December 14, 2022
Africa: 6 Moments in African Football in 2022 That Will Be Talked About for Years to Come
2022 was a significant year for African football. It was a benchmark for the women's game and a year that may mark the first real move into African football as a business rather… Read more »
Southern Africa: Sacred Rivers - Christianity in Southern Africa Has a Deep History of Water and Ritual
Water is a scarce commodity in much of Africa, particularly in southern Africa. This is well symbolised in the name of the Botswana national currency, pula (rain). When tragedies… Read more »
Africa: Nasal Vaccines Promise to Stop the Covid-19 Virus Before It Gets to the Lungs - an Immunologist Explains How They Work
The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines have played a large role in preventing deaths and severe infections from COVID-19. But researchers are still in the process of… Read more »
December 13, 2022
Africa: Ports Race Is Hyped As 'Development' but Also Creates Pathways for Plunder
Ports have long been integral to Africa's connectivity with the rest of the world. Yet over the last 15 years, a new stage in maritime infrastructure planning and development has… Read more »
Africa: Hypertension, Diabetes, Stroke Kill More People Than Infectious Diseases and Should Get a Global Fund
Noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular conditions account for 41 million deaths each year. That's more than 70% of all deaths globally. Most of… Read more »
Africa: Covid - What We Know About New Omicron Variant Bf.7
Since the COVID variant omicron emerged in late 2021, it has rapidly evolved into multiple subvariants. One subvariant, BF.7, has recently been identified as the main variant… Read more »
South Africa: Child Nutrition Programmes Can Feed Inequality - Model From South Africa Shows How Context Shapes Lives
Interventions to improve nutrition, especially for children and pregnant women, can be critical for health, physical growth and cognitive development, enabling better lives and… Read more »
Africa: Joe Biden Is Meeting African Leaders - Why Free Trade Is a Major Talking Point
African leaders face a dilemma over trade relations with the United States. Should they push for the extension of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) or for each country's… Read more »
Nigeria: 2022 Was a Rollercoaster for Nigeria - 4 Essential Reads On What Went Down and How to Fix It
For Nigeria and Nigerians, the year 2022 was a rollercoaster ride of sorts. As a year preceding the country's general elections in 2023, it was expected to hold a lot of political… Read more »
December 12, 2022
Africa: Why We Put Things Off - And Why It's Sometimes Useful
Are you procrastinating? I am. I have been delaying writing this article for the last few days even though I knew I had a deadline. I have scrolled through social media, and I have… Read more »
East Africa: The Lapsset Development Corridor - Between a Bright Future and a Grim Past
The Lamu Port-Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport - or Lapsset - corridor is the flagship project of Kenya's Vision 2030 development agenda. Inaugurated in 2012, the planned corridor… Read more »
Ghana: Ghana Had a Bad Time in 2022 - 4 Reads to Catch Up On What Happened
Ghana, a country with a good reputation for democracy, human rights, governance and economic growth in Africa, endured a difficult 2022. Read more »
Nigeria: Nigeria Failed to Qualify for the World Cup 2022 - Blame Their Disdain for Football School Structures and Development
Nigeria's national men's football team is absent from this year's World Cup in Qatar. It is only the second time since its first appearance in the tournament in 1994 that the Super… Read more »
South Africa: Breast Cancer Patients May Find It Hard to Stick to Treatment - Here's What They Told Us
Worldwide, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer. It's also the leading cause of cancer-related death among women. The incidence of breast cancer is expected to rise,… Read more »
Africa: U.S.-Africa Summit - Four Things African Leaders Should Try to Get Out of It
US president Joe Biden will be hosting African leaders at this week's summit, as a group. This has its advantages. The 50 African leaders have the opportunity to articulate their… Read more »
December 11, 2022
Africa: Beyond Vaccine Hesitancy - Understanding Systemic Barriers to Getting Vaccinated
The term "vaccine hesitancy" was in wide use years before the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The term focuses on individual-level attitudes toward… Read more »
Africa: 'Polycrisis' May Be a Buzzword, but It Could Help Us Tackle the World's Woes
Commentators increasingly warn that the world is tightly bound in a "polycrisis," a tangled knot of crises spanning global systems. But if we have any hope of escaping it, we must… Read more »
Morocco: Morocco At the World Cup - 6 Driving Forces Behind a History-Making Win
History was made by Morocco, the first African and first Arab team to advance to a semi-final at the men's football World Cup. Read more »
Africa: When Did Humans First Start to Speak? How Language Evolved in Africa
When did humans first begin to speak, which speech sounds were uttered first, and when did language evolve from those humble beginnings? These questions have long fascinated… Read more »
South Africa: Durban Coastline - Sewage-Polluted Beaches a Threat to Holiday Makers, Environment
Large numbers of businesses in eThekwini on South Africa's eastern seaboard - which includes the port city of Durban - rely heavily on tourism. It's a popular holiday destination,… Read more »
Africa: Is My RAT Actually Working? How to Tell If Your Covid Test Can Detect Omicron
You've tested negative for COVID using a rapid antigen test (RAT), but are a close contact of a positive family member and have symptoms. So you might be wondering if you're really… Read more »
December 10, 2022
Africa: Climate Crisis in Africa Exposes Real Cause of Hunger
In the waning hours of the year's biggest climate change conference - COP27 - we learned of a deal to create a loss and damage fund. This is essentially a source of finance to… Read more »
December 09, 2022
Africa: African Debt - How to Break Unequal Relationships in Financing Deals
Africa is facing some impossibly difficult choices when it comes to financing its development. Countries need hundreds of billions of dollars each year to meet their climate,… Read more »
Congo-Kinshasa: East African Troops Hope to Bring Peace in the DRC but There May Be Stumbling Blocks
The East African Community decided to deploy troops in one of its member states for the first time in June 2022. The deployment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will… Read more »
Africa: Arrakhis - the Tiny Satellite Aiming to Reveal What Dark Matter Is Made of
The European Space Agency (Esa) recently announced a new mission of its science programme: a small telescope orbiting the Earth dubbed Arrakhis. But although its name is inspired… Read more »