April 24
Africa: Sugar in Baby Food - Why Nestlé Needs to Be Held to Account in Africa
Nestlé has been criticised for adding sugar and honey to infant milk and cereal products sold in many poorer countries. The Swiss food giant controls 20% of the baby-food… Read more »
Rwanda: Rwanda's Post-Genocide Model Prioritises Security Over Freedom and Equality - a Risk to Future Stability
Rwanda, a small and landlocked central African country, has made remarkable socio-economic progress since the 1994 genocide in which an estimated 500,000 people died. But the… Read more »
Africa: R21 Anti-Malaria Vaccine Is a Game Changer - Scientist Who Helped Design It Reflects On 30 Years of Research, and What It Promises
Until three years ago nobody had developed a vaccine against any parasitic disease. Now there are two against malaria: the RTS,S and the R21 vaccines. Read more »
April 23
Africa: Africa's Megacities Threatened By Heat, Floods and Disease
Cities cover just 3% of the planet. But they emit 78% of all global greenhouse gas emissions, absorb 80% of final global energy (what consumers use) and consume 60% of clean… Read more »
Chad: Chad's Election Outcome Already Seems Set - 4 Things Mahamat Déby Has Done to Stay in Power
Chad's presidential election campaigns officially kicked off on Sunday 14 April 2024 in the capital city, N'Djamena. Read more »
South Africa: Johannesburg in a Time of Darkness - Ivan Vladislavić's New Memoir Reminds Us of the City's Fragility
Ivan Vladislavić is Johannesburg's literary linkman. He tells us, in the first pages of his new book, The Near North, that before cities were lit, first by gaslight and later… Read more »
South Africa: History for Sale - What Does South Africa's Struggle Heritage Mean After 30 Years of Democracy?
One of my favourite statues is the one of Nelson Mandela at the Sandton City shopping centre in Johannesburg. Larger than life, its oversized bronze shoes shimmer in the evening… Read more »
Sudan: Civil War Stretches Into a Second Year With No End in Sight
In the early hours of April 15 2023, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) - a Sudanese paramilitary force - attacked the military airstrip in the town of Merowe and deployed troops… Read more »
April 22
Africa: Two New Malaria Vaccines Are Being Rolled Out Across Africa - How They Work and What They Promise
Malaria incidents are on the rise. There were 249 million cases of this parasitic disease in 2022, five million more than in 2021. Africa suffers more than any other region from… Read more »
South Africa: Meerkat - the South African Radio Telescope That's Transformed Our Understanding of the Cosmos
South Africa's Karoo region is a vast semi-arid area that stretches across four of the country's provinces. It is sparsely populated and renowned for its wide open spaces. Read more »
South Africa: Academics With Disabilities - South African Universities Need an Overhaul to Make Them Genuinely Inclusive
Very little research has been conducted about academics with disabilities working in South African universities. This means their stories, and the challenges they face in the daily… Read more »
Africa: Planting Trees in Grasslands Won't Save the Planet - Rather Protect and Restore Forests
Tree planting is one of the nature-based solutions being used to offset greenhouse gas emissions. Trees absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide. Many of these tree planting projects… Read more »
Africa: Sex Differences Don't Disappear As a Country's Equality Develops - Sometimes They Become Stronger
The more gender equal a society is, the more similar men and women will be, adopting more similar interests, personality traits and behavioural patterns. Or so many people seem to… Read more »
April 21
South Africa: Esther Mahlangu - How the Famous South African Artist Keeps Her Ndebele Culture Alive
Esther Mahlangu is having a retrospective of her world famous art in Cape Town. Now 88, the South African visual artist is best known for her colourful large-scale murals in the… Read more »
Nigeria: Lagos' Slum Dwellers Are Excluded From Decisions That Affect Them. 3 Ways to Change That
Lagos is a city of two halves: money dripping in the corridors of corporate offices, and stagnant water dripping in the slums that are home to over 20 million. Residents of… Read more »
South Africa: South Africa's Security Forces Once Brutally Entrenched Apartheid. It's Been a Rocky Road to Reform
One of the important tasks that faced South Africa's democratic government after 1994 was to reform the apartheid-era security apparatus. Read more »
Seychelles: Blue Whales - First Discovery Near Seychelles in Decades - What Our Study Found
Blue whales are fascinating animals. At 24-30 metres in length (longer than a basketball court) they are the largest creatures on Earth. They are also among the rarest. Estimates… Read more »
April 18
Africa: Understanding AI Outputs - Study Shows Pro-Western Cultural Bias in the Way AI Decisions Are Explained
Humans are increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) to inform decisions about our lives. AI is, for instance, helping to make hiring choices and offer medical diagnoses. Read more »
South Africa: South Africans Tasted the Fruits of Freedom and Then Corruption Snatched Them Away - Podcast
Five years after his momentous election as South African president, Nelson Mandela stepped down after one term in office in 1999. Thabo Mbeki, his deputy, took over the mantle of… Read more »
South Africa: South Africa's Electricity Crisis - a Series of Failures Over 30 Years Have Left a Dim Legacy
In 1994, apartheid ended and the African National Congress (ANC) won South Africa's first ever democratic elections, promising "Electricity for All" as part of its Reconstruction… Read more »
Sierra Leone: How to Get Vaccines to Remote Areas? in Sierra Leone They're Delivered By Foot, Boat or Motorbike
In Sierra Leone almost 59% of the population live in remote, rural areas. Roads may be non-existent or in bad condition, making it very difficult for rural dwellers to access… Read more »
South Africa: Climate Change Makes Life Harder - in South Africa It's Likely to Bring Heatwaves, Water Stress and Gender-Based Violence
South Africa is feeling the impacts of global warming. Heat is frequent and more intense. Human-induced climate change made the severe 2015-2017 drought three to six times more… Read more »
April 17
Africa: Hearing Aid Apps Offer Hope to Millions in Africa with Hearing Loss
In rural Kenya, 64-year-old John Kamau's world of silence is about to change. For decades, isolated by hearing loss from the community's vibrant life and his grandchildren's… Read more »
Africa: Fermented Foods Sustain Both Microbiomes and Cultural Heritage
Many people around the world make and eat fermented foods. Millions in Korea alone make kimchi. The cultural heritage of these picklers shape not only what they eat every time they… Read more »
Africa: Africa Is Full of Bats, but Their Fossils Are Scarce - Why These Rare Records Matter
Africa is home to more than 20% of the world's bat population. There are over 200 species to be found on the continent. South Africa is particularly diverse, with 72 bat species. Read more »