May 12, 2022
Senegal: Rudy Gomis, a Masterful Collaborator Who Kept the Diversity of Senegalese Music Alive
The world has lost one of the great pioneers of the post-independence movement of modern popular music in Senegal. After a long illness, Rudolphe "Rudy" Clément Gomis -… Read more »
May 11, 2022
South Sudan: Peacekeeping in South Sudan - It's a Race Against Time for the UN
A notable consequence of Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been the near-complete breakdown of what was already a deeply fraught relationship among the permanent members of the UN… Read more »
Nigeria: Why Import Restrictions Aren't Enough to Help Nigeria Industrialise
Nigeria has a strong ambition to industrialise. It has relied heavily on the restriction of imports of certain goods targeted for domestic production. But for Nigeria's… Read more »
Africa: The War in Ukraine - Continent Risks Paying a Heavy Price for Neutrality
Far from being swift, Russia's invasion of Ukraine now looks likely to become a long-running war of attrition. It will therefore have an accumulating, and increasingly drastic,… Read more »
Southern Africa: Soverign Debt Distress - Biggest Problems, and Ways Forward
The COVID pandemic has had a profoundly negative impact on Africa's sovereign debt situation. Currently, 22 countries are either in debt distress or at high risk of debt distress.… Read more »
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
South Sudan: Kiir and Machar - Insights Into South Sudan's Strongmen
Salva Kiir and Riek Machar loom large over South Sudan's recent history. And they will keep holding the future of the young nation in their hands to a large extent. Read more »
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 »
Africa: Literature From the Congo Basin Offers Ways to Address the Climate Crisis
The African continent is responsible for only 2-3% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions from energy and industrial sources. But it's alarmingly suffering from the effects of the… Read more »
Zimbabwe: Insights From Zimbabwe On How to Link Formal and Informal Economies
In 2003, Thabo Mbeki - then president of South Africa - described South Africa's economy as being like a two-storey house. The top floor was quite plush, with all the fittings… Read more »
South Africa: Community Dialogue Can Show the Way to Meeting Water Needs - A Case Study
About 842,000 people die every year from diarrhoea in rural communities because they lack safe water and adequate sanitation. Water and sanitation are essential in preventing a… Read more »
May 09, 2022
East Africa: Famine in Ethiopia - The Roots Lie in Eritrea's Long-Running Feud With Tigrayans
The war in northern Ethiopia that began in November 2020 has left millions in Tigray on the brink of famine. Read more »
Nigeria: Three Things That Can Go Wrong At an Illegal Oil Refinery in Nigeria
Years of government neglect and unemployment in Nigeria's Niger Delta region have given rise to a widespread industry of illegally refining stolen oil. Read more »
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 »
South Africa: New Book Unpacks the Complexities of Whiteness in South Africa
In his latest book sociologist Professor Roger Southall, a prolific researcher who has written extensively about political dynamics in Southern Africa, avoids the "negative and… Read more »
May 08, 2022
South Africa: Street Traders in South Africa Play a Vital Role - How Their Rights Can Be Protected
The South African informal economy accounts for 17% of employment. Street trading is the largest. Street traders are scattered around the many corners of the country's towns and… Read more »
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 »
Central African Republic: Who is the CAR Figure On Trial At The Hague?
The Central African Republic (CAR) descended into conflict in 2013 when Seleka rebels deposed then President François Bozizé. Read more »
Ethiopia: What People From War-Torn Tigray Told Us About the State of Their Lives Amid the War
The Russia-Ukraine crisis has captured the world's attention, and understandably so, but at the risk of eclipsing the visibility of massive humanitarian crises elsewhere. In… 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
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 »
West Africa: Enablers of Political Extremism - a Checklist for West African Countries
The Sahel - the region just south of the Sahara - is home to the world's fastest growing extremist group, Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin or JNIM, and the most deadly group,… Read more »
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: Giving People Money With No Strings Attached Is Good for Their Health, Dozens of Studies Indicate
The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. Read more »