December 08, 2022
Africa: Toilets Spew Invisible Tiny Water Droplets With Every Flush - Study
Every time you flush a toilet, it releases plumes of tiny water droplets into the air around you. These droplets, called aerosol plumes, can spread pathogens from human waste and… Read more »
Ethiopia: Abiy Ahmed Gained Power With the Help of Young People - Four Years Later He's Silencing Them
When Abiy Ahmed took power as Ethiopia's prime minister in April 2018, he was the youngest head of government in Africa. Read more »
Ghana: Why Farmers in Northern Ghana Go to Bed Hungry
Ghana is one of the few countries often praised for achieving impressive reductions in hunger. The 2022 Global Hunger Index report reveals Ghana's hunger score has declined by more… Read more »
Africa: China's Belt and Road Infrastructure Projects Could Help or Hurt Oceans and Coasts Worldwide
More than one-third of all people in the world live in cities, towns and villages on coasts. They rely on healthy oceans for many things, including food, income, a stable climate… Read more »
South Africa: Climate Change Is Not What South Africans See As Their Main Problem - a Survey Breaks It Down
Climate change is a major threat to food production, and is displacing people and increasing the risks to health globally. Addressing climate change requires vast resources,… Read more »
Africa: Covid Treatments and Prevention Are Still Improving - So the Longer You Can Avoid It the Better
There have been enough COVID infections in the UK since March 2020 for every person to have been infected between 1.3 and two times, according to mathematical modelling. Read more »
South Africa: Janusz Walus Parole - Constitutional Court Was Right, But Failed the Sensitivity Test
On 21 November 2022 the Constitutional Court of South Africa ordered the release on parole of Janusz Walus, the Polish national who assassinated Chris Hani on 10 April 1993. Hani… Read more »
December 07, 2022
Nigeria: Contempt of Court in Nigeria - What the Cases of Three Convicted Security Officials Tell Us
Three security chiefs in Nigeria were convicted of contempt of court in November 2022 after failing to comply with various court orders. This is the first time that officials at… Read more »
Africa: How Physios and Occupational Therapists Are Helping Long Covid Sufferers
Treating people for long COVID - that is, symptoms that last longer than four weeks after COVID infection - can be extremely complex due to the wide variety of problems associated… Read more »
Africa: Outer Space Talks Are a Welcome Addition to the US-Africa Leaders Summit - What's On the Table
President Joe Biden is hosting the Second US-Africa Leaders Summit in mid-December 2022. Read more »
South Africa: Breast Cancer Patients Battle to Maintain Treatment Because of High Transport Costs
South Africa has a two-tiered health system. Public health services - which are largely provided free of charge - are run and funded by the state. Private healthcare is owned and… Read more »
South Africa: What Is RET and What Does It Want? The Radical Economic Transformation Faction Explained
It has been standard for some years, in any analysis of South Africa's governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), to refer to the "radical economic transformation" (RET)… Read more »
December 06, 2022
Nigeria: Jihadists and Bandits Are Cooperating. Why This Is Bad News for Nigeria
The Nigerian state has come under severe security stress in recent times. It has faced multiple national security threats: jihadist groups in the north-east; armed bandits in the… Read more »
South Africa: Music Streaming in South Africa - New Survey Reveals Musicians Get a Raw Deal
Musicians worldwide have been placing their tracks with global streaming platforms such as Spotify for many years. South African musicians, however, have reported only sparse… Read more »
Africa: Measles - Why the World Health Organization Has Declared It an 'Imminent Global Threat'
One consequence of the pandemic was reduced access to routine healthcare and lower uptake of immunisations. As a result, in November 2022, the World Health Organization declared… Read more »
Africa: Feeling Forgetful After Covid? Study Shows the Virus Can Affect Short-Term Memory
Although it's well known that COVID affects the respiratory system, it's perhaps less well known that the virus can also affect cognitive function. Read more »
South Africa: Skills Shortages Plague Economy - Policy and Social Conditions Must Support Their Development
Many South Africans argue that the country has a skills crisis. An equal number question why it can't sort this out by "adopting the German or Swiss approach". Read more »
December 05, 2022
Nigeria: Why Women Sometimes Stay With Abusers - Insights From a Nigerian Study
Domestic violence is a public health problem in most parts of the world. A 2021 United Nations report showed that one in three women aged 15-49 years in sub-Saharan Africa had… Read more »
Africa: Earthshot Prize - Five Winners That Will Help Solve Major Environmental Problems
Climate change is one of the greatest threats ever to face humanity. With mounting storms, fires, floods and droughts and the annual disappointment of international negotiations,… Read more »
Africa: Why We Need Open-Source Science Innovation - Not Patents and Paywalls
As we prepare to invest money to prevent the next global pandemic and find solutions to many other problems, science funders have a large opportunity to move towards open science… Read more »
Africa: A Liver Disease Drug Could Be Repurposed to Protect Against Covid - New Research
Almost three years into the pandemic, we're still regularly seeing hundreds of thousands of new COVID cases recorded each day worldwide. In a new study, involving a combination of… Read more »
Mauritius: Why Britain Should Immediately Withdraw From Mauritius' Chagos Islands
Britain is on the cusp of decolonising Mauritius - again. The first attempt at decolonisation took place in 1968 but went unfulfilled when London kept hold of an island group that… Read more »
Africa: Pharma's Expensive Gaming of the Drug Patent System Is Successfully Countered By the Medicines Patent Pool
Biomedical innovation reached a new era during the COVID-19 pandemic as drug development went into overdrive. But the ways that brand companies license their patented drugs grant… Read more »
South Africa: More South Africans Are Smoking - Higher Taxes and Stronger Law Enforcement Are Needed
Tobacco use imposes a significant health and economic burden on countries. Research estimates that the cost of smoking in South Africa amounted to 0.97% of the country's GDP in… Read more »
December 04, 2022
Nigeria: Violent Extremism Could Beckon in North-Western Nigeria If Local Dynamics Are Ignored
In January 2022, in a bid to stem a tide of violent attacks and kidnappings in north-western Nigeria, the government labelled the armed groups involved in the violence… Read more »