July 06, 2023
East Africa: Kiswahili - How a Standard Version of the East African Language Was Formed - and Spread Across the World
Kiswahili originated in east Africa, spreading around the continent and the globe. It's been adopted as a working language at the African Union and there's a push for it to become… Read more »
Ghana: Ghana's New Chief Justice - Gertrude Tokornoo Faces Challenges, but Could Help Transform the Country's Courts
Her Ladyship Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo took office as the 15th ,chief justice of Ghana on 12 June 2023. She is the third woman to occupy the position, which is the… Read more »
July 05, 2023
Africa: New Research Shows How Covid-19 Affects Younger Children and Those From Deprived Areas
At the heights of the pandemic, particularly since 2021, many children and teenagers admitted to hospital had COVID. However, it was never clear what proportion of them were in… Read more »
Mozambique: Mozambican Terror Group Is Strikingly Similar to Nigeria's Deadly Boko Haram
Terrorism is a global problem affecting many countries. Until 2017, however, southern Africa was largely spared from this phenomenon. The bloody conflict sparked by Ansar al-Sunna… Read more »
Africa: AI Is an Existential Threat - Just Not the Way You Think
The rise of ChatGPT and similar artificial intelligence systems has been accompanied by a sharp increase in anxiety about AI. For the past few months, executives and AI safety… Read more »
Africa: Africa's Linguistic Diversity Goes Largely Unnoticed in Research On Multilingualism
Language is a uniquely human skill. That's why studying how people learn and use language is crucial to understanding what it means to be human. Given that most people in the world… Read more »
Africa: Poverty Is Linked to Poorer Brain Development - But Reading Can Help Counteract It
Early childhood is a critical period for brain development, which is important for boosting cognition and mental wellbeing. Good brain health at this age is directly linked to… Read more »
South Africa: Businesses That Address Social or Environmental Problems Often Struggle to Survive - 3 Things That Can Help Them
Social enterprises are organisations that promote social or environmental issues as their core business. They are useful to societies in lots of ways. They can help solve social… Read more »
Africa: Genetically Modified Crops May Be a Solution to Hunger - Why There Is Scepticism in Africa
Hunger and undernourishment are two elements of food insecurity that have plagued Africa for years. And the menace is growing. Read more »
July 04, 2023
Cameroon: The Fascinating Cameroonian Art of Spider Divination Is On Display At London Exhibition
Tomás Saraceno In Collaboration: Web(s) of Life, which opened at London's Serpentine South Gallery in June, explores how humans relate to spiders. It features installations… Read more »
Africa: Vaccine Hesitancy Is One of Greatest Threats to Global Health - And the Pandemic Made It Worse
The COVID pandemic has disrupted many areas of routine healthcare including, importantly, childhood vaccination. Read more »
Africa: Belgium's AfricaMuseum Has a Dark Colonial Past - It's Making Slow Progress in Confronting This History
Racist displays and stories remain on display in several western European museums. They include grotesque objects depicting African people as "savage" and "wild". Narratives of a… Read more »
South Africa: South African Universities Must Do More to Tackle Staffs' Race and Gender Imbalances
At the advent of South Africa's democracy in 1994, an overwhelming majority of academics in the country's public higher education institutions were white men. Black South Africans… Read more »
Africa: All Animal Intelligence Was Shaped By Just 5 Leaps in Brain Evolution
The animal world is full of different types of intelligence, from the simple bodily coordination of jellyfish to the navigation abilities of bees, the complex songs of birds and… Read more »
Mozambique: Paulina Chiziane, Mozambique's Grand Novelist, Finally Receives Her Prestigious Award
Paulina Chiziane, the first woman to publish a novel in Mozambique, has become the first African woman to receive the most important award for Portuguese literature, the… Read more »
July 03, 2023
Africa: Covid Vaccination in Pregnancy Greatly Reduces Risk of Severe Illness and Death - And Protects Babies
From the early days of the pandemic, it has been evident that a COVID-19 infection in pregnancy can be serious. Hundreds of studies from around the world have consistently shown… Read more »
Senegal: Senegal - Behind the Protests Is a Fight for Democratic Freedoms
President Macky Sall's unwillingness to confirm he will not run for a third term in 2024, and the targeting of political opponents, have created a political powder keg in Senegal. Read more »
Congo-Kinshasa: Protecting Congo's Forests - New Timber Parks Will Help Fight Illegal Logging
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) joined the East African Community in 2022. This will offer the country, which has immense natural wealth, a huge market in neighbouring… Read more »
Africa: The Global South Is On the Rise - but What Exactly Is the Global South?
The unwillingness of many leading countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America to stand with NATO over the war in Ukraine has brought to the fore once again the term "Global South." Read more »
Africa: 400 Years Ago, Philosopher Blaise Pascal Was One of the First to Grapple With the Role of Faith in an Age of Science and Reason
In an apostolic letter released on June 19, 2023, Pope Francis praised the "brilliant and inquisitive mind" of the influential French philosopher Blaise Pascal, born on that date… Read more »
Nigeria: Four Priorities for Nigeria's Newly Elected National Assembly
Nigeria's National Assembly - the 10th since independence - was inaugurated on 13 June 2023. It has two arms: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The 109 senators and 360… Read more »
July 02, 2023
Africa: EU's Carbon Border Tax - a New Report Shows Africa Stands to Lose U.S.$25 Billion Every Year
A new European law that imposes the first ever carbon border tax in the world comes into force in October 2023. It will be applied gradually over the next three years before it is… Read more »
South Africa: Zondo At Your Fingertips - New Book Offers an Accessible and Condensed Version of South Africa's Ambitious Corruption Inquiry
Anti-corruption activist Paul Holden has done South Africa a great favour by summarising the work of the judicial commission that probed massive corruption under former president… Read more »
Nigeria: Waste Disposal in Nigeria Is a Mess - How Lagos Can Take the Lead in Sorting and Recycling
Nigeria, like many other Sub-Saharan Africa countries, has a waste management problem. The Nigerian National Municipal Waste Management Policy (2020) gives no estimate but states… Read more »
June 30, 2023
Sierra Leone: Voter Trust Has Been Shaken, and Will Need to Be Regained
Julius Maada Bio, a 59-year-old former soldier, was sworn in for his second and final five-year term as president of Sierra Leone on 27 June. With 56% of votes cast in the election… Read more »