October 13, 2022
Nigeria: Nigeria Floods - Expert Insights Into Why They're So Devastating and What to Do About Them
Nigeria is experiencing its worst flooding in over a decade. Over 1.4 million people have been displaced, 500 have been reported dead and thousands have been injured. Read more »
Africa: 'Restitution' of Looted African Art Just Continues Colonial Policies - Much More Is At Stake
The violence of the past is far from over. But it is disguised in many ways, made invisible and normalised. What started with the Spanish, Portuguese or the Ottoman empires… Read more »
Africa: Covid-19 Rapid Tests Can Breed Confusion - Here's How to Make Sense of the Results and What to Do, According to 3 Testing Experts
As fall temperatures set in, cold and flu season gets into full swing and holiday travel picks up, people will undoubtedly have questions about COVID-19 testing. Is this the year… Read more »
Ghana: Ghana's Artisanal Miners Are a Law Unto Themselves - Involving Communities Can Help Fix the Problem
Ghana is Africa's largest gold producer, the sixth globally. It produced approximately 129 metric tonnes in 2021. Read more »
October 12, 2022
Africa: How a Cancer Drug Could Be Repurposed to Fight Malaria-Causing Parasites
Malaria is caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum, which is transmitted by mosquitos. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in 2020, there were 241 million cases… Read more »
Mozambique: Mozambique Had No Snakebite Data. A Study Filled the Gap - And the Results Are Scary
Every year between 20,000 and 32,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa die after being bitten by snakes. That's more than five times the number of deaths caused by hippos, crocodiles,… Read more »
Somalia: Puntland State Port Is Getting a Revamp - This Is Key to Its Future
The port city of Bosaso, located at the north-eastern corner of Somalia, provides a striking example of the interlinkage between security and infrastructure. The city benefited… Read more »
South Africa: Johannesburg's 'World Class' Aspirations Create Hostility Towards Informal Traders
Unemployment and the rising cost of living force many people to make a living in the informal economy, particularly street trading. While it is difficult to measure the size of the… Read more »
South Africa: From E-Cigarettes to Hookah Pipes, South Africa Aims to Tighten Tobacco Laws
Tobacco is a leading cause of disease. It is estimated that it kills half of its consumers. Over a million additional deaths result from exposure to second hand smoke. Countries… Read more »
Africa: Animal Friendships Are Surprisingly Like Our Own
When you think of friendship, what comes to mind? Is it a phone conversation that lasts late into the night? Watching a movie and sharing a pizza? Enjoying some laughs over a beer?… Read more »
Africa: Late Night Eating May Cause Greater Weight Gain - New Research Points to Why
It's long been popular advice for people looking to lose weight to avoid late night snacking. It's no wonder, with a host of research showing that late night eating is linked to… Read more »
October 11, 2022
Somalia: What Drives Al-Shabaab - Foreign Forces Out, Sharia Law in and Overthrow the Government
In response to external - and at times internal - pressure, Al-Shabaab's insurgency in Somalia has evolved over time. So have its motivations and goals. Read more »
West Africa: The 5 Biggest Threats to West Africa's Oceans - and What to Do About Them
The natural resources that form ocean ecosystems can play a significant role in the socio-economic growth and development of nations. Read more »
South Africa: Small-Scale Farmers Still Can't Find a Place in the Food Value Chain
Value addition is a central theme in agriculture. The concept involves adding value at every step, from production to delivery of a product. This creates opportunities for farmers… Read more »
West Africa: Burkina Faso Coup Raises Questions About Growing Russian Involvement in West Africa
As if fighting in what - for now, at least - appears to be a losing battle in Ukraine weren't enough, the Wagner Group, a private army of Russian mercenaries commanded by Yevgeny… Read more »
Africa: Genetically Engineered Bacteria Make Living Materials for Self-Repairing Walls and Cleaning Up Pollution
With just an incubator and some broth, researchers can grow reusable filters made of bacteria to clean up polluted water, detect chemicals in the environment and protect surfaces… Read more »
Africa: DNA Is Often Used in Solving Crimes. but How Does DNA Profiling Actually Work?
DNA profiling is frequently in the news. Public interest is sparked when DNA is used to identify a suspect or human remains, or resolves a cold case that seems all but forgotten. Read more »
South Africa: Decolonising Education in South Africa - A Reflection On a Learning-Teaching Approach
It has been seven years since students in South Africa began protesting in a bid to "Africanise" the country's university curricula. They viewed what they were learning as too… Read more »
October 10, 2022
Ghana: Debt Restructuring Must Go Hand-in-Hand With Managing Finances Better
Ghana is struggling with managing its debt, 20-year high inflation, a weak currency, and rising inequality. For example, inflation rose to 33.9% in August 2022 from 9.7% a year… Read more »
Burundi: Exit of Nkurunziza's Men - What Evariste Ndayishimiye Should Do Next
Burundi's president, General Évariste Ndayishimiye, recently sacked the country's prime minister Guillaume Bunyoni after alleging that Bunyoni was plotting a coup against… Read more »
Nigeria: Simi and Bella Shmurda - Two Afrobeats Stars Reveal a Growing Tendency to Abuse Fela Kuti
There can no longer be any doubt that Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the legendary Nigerian musician, activist and father of Afrobeat music, has become an easy career booster for today's… Read more »
October 09, 2022
Africa: From Coelacanths to Crinoids - These 9 'Living Fossils' Haven't Changed in Millions of Years
We see evolution all around us, constantly, in every living thing. Yet in the deep oceans we find a number of "living fossils" reminiscent of creatures from prehistoric times. Read more »
Africa: Cannabis Corporates Should Be Taxed to Fund Mental Health Programmes
Mental health is the state of mental well-being that contributes to individual and population health. This state of mental well-being sustains national output and labour force… Read more »
Nigeria: Nigeria's Missing Virus Hunters - University Decline Robs Country of Virologists
Nigeria's university system witnessed its golden era between the 1950s and 1980s. It produced globally celebrated academics and virologists. But the story has changed. Under… Read more »
Africa: New 'Ethics Guidance' for Top Science Journals Aims to Root Out Harmful Research - but Can It Succeed?
The British journal Nature was founded in 1869 and is one of the world's most influential and prestigious outlets for scientific research. Its publisher, Nature Portfolio (a… Read more »