Topics: The Plight of Tobacco Farm Workers in Malawi and Update of Ebola Crisis in West Africa.  On May 9 Liberia was declared Ebola-free after battling with the virus for over a year.  But unfortunately last week three new cases were reported by Liberian health officials—a 17 year-old boy succumbed to Ebola and two people from his village have fallen ill since his death.  

Mr. Raphael Sandramu

In the report annual WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2015 released yesterday July 7, the World Health Organization states that “Approximately one person dies from a tobacco-related disease every 6 seconds, equivalent to around 6 million people a year.”  The dangers of tobacco to health are well known but the effects of cultivating the crop by farm workers are less discussed.  Today Africa Now! will focus on the plight of tobacco farm workers in Malawi.  Malawi is one of the world’s leading producer of tobacco and in Africa it is the second largest producer after Zimbabwe.

Guests: Dr. Robtel Neajai Pailey, a Liberian academic, activist and author based at SOAS, University of London.  Mr. Raphael Sandramu, founder of the Tobacco and Allied Workers Union of Malawi; received the Labor Rights Defender Award from the International Labor Rights Forum in June. 

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC.  Tune into Africa Now! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (Eastern).