Indigenous African grains such as millet and sorghum are known to be nutritious but are not popular with many, especially the Gen Zers who view the grains as food for the poor. To change this narrative, a Kenyan entrepreneur is using the grains to make snacks and breakfast cereals to promote consumption of indigenous grains and foster environmental sustainability, as Juma Majanga reports from Nairobi. Video by Amos Wangwa. …

Nairobi — A polio vaccination campaign that was planned for November but postponed due to heavy rains and floods is finally taking place in three high risk counties in the northeastern part of Kenya. This comes after 13 cases of the so-called circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (CVDPV2) were discovered last year in the area.  This is the third round of polio vaccination targeting three high-risk counties of Mandera, Wajir and Garissa. The goal, according to Kenya’s ministry of health and its partners, is to reach about 750,000 children under the age of five. About 238,000 children ages 6 to 15 in certain areas will also be vaccinated. Aden Ibrahim, Garissa County director of health, explains. “The first case, the sample was collected in June 2023. It was a child which came from the Somalia side, later became sick and went to a health facility; they [child] were investigated because they …

new york — The U.S. syphilis epidemic isn’t abating, with the rate of infectious cases rising 9% in 2022, according to a new federal government report on sexually transmitted diseases in adults. But there’s some unexpected good news: The rate of new gonorrhea cases fell for the first time in a decade. It’s not clear why syphilis rose 9% while gonorrhea dropped 9%, officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, adding that it’s too soon to know whether a new downward trend is emerging for the latter. They are most focused on syphilis, which is less common than gonorrhea or chlamydia but considered more dangerous. Total cases surpassed 207,000 in 2022, the highest count in the United States since 1950, according to data released Tuesday. And while it continues to have a disproportionate impact on gay and bisexual men, it is expanding in heterosexual men and women, …

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Blantyre, Malawi — The Malawi government and the World Health Organization launched a new COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Monday in 10 of the country’s 29 districts. This is partly in response to new cases confirmed in the past three weeks in several districts across the country. Nsanje District in southern Malawi currently leads in the number of COVID-19 cases recorded this year. George Mbotwa, spokesperson for the district health office, said the district has registered 17 new cases in the past three weeks and some are health workers. “Initially there were two, but we had up to eight cases that were health workers,” he said. “Some of them have now been confirmed as negative, and others are being followed up to ensure that they are fully recovered before they can resume work.” By Monday, Malawi cumulatively recorded 89,202 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 2,686 deaths, since the first cases were confirmed in …

GENEVA — The World Health Organization says great progress has been made in the global elimination of industrially produced trans fat, with nearly half the world’s population protected against the harmful effects of this toxic product. “Five years ago, WHO called on countries and the food sector to eliminate industrially produced trans fats from the food supply. The response has been incredible,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday. “So far, 53 countries have implemented best practice policies, including bans and limits on trans fats, with three more countries on the way. This removes a major health risk for at least 3.7 billion people, or 46% of the world’s population. “These policies are expected to save 183,000 lives every year. Just five years ago, only 6% of the world’s population was protected from this toxic additive with similar policies,” Tedros said. Trans fat is created by adding hydrogen to vegetable oil, …

PETALUMA, Calif. — Last month, Mike Weber got the news every poultry farmer fears: His chickens tested positive for avian flu. Following government rules, Weber’s company, Sunrise Farms, had to slaughter its entire flock of egg-laying hens — 550,000 birds — to prevent the disease from infecting other farms in Sonoma County north of San Francisco. “It’s a trauma. We’re all going through grief as a result of it,” said Weber, standing in an empty hen house. “Petaluma is known as the Egg Basket of the World. It’s devastating to see that egg basket go up in flames.” A year after the bird flu led to record egg prices and widespread shortages, the disease known as highly pathogenic avian influenza is wreaking havoc in California, which escaped the earlier wave of outbreaks that devastated poultry farms in the Midwest. The highly contagious virus has ravaged Sonoma County, where officials have declared …

AZUA, Dominican Republic —  It was a busy Saturday morning at Marcia González’s church. A bishop was visiting, and normally she would have been there helping with logistics, but on this day she was teaching sex education at a local school. “I coordinate activities at the church and my husband is a deacon,” González said. “The bishop comes once a year and children are being confirmed, but I am here because this is important for my community.” For 40 years, González and her husband have pushed for broader sex education in the Dominican Republic, one of four Latin American nations that criminalizes abortion without exceptions. Women face up to two years in prison for having an abortion; penalties for doctors or midwives range from five to 20 years. With a Bible on its flag, the Caribbean country has a powerful lobby of Catholics and evangelicals who are united against decriminalizing abortion. President …

los angeles — Data gathered by NASA’s Perseverance rover have confirmed the existence of ancient lake sediments deposited by water that once filled a giant basin on Mars called Jezero Crater, according to a study published Friday. The findings from ground-penetrating radar observations conducted by the robotic rover substantiate previous orbital imagery and other data leading scientists to theorize that portions of Mars were once covered in water and may have harbored microbial life. The research, led by teams from the University of California at Los Angeles  and the University of Oslo, was published in the journal Science Advances. It was based on subsurface scans taken by the car-sized, six-wheeled rover as it made its way across the Martian surface from the crater floor onto an adjacent expanse of braided, sedimentary-like features resembling, from orbit, the river deltas found on Earth. Soundings from the rover’s RIMFAX radar instrument allow scientists to peer …

Groundbreaking artificial intelligence-assisted technology can help people with voice disorders speak in their natural voice, giving millions a chance to have clearer conversations. VOA’s Julie Taboh reports. Camera: Tina Trinh …

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NAIROBI, Kenya — Researchers say a rhinoceros was impregnated through embryo transfer in the first successful use of a method that they say might later make it possible to save the nearly extinct northern white rhino subspecies.  The experiment was conducted with the less endangered southern white rhino subspecies. Researchers created an embryo in a lab from an egg and sperm collected from rhinos and transferred it into a southern white rhino surrogate mother at the Ol-Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya.  “The successful embryo transfer and pregnancy are a proof of concept and allow [researchers] to now safely move to the transfer of northern white rhino embryos — a cornerstone in the mission to save the northern white rhino from extinction,” the group said in a statement Wednesday.  However, the team learned of the pregnancy only after the surrogate mother died of a bacterial infection in November 2023. The rhino was infected …

Windhoek, Namibia — Namibian President Hage Geingob is set to undergo medical treatment in the United States after an exam found the possible return of cancerous cells in his body, according to a news release from his office Wednesday. Having been diagnosed, treated and cleared of prostate cancer, Geingob was again found to have cancerous cells after undergoing colonoscopy, gastroscopy and biopsy procedures earlier this month. The CEO of the Cancer Association of Namibia, Rolf Hansen, told VOA the president has been open about his cancer diagnosis in the past. He said early detection and treatment played a big role in Geingob’s past treatment and recovery. “The scope that was done indicates that there might be cancerous cells in the soft tissue, perhaps the gut, the stomach, something like this,” Hansen said. “But until there is a formal prognosis by a doctor that has been publicly released, it’s all speculation.” Political …