of Ebola has been compounded by the steep decline in commodity prices.

Prior to the outbreak, our country had been growing at about 8 percent on average since 2011, domestic institutions were being re-built and social and health indicators were improving. However, the epidemic weakened activity in all sectors of the economy, with real GDP growth declining from close to 8½ percent in 2013 to 0.7 percent in 2014.

As the country embarked on the road to recovery in 2015 after the devastating Ebola crisis, it is being further confronted by the sharp decline in prices of our major exports, namely iron ore and rubber.

As a result, planned investments in the mining sector have been put on hold by existing mining operators.  A prolonged period of low commodity prices would significantly undermine our tax and export revenues, and could significantly weaken our medium term growth prospects.

We remain fully committed to the objectives set under our ECF-supported program, although the Ebola outbreak weakened our capacity and led to delays in program implementation.

Taking into account the extremely challenging context, looking back to June and December 2014, our performance remained broadly satisfactory. We met most of the end-June 2014 quantitative performance criteria (PCs) and indicative targets (ITs) except the floor on government revenues, net foreign exchange reserves position, and the ceiling on net domestic assets of the central bank.

We missed the floor on government revenues owing to shortfalls in tax and nontax revenues. The floor on net foreign exchange position was missed following a placement of reserves with a domestic LIBERIA 2 bank.

Nonetheless, revenue performance improved markedly in FY2015 in part with the establishment of the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) on July 1, 2014. We met only two out of seven end-December 2014 PCs due to the Ebola outbreak.

We met three out of seven structural benchmarks (SB) (payroll cleanup, publication of FY2016 budget calendar, and pilot on integration of credit-financed projects into the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS)), whereas the SBs on enhancing cash and liquidity management, strengthening the quality of national accounts and submitting the insurance law were completed but with a delay.

Sierra Leone Ebola survivor Emma Bangura shares her expirence

When I began to feel sick, I was afraid to go to a hospital so I went to my mothers house, but she wouldnt let me in. She called the emergency hotline and an ambulance arrived with people dressed in those protective suits who sprayed me before taking me to a treatment centre. At the time, I thought my mother didnt love me and wanted me to die, but she did the right thing. Now I volunteer as a social worker helping orphans, widows and survivors  anyone whos been hit by #Ebola. Emma Bangura, Ebola survivor, from #SierraLeone. 

By UNICEF

Ebola outbreak ends in Guinea, Says WHO.

he World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the end of the Ebola outbreak in Guinea, two years after the epidemic began there.

Guineans are expected to celebrate the landmark with concerts and fireworks.

The disease killed more than 2,500 people in the West African state, and a further 9,000 in neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone.

However, Liberia has had new cases since the declaration.

 country is considered free of human-to-human transmission once two 21-day incubation periods have passed since the last known case tested negative for a second time.

"It's the best year-end present that God could give to Guinea, and the best news that Guineans could hope for," Ebola survivor Alama Kambou Dore told AFP news agency.

Local health workers echoed a warning from the WHO that vigilance was still vital despite the mood of celebration.

"We have to be very careful, because even if open transmission has been stopped, the disease has not been totally defeated," said Alpha Seny Souhmah, a Guinean health worker and Ebola survivor.
n a statement, the WHO congratulated the Guinean government and people for showing "extraordinary leadership in fighting the epidemic".

But it also noted that there had been 10 new small outbreaks of the virus between March and November.

"The coming months will be absolutely critical," said Dr Bruce Aylward from the WHO's Ebola response team.

"This is the period when the countries need to be sure that they are fully prepared to prevent, detect and respond to any new cases."

The WHO will maintain surveillance and outbreak response teams in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia throughout 2016, Dr Aylward added.

This is another major milestone in the bumpy road to the end of the worst Ebola outbreak in history. It all started in Guinea when the virus emerged, probably from fruit bats, in a rural community deep in the forest.

Guinea saw far fewer cases than neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone, yet the virus has been circulating there for longer than anywhere else.

I remember travelling through Guinea at the height of the outbreak, and there was still a lot of denial about Ebola; people told me it was a made-up disease. Suspicion is still rife in some communities, and many simply do not trust their government.

Ebola has made a comeback in Liberia after the country twice declared the end of the epidemic, and there is every possibility it could return to Guinea. It will be up to communities to keep the killer virus at bay, by reporting suspicious deaths and encouraging loved ones to seek treatment if they show symptoms of Ebola.

But medical facilities also need to respond quickly, which will happen for the extra 90-day "heightened surveillance" period. A key question is what will happen after that, particularly for the thousands of Ebola survivors who are still facing health problems.

-BBC