Seychelles

Albertina Nakale

WINDHOEK - The SADC secretariat has cautioned some of the member states, Namibia included, of the heavy rainfall forecast for this week, which is likely to result in localised floods.

SADC climate service centre is forecasting a likelihood of rainfall amounts exceeding 50mm in 24 hours in some parts of the southern region during the period of 11 to 17 December 2019.

Tropical cyclone AMBALI (Cat 1) that formed over the south-western Indian Ocean has lost wind strength in the last hours. On 7 December at 07:00 UTC AMBALI was moving south-west direction with a speed of 11 km/h and with maximum sustained winds of 70 kt (130 km/h). It is forecasted that the cyclone will further weaken and will reach Reunion Island and Mauritius by the end of this weekend.

HIGHLIGHTS

HIGHLIGHTS

• A low-pressure system is forming in the Indian Ocean, north of Madagascar, and is likely to intensify in the coming days.

• The system, temporarily called 91S, could enter the Mozambique Channel later this week and reach the status of a tropical storm.

• Although the weather system’s trajectory is still highly unpredictable, it could affect areas of the Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique and the Seychelles, with the possibility of landfall in the northern districts of Madagascar.

The State of Nutrition in the SADC Region

Seychelles, 2nd December 2019 - Seychelles is strengthening its Primary Health Care services through implementation of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Package of Essential Non-communicable disease interventions (PEN). This Seychelles PEN project was officially launched on 29th November 2019 by the Minister for Health, Jean-Paul Adam, at the Seychelles Hospital, Victoria. Highlighting the importance and urgency to introduce the PEN in Seychelles, the Minister reminded everyone that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and their risk factors is a public health emergency for the country.

By Dr Hanan Morsy

Despite remarkable progress made on women’s participation in policymaking, Africa is still far from achieving the 50 percent gender parity target set by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Between 1995 and 2018, the proportion of women in African parliaments almost tripled from 8% to 23% but remains insufficient. Out of 11,037 African parliamentarians as of October 2018, only 2,591 were women and out of 1,348 ministers on the continent only 302, or 22%, were women1.

Brazzaville, 6 November 2019 - Nine middle-income countries in Africa have agreed to work towards pooled procurement mechanisms by first sharing vital information on their vaccine purchasing practices, including the prices they pay and their suppliers. Sharing information and ultimately pooling their orders will better leverage their individual purchasing power and thus strengthen their vaccine security and increase their access to affordable life-saving vaccines.

Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women discusses situation of Women in Iraq, Andorra, Kazakhstan and Seychelles with representatives of civil society

Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women

21 October 2019

Improving the availability of crop production and food supply data and information

In efforts to improve the monitoring and assessment of crop production and food supply in the SADC region, the RVAA Programme team is supporting the SADC Secretariat’s Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (FANR) Directorate to implement a capacity building programme targeting the Member States.

CONTEXT

Seychelles, 30th August 2019 - Every year, countries in the African Region report over 100 infectious disease outbreaks and other public health emergencies. The frequency and magnitude of outbreaks in the region continues to increase and no country including the Seychelles is spared from these risks.

Introduction

Food insecurity continues to rise in Southern Africa - new SADC Report: Projection puts 41 million at risk

The WHO African Regional Commission for the Verification of Measles Elimination (RVC) held its second meeting in Addis Abba, Ethiopia from 21-23 May 2019. The meeting was aimed to review country progress reports and quality of documentation of evidence from five countries. The regional Immunization Vaccine Development (IVD) program established verification mechanisms for measles elimination in the Region and at country level by establishing an African regional verification committee (RVC) and supporting countries to establish national verification committees (NVCs) at country level.

JTWC Summary: TROPICAL CYCLONE 24S (KENNETH), LOCATED APPROXIMATELY 44 NM NORTHWEST OF COMOROS ISLAND, HAS TRACKED WESTWARD AT 06 KNOTS OVER THE PAST SIX HOURS.ANIMATED ENHANCED INFRARED (EIR) SATELLITE IMAGERY REVEALS A PERSISTENT PINHOLE EYE AND STRONG CONVECTION SURROUNDING THE EYEWALL.THE INITIAL POSITION IS BASED WITH HIGH CONFIDENCE ON THE EYE IN THE EIR IMAGERY.THE INITIAL INTENSITY OF 115 KTS IS BASED ON THE 242345Z AUTOMATED DVORAK TECHNIQUE ESTIMATE OF T6.0 (115 KTS), IN AGREEMENT WITH THE FMEE DVORAK CURRENT INTENSITY ESTIMATE OF T6.0, BUT BELOW THE PGTW AND KNES ESTIMATES OF …

JTWC Summary: TROPICAL CYCLONE (TC) 24S (KENNETH), LOCATED APPROXIMATELY 197 NM EAST-NORTHEAST OF COMOROS ISLAND, HAS TRACKED WESTWARD AT 10 KNOTS OVER THE PAST SIX HOURS.ANIMATED ENHANCED INFRARED SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS THE SYSTEM HAS MOSTLY MAINTAINED OVERALL CONVECTIVE SIGNATURE WITH A SLIGHTLY DEEPER CENTRAL CONVECTION.THE INITIAL POSITION IS BASED ON THE MICROWAVE EYE FEATURE IN THE 232158Z ATMS PASS WITH HIGH CONFIDENCE.THE INITIAL INTENSITY OF 65 KNOTS IS BASED ON THE DVORAK ESTIMATES OF T4.0/65KTS FROM PGTW AND KNES.UPPER LEVEL ANALYSIS INDICATES THE CYCLONE IS IN AN AREA OF LIGHT …

• Tropical Depression TWENTYFOUR, which formed over the south-west Indian Ocean on 23 April, is moving west towards Outer Islands of Seychelles, Comores and Mozambique.
• On 23 April at 0.00, its centre was approximately 50 km west of Farquhar Atoll (Outer Islands of Seychelles) and 260 km north-east of the northern cape of Madagascar, with maximum sustained winds of 56 km/h.
• It is expected to move further west, strengthening and passing approximately 250 km north of Madagascar before reaching the Comoros on 25 April and Northern Mozambique on 25-26 …