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Kinshasa — The Democratic Republic of Congo has signed a five-year, $1.2 billion health financing agreement with the United States, officials announced, joining neighboring Uganda in adopting Washington’s new government-to-government aid framework. Under the pact, the DRC will receive $900 million in U.S. assistance while committing to boost domestic health spending by $300 million. The arrangement targets a slate of priority interventions intended to strengthen disease control and maternal-child health services. Program…

Paediatric HIV cure research is yielding cautious optimism: very early antiretroviral therapy (ART) can, in some children, produce periods of ART-free remission — a state in which the virus remains undetectable without ongoing medication — but it has not delivered full viral eradication, researchers say. The long quest for a cure has been complicated by HIV’s capacity to mutate and hide in long-lived viral reservoirs, a challenge that has confounded scientists for more than four decades, reports Sethi Ncube for allAfrica.…

A new scramble for Africa is underway — not with warships or colonial flags, but with battery supply chains, green-transition targets and high-level trade delegations. Governments and corporations are hunting lithium, cobalt, graphite, manganese, platinum-group metals and rare earth elements that power electric vehicles, wind turbines and digital infrastructure. The race promises opportunity for African states; it also risks renewing old patterns of extraction without local benefit or environmental safeguards. The global…

President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah's two sons have rejected as "a blatant lie" allegations by Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) leader Panduleni Itula that they are involved in Namibia's oil industry, issuing a forceful denial on Friday and accusing the opposition of politically motivated smears. Itula earlier linked Ndeli and Nande Ndaitwah — identified by the IPC as members of the country's first family — to the petroleum sector through their private business interests. The opposition leader said the family was…

President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s two sons have rejected as “blatant lies” an accusation by Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) leader Panduleni Itula that they are involved in the oil industry, saying the claims are politically motivated and threaten their safety and rights. Itula, whose party has positioned itself as a vocal critic of the ruling establishment, publicly linked Ndeli and Nande Ndaitwah to the petroleum sector through their private business interests. He said Ndeli’s company, Vaneli Foods, which was once…

HARARE — A group of public health physicians urged Harare and Washington on Thursday to resume negotiations after the collapse of a proposed $367 million bilateral health agreement that health experts say would have strengthened Zimbabwe's fragile health system. The proposed package, officials and health specialists said, was aimed at bolstering priority programs including HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention, tuberculosis control, malaria response, maternal and child health services and disease outbreak preparedness. Its…

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana warned in his 2026 Budget speech that poorly run municipalities face the prospect of having national funds reduced if they fail to "clean up their act," signalling a shift by the national government from "oversight" to "active structural intervention" to stabilise local government finances. Godongwana told Parliament the move is aimed at improving the financial health of municipalities, many of which have long struggled with rising debt, weak revenue collection, and uneven service delivery.…

Malawi launches fresh investigation into Chikangawa military plane crash that killed former Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima and eight others in June 2024, citing gaps in earlier probes. Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Charles Mhango on Tuesday announced a new, comprehensive review of the Chikangawa crash after a government audit found previous inquiries did not provide clear, conclusive explanations for the accident. The minister said a government review of earlier findings — including the national…

More than 150 lawmakers were absent at the start of official proceedings in the Malawi Parliament, lawmakers and observers reported, raising fresh concerns about attendance at sittings where national laws, budgets and policies are debated and approved. The First Deputy Speaker called the widespread absence "very saddening" and warned that members who continue to miss sittings without permission face sanctions, including the withdrawal of parliamentary allowances. Authorities said the pattern undermines the House’s…

The Trump administration is canceling humanitarian aid programs it previously identified as lifesaving, according to an internal State Department email obtained by The Atlantic, a move that could sharply reduce assistance to vulnerable populations in parts of Africa. The internal communication, made public by The Atlantic, says the new round of cuts will end all U.S. humanitarian funding in seven African countries. The report did not identify the countries by name in its initial coverage. The email marks a reversal from…