Context: Recently, Togo has become the first country in Africa to eliminate human African Trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness, a disease caused by parasites transmitted through infected tsetse flies.
Key Points

• The World Health Organization (WHO) August 27, 2020 certified so, after the country applied for it in 2018.

About the disease

• This disease is transmitted by the bite of the tsetse fly, which transfers the protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma brucei, to both humans and cattle. 
• The infection results in fever, headache and joint pains, followed by confusion, poor coordination, numbness and disturbed sleep.
• There are two types of sleeping sickness. The first type occurs due to the Trypanosoma brucei gambiense parasite found in 24 countries in west and central Africa. 
• It caused more than 88 per cent of reported cases of sleeping sickness in 2019, according to updated estimates made available by the WHO.
• The second type is due to the Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense parasite found in 13 countries in eastern and southern Africa. 
• This type accounted for the remaining 12 per cent of reported cases in 2019.

About Togo

• It is a country in West Africa and extends south to the Gulf of Guinea and is bordered on the north by Burkina Faso, Benin to the east, and Ghana on the west.
• Togo’s capital is Lomé, located in the Gulf of Guinea and is the largest city and port of the country.
• Togo is a sub-Saharan nation, with a good growing climate that supports its dependence on agriculture.
• The economy rests largely on agricultural products such as coffee, cocoa beans, and peanuts (groundnuts).
• It has extensive phosphate reserves and is one of the world’s largest phosphate producers.
• Its official language is French and many other languages of the Gbe family are spoken in Togo.

History

• Togo was initially populated by various tribes and later became a centre for the slave trade known as “The Slave Coast” in the 16th century.
• It was later a German colony until World War I when it was divided by England and France.
• In 1914 Togoland became Togo. British Togoland eventually became part of Ghana and French Togoland.
• Togo gained independence in 1960.

Memberships

• It is a member of the United Nations, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the African Union, the International Solar Alliance among others.
• Togo has set an ambitious plan to achieve universal electricity access by 2030 with focus on capacity addition in Solar Power generation.