According to the WHO, the World Health Organization, in 2012 half of the world’s population was at the risk of Malaria. Every year, this leads to 216 million cases of Malaria and to approximately 655 000 deaths. 

April 25th commemorates World Malaria Day. The theme for 2012 is Sustain Gains, Save Lives: Invest in Malaria. This theme has been chosen to remind the public that, although Malaria deaths have been reduced in the last decade (by 30% in Africa, and by 50% outside of Africa), malaria spreads easily and these numbers are fragile.

The day was first observed in 2007, at the sixtieth session of the World Health Assembly, the board of WHO. The United Nations hopes that the existence of World Malaria Day will open discussion for the countries affected by malaria to learn from each other’s experiences. In addition, for further progress, the UN hopes for new donors to set against malaria, for researchers to share their advances with each other, and for sponsors to showcase their efforts.

Congratulations to Zambia  who yesterday won the World
Championship of Nations – The Africa Cup.   And, just as I thought today couldn’t get greyer and gloomier with the our great British weather, along came Patricia, a student of mine at the London Academy of Diplomacy, looking stunningly beautiful in such a bright colourful outfit. Celebrating her county’s success, she brought a touch of sunshine into our lives and her infectious happiness made us smile. Thank you  Zambia – and Patricia, too!

Today is Red Hand Day. This relatively new day was organized for the first time in 2002 as a coalition to stop the use of child soldiers in wars and armed conflict. The red hand has been used all over the world by many protesters and organizations to say ‘no’ to child recruitment. The goal of the celebration is to draw attention to the issue of child soldiers, thus, on Red Hand Day various public protest and demonstrations take place. As an ongoing public statement the organization is collecting red hand prints. Over the past years more than 350,000 hand prints have been collected…

Halloween Day is celebrated as a festival around the world.

Especially celebrated by the younger generation, this festival of All Hallowes comes about as a practice followed among the Christian population and has its origins as a Pagan Celtic festival – Samhain. It’s celebrated the night before the Christian Festival of All Saints Day. Adults create laterns for their children made from large pumkins which have been made into ghoulish faces. Children play ‘trick or treat’.

However, in the Nordic countries this is the evening when friends and relatives who have died are remembered. People often go to the cemetary and place lit candles in the snow. The sight of hundreds of candles burning in the dark, illuminated by the white snow is quite a sight.

Find out more about Halloween
Find out more about All Saints Day

Piracy is a global menace and a huge issue for our maritime community.
This year’s theme for World Maritime Day is ‘Piracy: Orchestrating the Response’, raising awareness of the issue of piracy and encouraging co-operation between the member states to eradicate it. World Maritime Day is celebrated yearly by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), during the last week of September. It is a day to focus attention on the importance of shipping safety, maritime security and the marine environment. This year the aim is to increase pressure at the political level to secure the immediate release of all hostages being held by pirates. The following objectives will also be pursued during the year…

2003-12 has been designated the ‘Literacy Decade: Education For All’
by the United Nations. Creating literate environments is essential to ensuring sustainable development, gender equality and poverty eradication. The UN believes that literacy is a human right and a means for social and human development. One in five adults is illiterate and of the illiterate population, two-thirds are women. Read about my experiences and see my photos of my time in Ghana teaching literacy to a group of engaging women.

The 23rd August each year offers the world community the
opportunity to commemorate the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its abolition. Apart from remembering those who suffered as slaves the day highlights the fact that millions still live as slaves in all but name. The UN’s cultural organisation, Unesco, chose the date to commemorate the 1791 San Domingo (Haiti) revolt, which marked the first decisive victory of slaves against their oppressors and led to the creation of the first black independent state.

Bloggers in Africa have are having a riotous time writing tongue-in-
cheek articles with headlines like: Africa to send troops, food parcels to UK as riots spread. I came across an article by Ndesanjo Macha sharing African perspectives on the riots in the UK with a good dose of humour. However, one blogger, Nana Wireko, reminds us about the unpleasant things the British press were saying in the run up to the South African World Cup saying: “When your neighbor is down, don’t kick him but rather help lift him up. The UK press should take a cue from this. It’s a lesson. A very important one!”

Ramadan is the holy Islamic month of fasting. During the month,
Muslims will fast during the daylight, in all conditions and break their fast at nightfall with family and friends. Many of us wonder though, what can it be like to fast for an entire month?

In 1991 the Organisation of African Unity (now the African Union)

From Candy Johnnie's South Africa Safari

established the Day of the African Child (DAC). The day commemorates the incident when, on 16 June 1976 In Soweto, South Africa, thousands of black school children took to the streets to protest about the inferior quality of their education and to demand their right to be taught in their own language. Hundreds of them were shot down; and in the two weeks of protest that followed, more than a hundred people were killed and more than a thousand injured.   “This day represents a heroic and courageous fight by African children in order to be ‘heard’ and ‘seen’; and hence celebrating DAC draws attention to the plight of African children today”, said UNICEF.  Find out more information at the BBC ‘on this day’ website page.