March 19
West Africa: Cocoa Beans Are in Short Supply - What This Means for Farmers, Businesses and Chocolate Lovers
A shortage of cocoa beans has led to a near shutdown of processing plants in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, the two countries responsible for 60% of global production. With… Read more »
Nigeria: Nigeria's Forests Are Fast Disappearing - Urgent Steps Are Needed to Protect Their Benefits to the Economy and Environment
Nigeria's forest cover has been dwindling fast for decades. With one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world, there are concerns about the survival of its forest… Read more »
Nigeria: Nigeria's Fuel Subsidy Removal Was Too Sudden - Why a Gradual Approach Would Have Been Better
Nigeria removed fuel subsidies entirely in May 2023. This came as a surprise because of the political risks associated with subsidy removal. Previous administrations were reluctant… Read more »
South Africa: South Africa's Election Management Body Has Done a Good Job for 30 Years - Here's Why
More than in previous elections, South Africa's Electoral Commission (IEC) will be tested to the hilt in this year's national and provincial elections on 29 May. For the first time… Read more »
March 18
Chad: Assassination of Main Opposition Figure Casts Doubt On Country's Return to Democracy
The assassination of Chad's main opposition leader, Yaya Dillo, is hanging heavy over presidential elections due in early May. Dillo was killed on 28 February when the headquarters… Read more »
Senegal: 2024 Senegal Election Crisis Points to Deeper Issues With Macky Sall and His Preferred Successor
The botched attempt by Senegalese president Macky Sall to postpone the presidential election has stirred unnecessary tension in an already strained electoral process. The move… Read more »
Rwanda: Press Freedom in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda - What Journalists Have to Say About Doing Their Jobs
A majority of the world's population has experienced a decline in press freedom in recent years, according to a UN report. In east Africa, the results are mixed and debatable. Read more »
Malawi: Malawi and Maize - Prices Have Spiked On the Back of Bad Weather and Trade Bans
Maize is the leading staple food in Malawi and crucial for food security. Typically, local production from smallholder farmers meets and exceeds annual requirements of around 3… Read more »
Africa: 76% of Africa's Energy Could Come From Renewable Sources By 2040 - Here's How
Over half of Africa's people - about 600 million - lack access to even the bare minimum of electricity. The tough question to answer is how access can be extended without adding to… Read more »
Africa: Do You Have 7,513 Unread Emails in Your Inbox? Research Suggests That's Unwise
How do you manage your emails? Are you an "inbox zero" kind of person, or do you just leave thousands of them unread? Read more »
March 17
Cameroon: Cameroon's Rebels May Not Achieve Their Goal of Creating the Ambazonian State - but They're Still a Threat to Stability
Cameroon's separatist insurgency is an armed conflict in the country's North West (NW) and South West (SW) regions that began in 2017. It pits government forces against several… Read more »
Africa: Something Felt 'Off' - How AI Messed With Our Human Research, and What We Learned
All levels of research are being changed by the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). Don't have time to read that journal article? AI-powered tools such as TLDRthis will summarise… Read more »
South Africa: Almost 50% of Adult South Africans Are Overweight or Obese. Poverty and Poor Nutrition Are Largely to Blame
Malnutrition, in all its forms, includes undernutrition (wasting, stunting, underweight), inadequate vitamins or minerals, overweight and obesity. Read more »
Africa: Snakebites - We Thought We'd Created a Winning New Antivenom but Then It Flopped. Why That Turned Out to Be a Good Thing
Snakebites kill over 100,000 people each year, and hundreds of thousands of survivors are left with long-term disabilities such as amputations. Read more »
March 15
Africa: Undersea Cables for Africa's Internet Retrace History and Leave Digital Gaps As They Connect Continents
Large parts of west and central Africa, as well as some countries in the south of the continent, were left without internet services on 14 March because of failures on four of the… Read more »
March 14
Africa: If You're 65 or Older, It's Time for Another Covid-19 Shot
In my mind, the spring season will always be associated with COVID-19. Read more »
Burkina Faso: Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger Hint At a New West African Currency - What It'll Take for It to Succeed
On 11 February 2024, the head of Niger's ruling military junta, General Abdourahmane Tiani, spoke of the possible creation of a common currency with Burkina Faso and Mali. "The… Read more »
Nigeria: Inflation in Nigeria Is Still Climbing While It Has Slowed Globally - Here's Why
Just as Nigerians were gradually digging out from the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, they were hit by high inflation. Read more »
South Africa: Sewage Leaks Put South Africa's Freshwater At Risk - How Citizen Scientists Are Helping Clean Up
Across South Africa, sewage systems are leaking and contaminating the country's freshwater. Involving the affected communities can help prevent this pollution hazard, as a group of… Read more »
Africa: Why Do We Usually Sleep At Night? What Happens When We Don't Sleep? Expert Insights Into This Essential Part of Our Lives
Sleep is as essential to our health as food and water. It is important to a number of brain functions, including how nerve cells communicate with each other. We sleep for a third… Read more »
March 13
Africa: Financial Abuse From an Intimate Partner? Three Ways You Can Protect Yourself
Financial abuse occurs when one person takes control over another person's ability to acquire, use and maintain financial resources. An example is being denied access to your own… Read more »
Africa: Corrupt, Brutal and Unprofessional? Africa-Wide Survey of Police Finds Diverging Patterns
Africans generally have a low regard for the quality of policing on the continent. Perceptions of police misconduct, corruption and brutality are widespread, according to a new… Read more »
South Africa: Are You Sitting Too Long in Your Office Job? South African Study Offers Some Health Tips
Sedentary behaviour can result in chronic health conditions such as obesity and heart diseases, bad news for the millions of office workers who are forced to sit behind their desks… Read more »
South Africa: South Africa's Master Pianist Abdullah Ibrahim Going On a World Tour At 90
Abdullah Ibrahim, South Africa's most distinguished pianist, was born on 9 October 1934 in Cape Town. This year marks not only his 90th birthday but also the start of a world tour.… Read more »
Africa: It's a Myth That Male Animals Are Usually Larger Than Females - New Study
Males are bigger than females, right? Generally, this is true of humans - imagine the extremes of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and singer Kylie Minogue. It is also true of other… Read more »