May 20, 2022
Africa: What Is Monkeypox? a Microbiologist Explains What's Known About This Smallpox Cousin
On May 18, 2022, Massachusetts health officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed a single case of monkeypox in a patient who had recently traveled to… Read more »
May 22, 2022
South Africa: Covid Is No Gamble - Physics-Inspired Simulations Predict Waves in Four Countries
As a physicist, I am trained to look for patterns in data. For example, the motion of the tiniest particles may seem random, but it contains patterns and symmetries. Read more »
May 20, 2022
South Africa: What to Expect for Covid in South Africa
In light of the approaching winter months combined with the recent lifting of the national disaster act, South Africans have anxiously been watching an increase in COVID… Read more »
May 16, 2022
South Africa: South Africa's Covid School Closures Hit Girls Hard - but They Showed Resilience Too
South Africa's school dropout rate was high even before the COVID pandemic. Research shows that around 60% of young people effectively drop out of school, with no school-leaving… Read more »
Tanzania: Heat and Health - Dar es Salaam's Informal Settlements Need Help #AfricaClimateCrisis
In the coming decades, heat will become one of the most significant and visible impacts of climate change, particularly in Africa, where temperatures are expected to increase… Read more »
May 18, 2022
South Africa: Nation Has Entered a New Phase of the Covid Pandemic - What That Means
Confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 have been increasing in South Africa in recent weeks. This has been largely driven by two offspring - known as the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-lineages - of the… Read more »
Zambia: Herbicides Threaten Edible Weeds in Zambia - That May Be Bad News for Local Food Security
The use of herbicides - substances that control unwanted plants - is on the rise across Africa. This trend has been referred to by some researchers as the "herbicide revolution".… Read more »
May 11, 2022
South Africa: How South Africa Is Integrating Covid Into Routine Care for Mothers and Babies
COVID-19 has had a direct impact on maternal mortality. Read more »
May 10, 2022
Africa: Making Covid Vaccines on the Continent - Advances and Sustainability Issues
The history of vaccine manufacturing capacity in Africa dates back to 1881, when Egypt's Vacsera company was established. Before the COVID pandemic was declared, there were eight… Read more »
May 09, 2022
Africa: Using Cellphones to Deliver Health Services to Teens - a Sub-Saharan Africa Review
Adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa have the highest rate of unplanned pregnancies. Almost half (46%) of these unintended pregnancies among adolescents end in abortion. Read more »
May 08, 2022
Uganda: Antibiotic Use in Uganda Is High - Action Is Needed
Even before the COVID crisis, excessive use and misuse of lifesaving antibiotics had contributed to the emergence of resistant strains of disease-causing organisms. This has… Read more »
May 06, 2022
Africa: U.S. Abortion Law Decision Brings Attention to Rights of Women in Africa
A leaked draft of a majority opinion of the US Supreme Court has revealed the court's leaning towards undoing its 1973 landmark ruling (Roe v Wade) which gave women in the US a… Read more »
Africa: How U.S. Policy On Abortion Affects Women in Africa
Policies and decisions made in the United States echo around the world and often have widespread implications. Take sexual and reproductive health, for example. Decisions made in… Read more »
May 05, 2022
South Africa: What's Driving Hunger in Gauteng, South Africa's Economic Power House
Food serves as one of the critical needs a person requires for daily survival. In South Africa it's recognised as a fundamental human right under the country's constitution. Read more »
Africa: How Covid Controls Hit Smallholder Farmers in African Countries
Since its emergence more than two years ago, COVID-19 has reached nearly every corner of the globe. It has infected hundreds of millions of people, and overwhelmed health systems… Read more »
May 04, 2022
Africa: Most Maternal Deaths Are Preventable - How to Improve Outcomes in South Africa
The past 20 years have seen a significant decline in maternal mortality rates from 342 deaths to 211 per 100,000 globally . But every day, more than 800 women around the world die… Read more »
May 01, 2022
South Africa: South Africa Is Proposing Plans to Manage Diseases Like Covid. Why They're Flawed
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic the South African government published "special regulations" to contain the spread of the disease. These actions were taken under special… Read more »
October 19, 2020
Africa: Invasive Mosquito Species Could Bring More Malaria to Africa's Urban Areas
A species of mosquito that can carry malaria - known as Anopheles stephensi - has invaded eastern Africa and is quickly moving across the region. Moina Spooner, from The… Read more »
January 15, 2019
Africa: Huge Disparities in C-Sections Highlights Inequalities in Healthcare
When pregnancy or childbirth go wrong, access to Caesarean section - usually known as C-section - can be the difference between life and death for both the woman and her baby. Read more »
August 08, 2017
Africa: Why It's So Difficult to Tackle Diabetes in Sub-Saharan Africa
In the 1990s diabetes was seen as a condition that mainly affected rich people in high income countries. Nowadays, it's one of the leading contributors to death in all countries in… Read more »
November 13, 2016
Africa: How Biotechnology Could Offer Hope for Snakebite Victims
Snakebite is a major public health burden for low-income countries in tropical parts of the world. There are around 5 million bites and 150,000 deaths every year. And about 400,000… Read more »
September 01, 2015
South Africa: E-Cigarettes May Help Smokers Cut Back but That Doesn't Mean They're Not Toxic
A recent study showing teenagers who use e-cigarettes are three times more likely to smoke normal cigarettes than those who don't amplifies the South African government's calls to… Read more »