News & Updates

Adam Lakhani, Security Director, Information & Analysis, Europe, Maghreb, West & Central Africa

As Africa gears up for a series of pivotal elections in 2025, including the recent ones in Gabon on 12 April, Malawi in September, and Tanzania, Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire in October, it is crucial for organisations operating in these countries to be well-prepared despite it being early days. The political landscape in these countries is expected to be dynamic, with the potential for localised unrest and disruptions. Businesses operating in these countries are encouraged to strategise on ways to navigate these potential risks effectively.

Understanding the need for safety

The upcoming elections in Central, Eastern and Western Africa are set against a backdrop of significant political activity and, in some cases, historical tensions. Evidence has proven that precautions are not just a safety tick-box exercise but critical for employee safety.

The past elections in Côte d’Ivoire have been marked by significant unrest and violence. The 2010 presidential election led to a major crisis when incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo refused to concede defeat to Alassane Ouattara. This resulted in a civil war that lasted several months, with around 3,000 casualties and widespread displacement. The 2020 polls, albeit comparatively more peaceful, also saw fatal unrest. This year, several strong contenders, including President Ouattara and former First Lady Simone Gbagbo, are expected to vie for the presidency.

In Cameroon, the elections are equally expected to be marked by tensions. President Paul Biya’s ruling party, Rassemblement démocratique du Peuple Camerounais, will be contending for an eighth presidential term. With the party having held power since the country’s independence in 1960, this news has been divisive among Cameroonians. Additionally, ongoing conflicts in the Anglophone regions and the Far North, including separatist violence and jihadist threats, are contributing to overall instability in the country.

In Malawi, the 2019 presidential election led to widespread protests and violence after allegations of electoral fraud. The protesters called for then-President Peter Mutharika to step down. The unrest that occurred during months of election-related protests led to injuries and deaths among protesters. This year, our security team expects political unrest to occur if there are widespread concerns about the transparency of the electoral process.

The elections in these five countries are thus expected to bring about heightened political tensions, with potential implications for security and business continuity.

Key Security Challenges

Social Unrest and Political Tensions: Election periods often coincide with increased social unrest and political tensions. Protests, demonstrations, and targeted political violence can disrupt normal operations and pose risks to personnel.
Localised Unrest and Violence: As seen in previous elections, localised unrest and violence can occur, particularly around polling days and the announcement of results. Organisations should anticipate and plan for such eventualities to ensure their workforce’s safety and operations continuity.
Operational Disruptions: Disruptions to telecommunications, transportation, and other critical infrastructure are common during election periods. Organisations must be prepared to adapt quickly to these changes to maintain operational continuity.

Security Recommendations for Organisations

To mitigate security risks ahead of and during the upcoming elections in Africa this year, we recommend the following measures:

Review contingency plans: Be prepared for a potential deterioration in the security environment by ensuring country-level contingency plans, including evacuation, relocation and stand-fast plans, are current and aligned with the latest developments. Brief your in-country workforce on these plans, and on their roles and responsibilities.
Undertake site security reviews and vulnerability assessments: Ensure office and site security measures are appropriate for the risk environment. Map out key locations such as worksites and accommodation relative to main flashpoints, and how workforce, site and route safety might be impacted by associated unrest.
Stay apprised of the latest developments: Closely monitor for information on scheduled or impromptu protests as well as relevant indicators for changes in the security environment that could influence the ability of your workforce to travel to these countries and/or remain in-country. Ensure that your in-country workforce has access to reliable and timely information, and advice in relation to protests and associated disruption. For example, via our Workforce Resilience subscription, Managers and their teams have access to 24/7 intelligence from our security analysts.
Maintain open communications:Ensure that communications plans are resilient, and that your in-country teams have access to multiple modes of communication. In-country workforce should be prepared for short-notice disruption to telecommunications services and should maintain a list of emergency contacts, both electronically and on paper.
Exercise heightened vigilance during protests: Advise your in-country employees to avoid associated protests as a precaution due to the risk of potential violence. If movement is unavoidable, undertake journeys either early morning or late afternoon. Avoid travel during hours of darkness. Employees should also exercise heightened diligence around polling stations and anticipate a heavy security force deployment on and around election day.

Organisations must be proactive in preparations as we approach the 2025 elections across several African countries. By understanding any potential challenges and implementing recommended measures, businesses operating in these potential high-risk areas can navigate the election periods with better preparedness to ensure the safety and continuity of their operations.

CNN — The approval of the first malaria treatment for newborns and young infants could lead to imminent widespread use in Africa, drugmaker Novartis said Tuesday.

The drug, known as Coartem Baby or Riamet Baby in some countries, has been approved by Swiss authorities for use in babies weighing between 2 kilograms (4 pounds, 6 ounces) and 5 kilograms (11 pounds) and is formulated to be easy for them to take, Novartis said.

Coartem Baby already has approval in the West African nation of Ghana and Novartis said it now expects eight African countries to grant their own approvals within 90 days. The countries – Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda – also participated in the assessment of the drug.

Vas Narasimhan, chief executive of Novartis, said in a news release that this first clinically proven malaria treatment for newborns and young babies ensures “even the smallest and most vulnerable can finally receive the care they deserve.”

Until now, the smallest babies have been treated for malaria, a potentially deadly disease spread by mosquitoes, with medications designed for older children. Novartis, the Swiss pharmaceutical corporation behind the newly approved drug, says this can expose newborns to the risk of overdose and toxicity.

“Most clinical trials have historically excluded babies under six months old,” Novartis spokesman Ruairidh Villar told CNN.

There were 263 million cases of malaria and 597,000 deaths in 2023 – nearly all of them in Africa, according to World Health Organization data. Children under the age of 5 accounted for about three in four malaria deaths in the region.

The medicine was developed by Novartis in collaboration with the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), a Switzerland-based not-for-profit organization.

Novartis told CNN that it plans to “roll out the medicine in the coming weeks on a largely not-for-profit basis.”

“Malaria is one of the world’s deadliest diseases, particularly among children. But with the right resources and focus, it can be eliminated,” said Martin Fitchet, chief executive of MMV.

“The approval of Coartem Baby provides a necessary medicine with an optimized dose to treat an otherwise neglected group of patients and offers a valuable addition to the antimalarial toolbox.”

Africa CDC and the African Union – Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) have launched two bold strategies to counter rising health threats driven by climate change, urbanisation and zoonotic spillover.

Zoonotic Disease Prevention & Control Strategy (2025–2030)
Climate Change & Health Strategic Framework (2025–2029)

These frameworks translate the One Health approach into action – linking human, animal and environmental health to prevent outbreaks before they happen.

By Nana Karikari, Senior International Affairs and Political Analyst

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued an urgent warning to the global community. Mpox (formerly monkeypox), remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). WHO Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, issued this proclamation following a groundbreaking round of discussions from the International Health Regulations (IHR) Emergency Committee that met early this month. A task force of the world’s leading health experts reviewed the current situation and advised that the emergency status must continue. In a joint statement, Mr Ghebreyesus said, despite the progress from some countries in controlling the outbreak, the overall situation is still alarming. He explained that the decision was taken in consideration of the continued rise in Mpox cases. This includes a recent uptick in West Africa, and probably underreported transmission in countries outside of the continent.


“Ongoing operational challenges in responding to the event, including concerning surveillance and diagnostics, as well as a lack of funding, make prioritizing response interventions challenging and require continued international support,” Mr Ghebreyesus said.

The Heavy Cost of Unseen Gaps Mpox, a viral disease related to smallpox, has tragically re-emerged and taken a devastating toll in many parts of the African continent, especially in Central and West Africa. The WHO’s global Mpox trends paint a troubling picture, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) still a hotspot. The DRC records 200 to 600 new cases every week. These numbers are more than statistics; they are a silent cry of unimaginable pain, countless disrupted lives, and massive pressure on already fragile healthcare systems stretched to the breaking point. According to UNICEF, children are bearing the brunt of these epidemics. They account for almost 60% of infections in Burundi, and a staggering 77% of child deaths in the


DRC among children under the age of 15 years, demonstrating the profound impact on Africa’s youngest populations. Also, the ongoing violence and instability in countries like the DRC are major hindrances to public health interventions. It also makes access to basic health services difficult for displaced people, contributing to the emergency. Cross-border appeals highlight a funding shortfall, with over US$220 million needed to adequately address the Mpox in affected countries.

A Spreading Shadow Over the Continent

The scope of the disease is exploding. While cases in Uganda and Burundi are facing a moderate increase in cases, the emergence of new cases in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Liberia is particularly alarming.

These regions had previously reported few cases. The recent upticks signal a troubling spread of the outbreak. Mpox’s global reach is expanding, with outbreaks of both Clade I and Clade II being reported in other regions. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed that the Clade I Mpox virus is driving the current transmission in several countries, including Uganda and Zambia. The virus is widespread in Burundi, DRC, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. The CDC further reports that there is also continued transmission in the Central African Republic and the Republic of the Congo. CDC data shows Nigeria has recorded 332 cases and three deaths so far.


Global Reach of Mpox Clade I Mpox has also caused localized person-to-person outbreaks in non-endemic countries, through sexual contact, household exposure, and healthcare-associated transmission, especially in the absence of infection control precautions.

Since early this month, there have been Clade I Mpox cases that are travel-related reported outside the continent of Africa, particularly in Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, India, the United Kingdom, the United States, and several European countries. Meanwhile, the CDC announced that the global Mpox clade II outbreak driven by that subclade IIb surpassed 100k cases in 122 countries, including 115 that had never previously reported Mpox. This global spread highlights the underhanded nature of Mpox, proving that it can cross geographical boundaries and showing the interconnected nature of global health security.

Ghana’s Determined Fight

For the people of Ghana, this international alert reinforces a necessary call to action. The Ghana Health Service (GHS) remains at the forefront, monitoring closely. Local reports have begun to indicate increased numbers of confirmed Mpox cases. So far, Ghana has recorded 133 confirmed cases of Mpox. These cases have spread to over ten regions, prompting intensified surveillance efforts. According to the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), the infections have been largely concentrated in the Western and Western North Regions, with males forming the majority of cases.

Ghana’s approach is based on prior experience. The nation recorded its first Mpox case in June 2022. It had reported 127 confirmed cases and four deaths to the WHO since the outbreak began that year, highlighting existing alertness and response capability.


The GHS has announced plans to purchase Mpox vaccines in response to the rising number of human-to-human transmissions of the disease in the country. Director of Public Health for the GHS, Dr. Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, has confirmed that arrangements are underway to identify vulnerable populations to be vaccinated to avoid the spread of the virus. GHS has also asked Ghanaians to maintain high personal hygiene standards, reduce direct body contact with symptom-showing people, and report immediately to the hospital upon experiencing rash, fever, and lymph node swelling. Taking this proactive approach will help protect every life and community.

WHO: Updated recommendations

The global health agency also issued the committee’s revised temporary recommendations to member states that are experiencing Mpox outbreaks to support their efforts to prevent and control the spread of the disease.

“The upsurge of Mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its spread to neighboring countries was first determined to be PHEIC by Ghebreyesus on 14 August, 2024,” Mr. Ghebreyesus said.

“Since then, the committee has met on three more occasions, and each time has recommended to the director general that the event still constitutes a PHEIC, ” he added.

In tandem with vaccine rollout, countries are encouraged to strengthen disease surveillance systems to detect and report new cases promptly, enhance diagnostic capacity, and investigate outbreaks to better understand transmission dynamics. The multifaceted approach underscores that a comprehensive plan, including both preventive measures and robust response mechanisms, is needed to mitigate or stop the escalating Mpox threat globally.

More mpox diagnostic kits and a proactive approach to community testing is needed to stop Sierra Leone’s growing outbreak, researchers say.

The mpox outbreak began late last year in the small coastal town of Lungi, in northern Sierra Leone, after a man visiting the town had sex with a hotel worker and developed high fever, muscle and body pains, with swollen lymph nodes. He was later transferred to the capital Freetown, where he was diagnosed positive for mpox. Surprisingly, after contact tracing was done, no one, including his wife, tested positive. Health authorities could not trace the hotel worker.

Over the following six months, the virus sped through all four administrative regions of Sierra Leone, and by 1 July 2025, there were around 4500 confirmed cases of mpox and 29 deaths in the country – accounting for roughly half of all confirmed Mpox cases in Africa. Now, the virus is changing as it spreads to neighbouring countries. In early June 2025, Liberia reported 69 mpox cases and Ghana has recorded 108 cases as of 20 June. Ghana’s next-door neighbour, Togo, has also reported a steady rise in cases over the last 3 weeks, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Jia Kangbai, an infectious diseases epidemiologist from Njala University in Sierra Leone, who diagnosed the index case says the outbreak is compounded by a critical shortage of diagnostic kits and testing capacity. Many confirmed cases are from a backlog of samples which may have been collected days earlier. Testing delays are due to limited testing sites, insufficient lab personnel, and resource shortages. By the time results are released, cases have already been spreading in the community.

For Kangbai and other researchers racing to stop the spread of the virus in Sierra Leone, these issues raise the possibility that it will spark a larger outbreak across west Africa’s densely populated region. In a genomic analysis posted on virological.org this May, scientists found that a fast-moving new variant of mpox called G.1 is circulating under the radar and quickly spreading. The virus, which may have already infected 11,000 people in the country, belongs to clade IIb, a variant that circulated for eight years in Nigeria before it caused a global epidemic, primarily among men who have sex with men.

The authors identified evidence of G.1 export from Sierra Leone, including two sequences sampled in the US in March and April 2025, and two samples from Germany in March, posing a broader risk beyond west Africa.

Their findings also indicate cryptic transmission – a situation whereby the virus is circulating at low levels within a population, but its source is difficult to identify – underscored the need to strengthen surveillance and diagnostics. “The response should be proactive rather than reactive,” says Allan Campbell, the laboratory manager at the Sierra Leonean Central Public Health Reference Lab (CPHRL).

The World Health Organization has donated laboratory reagents worth $26,400 to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to boost the screening of confirmed mpox cases in the country. But disease researchers say countries in the west African region will need to heighten cross-border surveillance and testing.

Increasing testing could be a game-changer in identifying infected individuals and ensuring that the outbreak does not become an epidemic and even more widespread across the region and world, says John Demby Sandi, who heads the genomics and molecular laboratory at Kenema Government Hospital Lassa fever (VHF) research lab, in Kenema.