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- 🎬A little more abstinence
🎬A little more abstinence
Good morning. If you’re reading this newsletter on your laptop, with Netflix opened in another tab, you might want to close that one. Not just because this newsletter is better, but your boss might be watching you.
Demand for employee surveillance software ballooned 54% between March 2020 and June 2023, according to network comparison site Top10VPN. The spying goes deeper than knowing when your mouse is moving: 73% of employers reported using call recordings, emails, or messages as a factor in performance reviews and 37% said they’d used a recording to fire an employee.
Another eNTrePrEnEUrshIP W.
— Edna Akanni, Chibuike Uzor.
CURRENCIES
Currency exchange rates against the US Dollar as of market close. Here’s what these numbers mean
HEALTH
South Africa sees its HIV vaccine efforts halted
Marcus Spencer/Getty Images
Countries reeling from the 90-day freeze on USAID funding already knew to exercise patience while waiting to see if the funding would be re-instated; now they’ll add abstinence to it. Yesterday, a Reuters report revealed a potential HIV vaccine candidate in South Africa has been put on ice owing to the funding halt.
According to Nozipho Mlotsha, who leads the research team at the University of Witwatersrand, the first round of vaccines made in Johannesburg produced an immune response in rabbits. Another vaccine candidate, which was more advanced and cleared for trial in humans, was also paused.
South Africa’s case for a vaccine
Widely regarded as the hub for HIV globally, South Africa has mostly earned its stripes in its fight to curb the disease.
More than 1 out of every 10 people in the country have HIV.
Its budget for AIDS relief stands at $25 billion annually, the highest in the world per the Wall Street Journal. About 20% of which was contributed for by USAID through PEPFAR.
South Africa receives more research funding for a cure than any other country globally. Calbotegravir, a pill taken daily to help prevent contracting the virus, is almost exclusively available in South Africa.
Trump’s case against South Africa
Aside from the global funding freeze, last week, Trump separately targeted South Africa with an executive order to cut all funding to the country, citing disapproval of its land reform policy and its genocide case against U.S. ally Israel. Ntobeko Ntusi, CEO of the South African Medical Research Council, said he doesn’t believe the funding will resume and the project may be halted indefinitely.
Big picture: Other vaccine candidates are currently in trial elsewhere. The most promising molecule was presented last year in Peru and showed a 100% reduction in new HIV infections in African women from South Africa and Uganda. -CU.
TRENDING
A new Apple product could arrive today
MacRumors
Noted Bourbon Street enthusiast and Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted a cryptic teaser last week: “Get ready to meet the newest member of the family.” It could mean he’s adopting a dog, but insiders say it’s more likely that Apple will unveil the next generation iPhone SE. Reports suggest the phone will include a bigger screen, no home screen button, Face ID, and a chip enabling Apple Intelligence. 9to5Mac is keeping open the possibility that the new product will be a MacBook Air, an updated iPad, or a new smart home command center. Here, we’re hoping it’s the release of the first-ever Apple Toilet.
SHOWER THOUGHTS
“Anniversaries commemorate when two people were joined. Birthdays commemorate when two people were separated.”
NEWS
Round the continent
Naib Mian/Times of India
Muhsin Hendricks, the first openly gay Imam was killed yesterday during an ambush in South Africa.
France has doubled down on its support of Moroccan control over Western Sahara following a minister’s visit.
Burundi is withdrawing its support for the Democratic Republic of Congo after it recalled its troops from the country yesterday.
Chimamanda Adichie, the award-winning writer has unveiled her first novel in a decade titled “Dreams Count”.
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