March 28, 2023
South Africa: South Africa's New Deputy President Paul Mashatile Tasked with Restoring Stability
In a recent cabinet reshuffle President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed Paul Mashatile, the deputy president of South Africa's governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), as… Read more »
South Africa: ICC Arrest Warrant for Vladimir Putin - a King-Size Dilemma for South Africa
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an international arrest warrant for Russian president Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes regarding the unlawful deportation of… Read more »
South Africa: The South African Council On Sport At 50 - the Fight for Sports Development Is Still Relevant Today
It's 50 years since the official formation of the South African Council on Sport (Sacos). Sacos was the sport wing of the anti-apartheid liberation movement. It was established in… Read more »
March 27, 2023
Africa: Profit Versus Health - 4 Ways Big Global Industries Make People Sick
It's now more commonly known that alcohol and tobacco use make us ill. Less known is that just four industries account for at least one-third of global preventable deaths. These… Read more »
Ghana: Ghana's e-Levy Is Unfair to the Poor and Misses Its Revenue Target - a Lesson in Mobile Money Tax Design
In May 2022, the government in Ghana introduced a deeply unpopular tax on mobile money transactions, known as the e-levy. When it was introduced, the levy was structured as a 1.5%… Read more »
Togo: Leprosy, Scabies and Yaws - Togo's Neglected Tropical Skin Diseases Need Attention
Neglected tropical diseases are a group of 20 diseases found mostly in tropical regions that are strongly associated with poverty. Among them are skin diseases like scabies,… Read more »
Africa: Bird Flu FAQ
Avian influenza ("bird flu") is a highly contagious viral infection that affects wild and domestic birds worldwide. It has recently gained notoriety for its devastating impact on… Read more »
March 24, 2023
Nigeria: Water Scarcity On Nigeria's Coast Is Hardest On Women - Six Steps to Ease the Burden
Imagine waking up before dawn every day to fetch water for your family. You trek to the nearest water source, miles away, with only a jerrycan to carry the precious liquid. You… Read more »
Africa: Covid Testing Led to New Techniques of Disease Diagnosis - Progress Mustn't Stop Now
In March 2020, weeks before the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic, its director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus delivered a speech in which he… Read more »
South Africa: Cannabis Industry Plans for South Africa Have Stalled - How to Get Them Moving Again
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa recently reiterated plans to accelerate the commercialisation of hemp as well as cannabis plants. His speech setting out government's… Read more »
Africa: Why Elite Athletes Should Develop Mindfulness to Up Their Game
Athletes at the very highest level of their sport face the challenge of performing consistently under pressure amid many potential distractions, including performance anxiety,… Read more »
March 23, 2023
Africa: TB Kills 75,000 Children in Africa Every Year - How This Can Stop #WorldTBDay
Tuberculosis (TB) is a preventable and curable disease. Half of the world's 30 highest TB burden countries are in Africa. In many of these countries, TB is the leading cause of… Read more »
Africa: TB in Children Isn't Being Controlled - It's Key to Fighting the Disease for Everyone Else
World TB Day on March 24th will commemorate the day in 1882 when Professor Robert Koch announced in Berlin that he had discovered the microbial cause of tuberculosis (TB),… Read more »
Ghana: Women Occupy Very Few Academic Jobs in Ghana. Culture and Society's Expectations Are to Blame
In many parts of the world, men dominate the higher education sector. A 2022 UNESCO report found that, globally, fewer than two out of five senior academics are women. In an… Read more »
Africa: The Gaming Audience Is 'Queerer Than Ever' - So How Are Game Creators Responding?
Mainstream games are embracing openly queer characters - and so are many of their players and fans. Read more »
South Africa: Album Celebrates New Traditions in South Africa's Ancient Bow Music
Musical bows are among the oldest instruments in southern Africa. Musicologists think the "ping" a bowstring makes when an arrow is released inspired early hunters (as far back as… Read more »
Africa: China's Only Now Revealed Crucial Covid-19 Origins Data. Earlier Disclosure May Have Saved Us 3 Years of Political Argy-Bargy
Once more, we're talking about the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Read more »
March 22, 2023
South Africa: Noni Jabavu Was a Pioneering South African Writer - A New Book Shows How Relevant She Still Is
Noni Jabavu was the first black South African woman to publish memoirs and one of the first African women to pursue a literary career abroad. She left the country as a teenager to… Read more »
Africa: Putin and the ICC - History Shows Just How Hard It Is to Bring a Head of State to Justice
The arrest warrants issued recently by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and his children's commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova,… Read more »
Africa: Covid Origins Debate - What to Make of New Findings Linking the Virus to Raccoon Dogs
The origin of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, has long been a topic of heated debate. While many believe SARS-CoV-2 spread to humans from an animal at Wuhan's Huanan… Read more »
Africa: We're a Step Closer to Learning How Misplaced DNA Could Influence Disease Risk
DNA is our body's instruction manual. It contains all the information that our cells need to make proteins and other molecules vital for our development, growth and survival. Read more »
March 21, 2023
Africa: How a Nigerian Singer and a Cameroonian Dancer Inspired a Powerful Protest in Iran
On 8 March 2023, five teenage girls uploaded on social media a video of themselves performing the Calm Down Dance Challenge. This is the choreography for the first verse of the… Read more »
Africa: Aquifers Hold More Than 20 Times The Water Stored in Continent's Lakes, But They Don't Solve Water Scarcity
Discoveries of aquifers - underground earth formations that hold water - often create excitement around their ability to ease water scarcity in a region. Read more »
Africa: A Microbiologist Reveals the Shocking Truth About Dirt and Germs in Hotel Rooms
For most of us, staying in a hotel room is either something of a necessity - think business travel - or something to look forward to as part of a holiday or wider excursion. Read more »
Kenya: Pastoralists Suffer Despite Millions of Dollars Used to Protect Them From Drought - What Went Wrong?
Across the arid landscape of northern Kenya, roadside signs proclaim projects aimed at creating "resilience" among pastoralist communities. This is a region where frequent… Read more »