Kenya’s museums and partners are conserving and promoting indigenous seeds after the government lifted a ban on genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, for farming. The museum says the native seeds are at risk because of the GMO seeds, which the government and some farmers say will help them to produce more crops faster as the region suffers a historic drought. Victoria Amunga reports from Nairobi, Kenya. Videographer: Jimmy Makhulo …

In marking World Polio Day, advocates for a polio-free world are urging nations to commit to a new five-year strategy to eradicate this crippling disease and consign it to the trash bin of history. An estimated 350,000 children were paralyzed by polio when the World Health Organization launched its Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988. In the world today, polio is endemic only in Pakistan, and Afghanistan. So far this year, 29 cases have been recorded, putting the possibility of a polio-free world within reach. The WHO notes the final stretch is the most difficult and cautions nations against letting down their guard too soon. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the 29 recorded cases include a small number in southeast Africa linked to a strain originating in Pakistan. “While it does not affect the WHO African region’s wild polio free certification, it shows us that as long as polio …

Authorities in Cameroon say they are struggling to contain a cholera outbreak in an overcrowded refugee camp on its northern border with Nigeria. In the past week, three people have died in the Minawao refugee camp and at least 81 have been infected from the bacteria, which spreads through dirty water and food. The camp was designed to hold fewer than 15,000 refugees but currently has more than five times that number. The camp located on Cameroon’s northern border is home to 76,000 Nigerians who have fled Boko Haram terrorist attacks. Helen Ngoh, spokesperson for UNHCR Cameroon says the U.N. body needs support to contain the ongoing wave of infections and to prevent future outbreaks in the refugee camp. “In Minawao specifically UNHCR needs at least 450,000 U.S. dollars to be able to increase portable water supply and also to be able to cover an existing gap of 900 latrines …

Photos of Zarghoona Wadood sightseeing in Egypt with two other wheelchair-using women went viral last year in Pakistan, becoming a symbol of what women with disabilities can do. Wadood was just 7 months old when polio paralyzed her legs. Her parents didn’t know to get her vaccinated. “I can’t even move from my bed unless the wheelchair is near me … the wheelchair is a part of me now,” Wadood, now 38 and employed with the U.N. World Food Program, told VOA. She is one of thousands of Pakistanis disabled by polio, an incurable and highly infectious viral disease that can infect a person’s spinal cord, causing muscles to stop working. The invention of polio vaccines in the 1950s and 1960s wiped the disease from the industrialized world, and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative launched in 1988 largely eliminated the disease through mass vaccination campaigns in the developing world as …

India launched a rocket carrying 36 private internet satellites on early Sunday, stepping in to keep the orbital constellation growing after a monthslong interruption related to the war in Ukraine. The liftoff from southern India was the first launch for London-based OneWeb since breaking with the Russian Space Agency in March because of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “We have accomplished the orbit very accurately, now the rocket is in its intended orbit,” said S. Somanath, the chairperson of India’s space agency. He said 16 satellites were put into orbit and expressed optimism that “the remaining 20 satellites will get separated as safely as the first of the 16.” OneWeb now has 462 satellites flying — more than 70% of what the company said it needs to provide broadband services around the world. Despite this year’s disruption, OneWeb said it remains on track to activate global coverage next year with a …

Two more people in an isolation unit of Uganda’s main hospital have tested positive for Ebola, bringing total cases recorded in the facility to five, the health minister said on Sunday. The five confirmed cases in Kampala are the first known transmission of the virus in the city, coming days after the information ministry said the country’s Ebola outbreak was coming under control and was expected to be over by the end of the year. Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng said on Saturday that three patients among 60 people in isolation at Kampala’s Mulago Hospital tested positive for the disease a day earlier. She had said the three infected people had been in contact with a patient from Kassanda district in central Uganda who had died in Mulago. “Two more contacts to the Kassanda case, who are quarantined in Mulago Isolation facility, tested positive for Ebola yesterday…” Aceng said on …

U.S. health regulators Friday estimated that BQ.1 and closely related BQ.1.1 accounted for 16.6% of coronavirus variants in the country, nearly doubling from last week, while Europe expects them to become the dominant variants in a month.  The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said the variants are likely to drive up cases in the coming weeks to months in the European region.  The two variants are descendants of Omicron’s BA.5 subvariant, which is the dominant form of the coronavirus in the United States. Regulators in Europe and the U.S. have recently authorized vaccine boosters that target it.  There is no evidence yet that BQ.1 is linked with increased severity compared with the circulating Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5, European officials said, but warned it may evade some immune protection, citing laboratory studies in Asia.  “These variants [BQ.1 and BQ.1.1] can quite possibly lead to a very bad surge …

As China’s ruling Communist Party holds a congress this week, many Beijing residents are focused on an issue not on the formal agenda: Will the end of the meeting bring an easing of the at times draconian “zero-COVID” policies that are disrupting lives and the economy? It appears to be wishful thinking. As the world moves to a post-pandemic lifestyle, many across China have resigned themselves to lining up several times a week for COVID-19 tests, restrictions on their travels to other regions, and the ever-present possibility of a community lockdown. “There is nothing we can do,” Zhang Yiming, 51, said this week at a park in Beijing. “If we look at the situation abroad, like the United States where over 1 million people have died, right? In China, although it is true that some aspects of our life are not convenient, such as travel and economy, it seems that …

 A decade-old publicity stunt continues shaping modern life. Plus, satellite TV gets a serious upgrade, and the Webb telescope gives us another stunning image. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space. …

The World Health Organization warns physical inactivity can lead to the development of debilitating noncommunicable diseases and millions of premature deaths. Data from 194 countries show governments are not doing enough to encourage their populations to engage in physical activity, including creating the opportunities for people to be more active and move around freely. For example, the World Health Organization reports too few countries encourage active and sustainable transport. It notes just over 40% of countries have road design standards that make walking and cycling safer. Fiona Bull, head of WHO’s physical activity unit within the Department of Health Promotion, said this neglect results in staggering economic, physical, and mental costs. “Our estimates indicate that $27 billion a year or up to 2030, $300 billion dollars (in costs) could be averted if we increased physical activity,” she said. “It estimated that 500 million new cases of key important NCDs (noncommunicable …

Canberra scientists are researching a mysterious new recreational drug not seen before in Australia. The Australian National University says the substance is a “close cousin” of ketamine, a controlled anesthetic used by doctors and veterinarians. The new substance is known as “CanKet” — a Canberra ketamine. It was discovered at Australia’s first government-supported pill-testing center that started as a trial in the national capital earlier this year. The research team says the new drug was handed in at Australia’s first pill-checking center in Canberra. The user thought it was ketamine but said its effects were unusual and wanted it checked by experts at the pill-monitoring service. The drug was presented in a “small plastic bag of crystals and powder.” Australian National University scientists believe the new drug was probably imported from overseas. It is not known whether CanKet has side effects. It is chemically similar to ketamine but has characteristics …

The first Native American woman in space said Wednesday she is overwhelmed by the beauty and delicacy of Mother Earth and is channeling “positive energy” as her five-month mission gets underway. NASA astronaut Nicole Mann said from the International Space Station that she’s received lots of prayers and blessings from her family and tribal community. She is a member of the Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes in Northern California. Mann showed off the dream catcher she took up with her, a childhood gift from her mother that she’s always held dear. The small traditional webbed hoop with feathers is used to offer protection, and she said it’s given her strength during challenging times. Years before joining NASA in 2013, she flew combat in Iraq for the Marines. “It’s the strength to know that I have the support of my family and community back home and that when things …

The World Health Organization said Wednesday it is too early to lift the highest-level alert for the COVID-19 crisis, with the pandemic remaining a global health emergency despite recent progress. The WHO’s emergency committee on COVID-19 met last week and concluded that the pandemic still constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), a status it declared back in January 2020. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters Wednesday that he agreed with the committee’s advice. “The committee emphasized the need to strengthen surveillance and expand access to tests, treatments and vaccines for those most at risk,” he said, speaking from the UN health agency’s headquarters in Geneva. The WHO first declared the COVID-19 outbreak a PHEIC on January 30, 2020, when, outside of China, fewer than 100 cases and no deaths had been reported. Although declaration of a PHEIC is the internationally agreed mechanism for triggering an international …

The eight most recent Ebola cases reported during the outbreak in Uganda have no known links with current patients, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, raising concerns about the spread of the deadly disease. In a briefing, WHO said initial investigations into the cases by Uganda’s Ministry of Health had found they were not contacts of people already known to have Ebola. “We remain concerned that there may be more chains of transmission and more contacts than we know about in the affected communities,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters. There have been 60 confirmed and 20 probable cases since the outbreak began last month, and 44 deaths, the WHO said. The strain spreading in Uganda is the Sudan strain, and the existing vaccines and therapies do not work against it. However, the Ugandan government is collaborating with WHO to set up a trial of two vaccines in …

The World Health Organization said on Wednesday it will temporarily suspend the standard two-dose vaccination regimen for cholera, replacing it with a single dose due to vaccine shortages and rising outbreaks worldwide.  The U.N. agency said “the exceptional decision reflects the grave state of the cholera vaccine stockpile” at a time when countries like Haiti, Syria and Malawi are fighting large outbreaks of the deadly disease, which spreads through contact with contaminated water and food.  As of October 9, Haiti had confirmed 32 cases and 18 deaths from the disease, while many cases were still awaiting confirmation.  “The pivot in strategy will allow for the doses to be used in more countries, at a time of unprecedented rise in cholera outbreaks worldwide,” WHO said in a statement on Wednesday.  The WHO’s emergencies director Mike Ryan told reporters in a briefing that the change in strategy was a sign of the …

Experts say record-breaking floods in Australia are allowing mosquitoes to thrive, increasing the risk of spreading diseases like Japanese Encephalitis. Communities across three states have in recent days been hit by flooding, and more torrential rain is forecast this week. Parts of eastern Australia have been repeatedly flooded in the past two-years. Mosquitoes need stagnant water. Immature insects emerge from eggs and develop underwater until they become pupae, and then adults. Females require blood before laying eggs and can inject saliva and virus into humans when they bite. Mosquito-borne diseases are a perennial problem in Australia, where thousands of people are infected with the Ross River virus each year. In 2021, Japanese Encephalitis gained a significant foothold in Australia for the first time. More than 40 people were infected with the virus, and seven people died, according to government data. The virus moves between mosquitos and water birds. Pigs, too, …

Cameroon says a fresh wave of cholera outbreak provoked by ongoing floods in its northern border with Chad and Nigeria has killed at least 17 people and many more are feared dead in difficult-to-access villages within a week. An emergency meeting by government officials and relief agencies on Wednesday ordered the deployment of humanitarian workers to overcrowded hospitals, especially on the border with Nigeria.  Cameroon’s Public Health Ministry officials say several hundred fresh cholera cases have been detected on the country’s northern border with Nigeria with at least 17 people dead and many other civilians in desperate conditions at hospitals. The government of the central African state on Wednesday said the death toll and suspected infections may be higher as humanitarian workers are not able to travel to towns and villages that are difficult to access. The government says insecurity from ongoing Boko Haram terrorist attacks prevents aid workers from …

A warming climate could bring viruses in the Arctic into contact with new environments and hosts, increasing the risk of “viral spillover,” according to research published Wednesday. Viruses need hosts like humans, animals, plants or fungi to replicate and spread, and occasionally they can jump to a new one that lacks immunity, as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Scientists in Canada wanted to investigate how climate change might affect spillover risk by examining samples from the Arctic landscape of Lake Hazen. It is the largest lake in the world entirely north of the Arctic Circle and “was truly unlike any other place I’ve been,” researcher Graham Colby, now a medical student at the University of Toronto, told AFP. The team sampled soil that becomes a riverbed for melted glacier water in the summer, as well as the lakebed itself — which required clearing snow and drilling through 2 meters of …

There are only about 1,000 mountain gorillas left in the wild and they live in only three countries — the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. To encourage tourists and locals to help protect the endangered gorillas, Rwanda has turned to social media platform Instagram with a project they call GorillaGram. Senanu Tord reports from Kinigi, Rwanda. Videographer: Senanu Tord    …

Who said there is nothing new under the sun?  One of the hottest innovations for the non-polluting generation of electricity is floating photo-voltaics, or FPV, which involves anchoring solar panels in bodies of water, especially lakes, reservoirs and seas. Some projects in Asia incorporate thousands of panels to generate hundreds of megawatts. FPV got a head start in Asia and Europe where it makes a lot of economic sense with open land highly valued for agriculture. The first modest systems were installed in Japan and at a California winery in 2007 and 2008.   On land, a one-megawatt projects requires between one and 1.6 hectares.   Floating solar projects are even more attractive when they can be built on bodies of water adjacent to hydropower plants with existing transmission lines.  Most of the largest such projects are in China and India. There also are large-scale facilities in Brazil, Portugal and Singapore. A …

Long distance runners rely on endurance, determination and the ability to see. Today, steps are being taken to help runners with disabilities, including those who are blind or partially sighted, to compete. Andri Tambunan reports for VOA in this report narrated by Zulfian Bakar. Videographer: Andri Tambunan, Maria Iman-Santoso …