How often do you wash your towel? Some people wash once a week, while some, once a year. The towel is a fertile breeding ground for millions of microbes, especially those found on human skin and on the gut. No wonder the towel is one of the objects that facilitate fecal-oral contamination (literally connecting the two ends of the gut). Worse still, most people keep towels in the bathroom (near the toilet). Every flush of the toilet sends mist with millions of microbes, ranging from H.pylori, salmonella and other deadly bacteria and viruses. When you wash your hands ready for a meal, and dry them with your body towel, there's high chance you are directly ingesting your fecal matter, or, if in a shared lavatory, someone else's faeces. Unless cleaned well, viruses such as human papillomavirus (causes warts, anal cancer and cervical cancer) can be transmitted when towels are shared with infected individuals. So, what to do? 1. Launder towels once a week. 2. Use hot water and det...
Nairobi (AFP) - - The International Monetary Fund said it has granted Kenya a new loan of more than $941 million to help buttress the finances of the cash-strapped East African nation.
Kenya is grappling with a host of economic challenges including a vast debt mountain, cost of living crisis and tumbling currency.
The IMF said in a statement published on Wednesday that its executive board had approved the $941.2 million loan, with an immediate disbursement of $624.5 million.
Total payments under various credit facilities amount to about $2.6 billion, it added.
"Kenya's growth remained resilient in the face of increasing external and domestic challenges," said Antoinette Sayeh, IMF deputy managing director and acting chair, said in the statement.
'Ongoing support'
The credit arrangements for Kenya "continue to support the authorities' efforts to sustain macroeconomic stability, strengthen policy frameworks, withstand external shocks, push forward key reforms, and promote more inclusive and green growth".
According to the latest Treasury data released this month, Kenya's public debt stands at 10.585 trillion shillings ($65.5 billion).
In December, Kenya ditched a promise to buy back a portion of a $2 billion Eurobond that is due to mature in June.
Instead, Finance Minister Njuguna Ndung'u said the country had paid $68.7 million in interest on the bond, sidestepping a potential default.
President William Ruto had announced a plan in November to buy $300 million of the Eurobond, saying public debt had "become a source of much concern to citizens, markets and our partners".
Ruto has imposed a raft of new or increased taxes to try to replenish government coffers, but they are deeply unpopular among people struggling with rising costs for basic goods, and several have been challenged in court.
Inflation has been running high, at 6.6 percent in December, and the IMF said it was likely to inch up in the first half of this year.
The Kenyan shilling is also trading at all-time lows at around 160 to the dollar.
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