Foreign
POPULAR Nollywood actress, Ini Edo and actor, IK Ogbonna were recently unveiled as Niyel Immunization Champions. In this role, they have committed to an ongoing partnership with Niyel to reorient the public on the importance of vaccines and immunization.
The recent event took place in Lagos State, Nigeria, where the signing of a memorandum of understanding, MoU, and a press conference with the celebrities took place. The event coincided with the global celebration of World Pneumonia Day; a day set aside to raise awareness on the deadly nature of pneumonia and to highlight global action to protect against pneumonia, including the use of pneumococcal vaccines.
Niyel was represented in the unveiling and MoU signing by its Senior Advocacy Officer, Obinna Ebirim. In his opening remarks, he said:
“Pneumonia is a life-threatening illness but can be prevented through vaccines. However, many are missing out on the preventive pneumococcal vaccines. Engaging celebrities like Ini Edo and IK Ogbanna with numerous fans across many African countries and huge online followship, is a good strategy to reach many who are missing out on these vaccines and increase their confidence in immunization. Vaccines save millions of lives yearly and protect us, our children, and communities from many deadly diseases. We call on other celebrities to join these Nollywood stars to become champions and save lives.”
Speaking on why they decided to partner with Niyel on this social cause, Ini Edo highlighted the increasing number of unvaccinated children in Nigeria and Africa which worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic in part due to unnecessary fear and unfounded rumours.
She said that this led to resurgence of some vaccine-preventable diseases, increased the number of children falling ill from these diseases and more associated deaths.
The award-winning Nigerian actress adds: “The increasing number of unvaccinated children, leading to increased cases of vaccine-preventable diseases and deaths, is worrisome. As celebrities, we must use our popularity to save lives by educating our audience on the importance of vaccines and correcting misconceptions around immunization. My colleague IK and I have agreed to become Niyel Immunization Champions because it is a worthy cause and aligns with our passion for doing good.”
Ik Ogbonna stated that as Immunization Champions, they will leverage on their large followship online to share key messages, have weekly LIVE online discussion sessions on vaccines and immunization, burst vaccines myths and conduct online quizzes in which prizes will be won.
He further noted the choice of World Pneumonia Day 2022 to mark the start of this worthy humanitarian cause was intentional, and necessary to highlight the severity of vaccine-preventable diseases such as Pneumonia, and the role vaccines play in preventing associated deaths especially in children. He said:
“It is important that we are starting these media activities as Immunization Champions on World Pneumonia Day 2022 because pneumonia is one the deadliest diseases that is vaccine-preventable and has killed many, especially those that are unvaccinated. We need to double up efforts to ensure that more people are vaccinated. I call on the Nigerian people to engage with our informative posts on our social media pages as Immunization Champions and participate in our weekly LIVE online discussions where we will share key messages, burst false information and rumours on immunization and run fun quizzes where you can win prizes.”
In 2022, the World Health Organization and UNICEF published a report that revealed that 25 million children missed out on essential vaccination in the previous year.
Vaccine distrust and low confidence in immunization, which worsened during the COVID-19 crisis, was a major contributing factor along with large scale misinformation. The increasing number of zero-dose (unvaccinated) children portends a great danger as millions are left with no protection against deadly diseases such as pneumonia.
New report on innovation in Africa finds youth believe the next Mark Zuckerberg could come from the continent
AMA – Africa’s youth prefer using local innovations and believe that the next tech billionaire could come from the continent, according to the recently launched Africa – innovator or imitator? Exploring narratives around Africa’s technological capabilities report by Africa No Filter.
The research was done in Egypt, Morocco, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. The report interviewed 4500 people aged 18 to 35 to find out their perceptions of African-led innovation and if they are influenced by dominant narratives that promote the Global North as superior innovators.
While the image of Africa as an innovator appears to be overshadowed by stereotypes of a ‘backward’ continent that’s largely a recipient of Global North innovations, our study found that young Africans (79%) believed it was possible for poor countries to produce great innovations that can influence the world.
72% said it was possible for their own countries to produce tech billionaires. The majority of respondents (62%) believed in the power of African innovation and preferred using local innovations where they were available.
Technology and innovation have had a rapid impact in shaping the world, Africa included. Local innovations have transformed healthcare, how Africans do business and how African governments interact with citizens. In 2021, Africa accounted for 70% of the total value of mobile money transactions globally and the continent appears to be leading the way in fintech. This year, 109 African fintech start-ups raised over $1 billion in growth funding.
Moky Makura, Executive Director at Africa No Filter, said: “There have been a number of innovations and tech-solutions that show that Africa is an innovative continent. The youth’s positive attitude towards innovation across the continent and in their own countries shows that there’s a lot of potential for the sector; young people are interested in innovating and supporting local innovations. We commissioned the report because we wanted to understand how innovation resonates with young Africans. The report shows that while respondents value homegrown innovation and innovators, more can be done to remove barriers like lack of infrastructure.”
The report also highlighted the following:
1. The West is not necessarily best when it comes to innovation: 62% of respondents believed in the power of African innovation and preferred using local innovations where they were available.
2. The next greatest innovation could emerge from Africa: 48% of respondents saw no reason innovators could not come from Africa, and 24% said they already existed.
3. Africans trust local innovation: 62% of respondents said they trusted and would prioritize using local innovations over international ones. West Africans were the most positive (66%) regionally, while Kenyans (71%) were the most supportive country.
4. Innovation could come from anyone, but government is not seen as the most important driver of tech innovation: 50% of respondents believed that everyone should drive innovation, out of necessity and curiosity, but 44% of respondents felt that government restrictions were a barrier to innovation. Only 37% identified the government as being mainly responsible for innovation.
5. African youth are very aware of the tech innovations in their countries: 64% of respondents said they were aware of the different innovations existing in their countries. There was also a high level of awareness of innovation across the continent.
6. Depending on where you are, innovation is encouraged and supported: 59% of respondents felt that there was support for innovation and innovators, and that there was an enabling environment in their country. Respondents from Kenya (67%) and South Africa (65%) felt innovation and technology were encouraged. Only 39% of Nigerian respondents and 49% of Ghanaian respondents agreed.
7. Infrastructure deficiencies are the main barrier to digital technology and innovation: 53% of respondents cited infrastructure deficiencies as the main barrier to innovation. Regionally, 67% of East Africans are much more likely to identify this problem as a key barrier.
KN
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