May 12
Africa: Millions of Farmers in Africa's Great Lakes Region Face Rising Temperatures. Study Predicts How Crop Disease and Pests Could Spread
Farming in the Great Lakes region of Africa (which includes Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Kenya) is challenging because of changing… Read more »
Africa: Africa Has the World's Greatest Genetic Diversity, Yet It's Missing From Research - We're Filling the Gap
Throughout history, most of the world's genomic research has relied on DNA data from people of European ancestry. Read more »
May 11
Western Sahara: We Found Hundreds of Huge Ancient Mass Graves Hidden in the Sahara Desert
We have been on a years-long campaign of satellite remote sensing of the vast desert landscapes in Eastern Sudan. Read more »
Ghana: Ghana's Transport System Is Chaotic - How It Can Move More People With Fewer Vehicles - Research
Every morning in Accra, Ghana's capital, thousands of commuters sit in traffic while minibuses and taxis compete for limited road space. Read more »
South Africa: South African Study Reveals Most Dog Fights Happen At Home - and How Best to Prevent It
Dogs can be very aggressive towards one another, as many people will have witnessed in public places. But in South Africa aggression between dogs occurs more often in people's… Read more »
Botswana: Pensions for Botswana's Elderly Are Growing, but Care Services Are Lacking - Study Tracks 20 Years
Botswana's economy is projected to contract by 0.4% in 2026, driven largely by a slowdown in the diamond sector. Diamonds account for a third of fiscal revenues and a quarter of… Read more »
Africa: Why Nairobi Africa-France Summit Bears the Hallmarks of Macron and Ruto Priorities
The 2026 Africa-France summit in Nairobi on May 11-12 is the first to be held in an African country that is not a former French colony. It is also the first to be held since the… Read more »
May 10
Cameroon: Cameroon's Sacred and Royal Animals - Could Literature and Futures Thinking Help Save Them?
In the grasslands and highlands of western Cameroon, some animals are believed to be sacred. Within the region's indigenous kingdoms (fondoms), many of these animals are also… Read more »
May 08
Africa: Meet the Mosquito Terminator - a Spider That Likes Us and Eats Our Enemies
As a child, the mere glimpse of a spider used to send me screaming and running for cover. I was convinced that spiders were my enemies. I thought they were out to get me. Read more »
South Africa: Birds of Prey in South Africa Are in Trouble - a Study Analyses Data From 16 Years of Road Counts
Birds of prey and vultures (raptors) play a vital role in ecosystems, both as top predators and key scavengers. However, compared to many other bird species, raptor populations are… Read more »
May 07
South Africa: Propaganda Machine to Public Good - a Brief History of 50 Years of TV in South Africa
How does a medium once branded "the devil's own box" become the fireplace around which a nation tries to rekindle its broken identity? Read more »
South Africa: South Africans Are Far Less Tolerant of Migrants Than Before - Hotspots, Drivers and Solutions
Anti-immigrant marches in several major South African cities (such as Tshwane and Johannesburg) in early May 2026 once again led to questions being asked about xenophobia in… Read more »
Africa: I've Investigated a Hantavirus Outbreak. Here's What I Can Tell You About the Cruise Ship Cluster
The cruise ship cluster of hantavirus cases continues to grow. The World Health Organization reports that as of May 6 there were eight cases, three of whom are confirmed by… Read more »
Africa: Health Authorities Work to Contain Cruise Ship Hantavirus Outbreak
The MV Hondius, a Dutch cruise ship with a deadly outbreak of hantavirus, was on its way to the Canary Islands on May 7, 2026, after evacuating three ill passengers for treatment. Read more »
May 06
Ghana: 'Is All My Struggle Going to Be Wasted?' Ghana Study Explores How Mothers Feel About Early Births
About 10% of births - that's about 15 million babies - are born prematurely worldwide each year, making preterm births a major global health concern. The World Health Organization… Read more »
Africa: The Conversation Africa - 11 Years of Impact
Over the past 11 years, The Conversation Africa has published 12,961 articles by 8,257 authors, making the expertise of academics and researchers in Africa and other parts of the… Read more »
May 05
South Africa: No Water, No Crops - Irrigation Schemes Could Be a Powerful Way for South Africa's Smallholder Farmers to Adapt to Climate Change
Across South Africa's rural landscape, thousands of hectares of fertile land lie unused. Irrigation systems have collapsed, water no longer reaches crops reliably, and many farmers… Read more »
Mozambique: Mozambique's Economy Is Failing - the Tough Policy Choices That Need to Be Made Urgently
Mozambique is not in total crisis - but it is faltering. There has been no currency crash, no hyperinflation, no bank run. But over the past decade the main indicators of the… Read more »
Ghana: What Ghana's Foreign-Built Landmarks Tell Us About Its Global Relationships
The call to prayer echoes across the neighbourhood as people congregate under the sweeping domes and tall minarets of Ghana's National Mosque in Accra. For many, it is a place of… Read more »
Mali: Mali Attacks - Tuareg Grievances Hold the Key to Peace
The precarious security situation in Mali took a turn for the worse in late April 2026. Well coordinated attacks targeted several cities and claimed the lives of the defence… Read more »
Africa: Hantavirus, Covid, Norovirus, Legionnaires' - Why Are Cruise Ships So Prone to Disease Outbreaks?
Cruises are sold as floating holidays, but they are also useful for understanding public health. Cruise ships are carefully designed places where many people live, eat, relax and… Read more »
Africa: Financial Strain, Lockdowns and Fear of Infection During Disease Outbreaks Magnify Violence Against Women and Girls - New Research
When the world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, another crisis quietly grew behind closed doors. Reports from around the globe suggested that violence against… Read more »
May 04
Uganda: Uganda's Bobi Wine On the Books (And Songs) That Shape His Politics
Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, popularly known as Bobi Wine, is a Ugandan music star and political leader currently in exile. Framing his movement as a "people power" struggle by… Read more »
Africa: What's Stopping Kids From Learning Useful Skills? Short Answer - Exams
Across Africa and beyond, education systems are shifting to curricula designed to build critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Read more »
Nigeria: Nigeria's Budget Is Treated Like a Government Secret - How an Online Public Monitoring System Could Fight Corruption
Nigerians have no reliable way of scrutinising the national budget. The citizen's portal of the Nigerian Budget Office of the Federation is often offline, and when it is online, it… Read more »
