A famed Egyptian-born scientist has challenged journalists in the Arab world to dispel what he called a widespread and biased idea that Islam is anti-science. Ahmed Zewail, a 1999 Nobel laureate in chemistry, was on Monday speaking at the start of a three-day World Conference of Science Journalists in Doha, Qatar. - Ahmed Zewail said: “There is nothing fundamental in Islam against science. It is all part of the unfair perception about Islam and Arabs in general,” Zewail told about 700 listeners during a keynote lecture to kick off the conference. He said journalists in the region bear part of the responsibility to help shake off this negative impression. He urged journalists …

The government of Cameroon is verging on enacting one of its biggest efforts yet in its protracting battle against malaria, which has obstinately upheld its status as the country's leading killer disease. Over eight million treated mosquito nets are due distribution by August ending in the malaria-endemic Central African nation which is home to 20 million inhabitants. - Announcing the move in the capital Yaounde, Public Health Minister, Andre Mama Fouda explained that all governors of Cameroon’s 10 administrative regions will head distribution committees also manned by medics and security officers to ensure maximum coverage of the national territory. Some 4.5 million households …

Health officials in the Congo [Brazzaville] have formally ascertained the outburst of Chikungunya over the last few weeks in parts of the capital Brazzaville. The country's Director General of Health, Alexis Elira Dokekias, over 900 people have been confirmed infected with the mosquito-borne viral disease. - The declaration followed analysis on blood samples conducted at the Central Africa Reference Laboratory in Franceville, Gabon. Of 48 samples scrutinized, over 58 percent showed the presence of the Chikungunya virus, Dokekias explained. No deaths have so far been linked to the epidemic, [initially thought to be malaria] but health authorities have warned of elevated risks of a…

Over 3000 fraught-looking West African nationals have fled army brutality in Gabon to Cameroon. Authorities in Djoum, a modest town in Cameroon's south region say they began welcoming the expelled Cameroonians, Senegalese, Malians, Burkinabe and Niger nationals last week. - “We think that the number is far less because before we set up a crisis committee to welcome the frail-looking people, many had passed through uncounted. But so far, we have registered 2000 Cameroonians and 1000 West Africans. For those without means to get transportation, we have trucks that convey the Cameroonians to the capital Yaounde and other nearby big towns from where they can head home. The for…

A study conducted ahead of a presidential poll slated to hold in Cameroon in October has revealed widespread indifference among women and disabled people in the Central African nation of 20 million inhabitants. The survey, accomplished by the non-governmental Women Horizons indicates that merely 16 percent of women and disabled people in Cameroon have no faith in the electoral system and deem their participation a sheer waste of time. - Elsewhere, the report notes only 32 percent believe the poll is necessary; concluding that incumbent President Paul Biya, in power since 1982 will be reelected. The study, conducted between December 2010 and May 2011, was sponsored by the European Union, …

On a quiet August night in 1986, Lake Nyos in northwestern Cameroon coughed up lethal clouds of carbon dioxide, choking over 1,700 people and 3,500 livestock in adjacent villages. 25 years later, scientists claim they have successfully tamed the killer lake through a degassing process in which accruing carbon dioxide is siphoned off its bottom water layers. - Like a naturally beautiful woman without makeup, Lake Nyos, perched on the flank of an extinct volcano in Cameroon's remote northwest hardly leaves sightseers indifferent. Now, with three manmade fountains gracing its blue surface, the unruffled water body appears even more elegant. But all that splendor constitutes a dangerou…

For several years, bed nets and insecticide spraying have served as priority weapons in the fight against malaria transmission across Africa. However, the defiant vampire vectors in their mad quests for survival have regularly altered tactics, formulating resistance to insecticides and even drugs to maintain their claim on human lives. - Now, a group of researchers from the UK is proposing an additional antidote – mosquito-proof housing. The combat strategy, developed by the non-profit Architecture for Health in Vulnerable Environments Institute, or ARCHIVE is hinged on the premise that screening homes against mosquitoes can significantly slash vulnerability to malaria infection. …

Pig farmers in Cameroon's northern parts are at wits end contemplating their future and survival following a resurgence of the African swine fever. In recent days, entire farms have been wiped out by the disease, eclipsing sources of livelihood for hundreds of farmers in the country's main pork producing hub. - “I had over 200 pigs ready for the market and was planning on conveying them to the south of the country when disaster struck about a fortnight ago. The animals suddenly began dying and then the authorities issued a ban on the movement of pigs and before I knew it, they came and killed all of my livestock numbering over 300 animals. I don’t know where I go fro…

Wildlife conservationists in Cameroon have said, protected species are more endangered than ever before in that country. Experts say the continuing popularity of wildlife meat, or bush meat, is encouraging armed poachers to gun down hundreds of thousands of animals. But the government has introduced new initiatives to halt the illegal trade. - From Cameroon’s hinterlands to the urban centers, vendors openly display smoked monkeys, gorillas, snakes, antelopes, crocodiles and more from the country’s receding forests. For several years, the lucrative trade in meat from wild animals has thrived, despite anti-poaching laws. Conservation groups like the World Wide Fund for Nature an…