Kwame Ogero

Cultivar decline, a progressive reduction in yields from season to season, is a major challenge to sweetpotato farming. This is largely caused by viruses such as sweet potato feathery mottle virus (SPFMV) and sweet potato chlorotic stunt virus (SPCSV). The two are the most devastating in East Africa and can combine to cause sweet potato virus disease often leading to 56 - 98% yield losses. Being vegetatively propagated, sweetpotato accumulates viruses over time.

Morocco develops its own COVID-19 diagnostic kit

The MAScIR Foundation, a research and development institution based in Rabat (Morocco), has designed the country's first COVID-19 diagnostic kit. The RT-PCR diagnostic kit has already been validated by national and foreign laboratories. Read more here.

Cameroon engineers develop ventilator prototype

Cameroon engineers have produced a prototype for a ventilator in response to COVID-19 pandemic. The government is expected to evaluate and support mass production of locally made ventilators to boost the country’s preparedness. Read more here.

Kenyan university student uses 3D printers to make nasal swabs for COVID-19 testing

A biotechnology student at Kenyatta University in Kenya is using 3D printers to produce nasal swabs for coronavirus testing. His invention allows for production of as many as 3,000 swabs a day, greatly enhancing the testing capacity in Kenya that has been hampered by low availability of testing kits. Read more here.