Africa’s healthcare funding crisis: 3 strategies to manage deadly diseases: The increasing trend of reducing foreign aid to Africa is forcing the continent to reassess its approach to healthcare delivery. African countries face a major challenge of dealing with high rates of communicable diseases, such as malaria and HIV/Aids, and rising levels of non-communicable diseases. …
Turkey is an incredibly powerful broker in the current world crisis, and a masterful negotiator: A Turkish military ship in the Bosphorus. Atakan Divitlioglu/Shutterstock While Turkey’s government is struggling to deal with mass protests at home (after Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was imprisoned), in foreign affairs it is in an increasingly strong position as a …
Medieval Venice shows us the good art can do in times of crisis: The 14th-century mosaic in the baptistery of Venice's San Marco basilica showing the crucifixion scene with the Venetian doge and two officers of the city beneath. University of Bologna, CC BY-ND In an increasingly polarised world, the arts and humanities play a …
Ethiopia’s war may have ended, but the Tigray crisis hasn’t: For over 20 years, Ethiopia was led by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, a coalition of four ethnic-based political parties representing Tigray, Amhara, Oromo, and Southern nations, nationalities and peoples. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front was the most influential party within the coalition. However, …
Mpox in the DRC: residents of the slum at the centre of Kinshasa’s epidemic have little chance of avoiding this major health crisis: Walking through the crowded streets of the Pakadjuma neighbourhood in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, I am struck by the vibrant atmosphere around me. Children play happily in puddles, …
Africa’s worsening food crisis – it’s time for an agricultural revolution: Rates of hunger in Africa are unacceptably high and getting worse. The UN State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024 report reveals that food insecurity in Africa is the highest of any world region. The prevalence of undernourishment is 20.4% (some …
SABC crisis: South Africa needs its public broadcaster – but who is going to fund it?: Here we are again. The long-running crisis at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is back on the agenda after the communications minister, Solly Malatsi, withdrew the SABC bill from parliament in mid-November, to first develop a funding model …
Climate crisis: what Trump can (and can’t) do: Donald Trump will return to lead the world’s largest historical emitter of greenhouse gas. Neither Trump nor Kamala Harris made the climate crisis a prominent feature of their campaigns, during an election cycle in which America was pounded by weather disasters. Hurricane Helene, which struck in late …
Can the Olympics survive the climate crisis?: The 2024 Olympic Games opened on the same week Earth recorded its hottest day ever. A different kind of record-breaking will be animating competitors in Paris, but the climate crisis is making it hard for organisers to keep the tournament on track. A deluge that dumped a month’s …
University funding is in crisis – and none of the political parties have a clear plan to fix it: EF Stock/Shutterstock The past 14 years of Conservative-led government have, in many ways, been a successful period for the UK’s universities. Student numbers have increased by 12% to 2.9 million. Real terms income has grown by …
Ghana’s economic crisis was caused by government borrowing – the central bank did the best it could: economist: Ghana is going through its worst economic crisis in a generation. The past two years have seen record high inflation in the country. Ghana’s central bank (the Bank of Ghana) has been criticised in some quarters for …
Malawi faces a food crisis: why plans to avert hunger aren’t realistic and what can be done: Malawi is heading towards a severe food crisis later this year. Drought brought on by the El Niño weather pattern has affected the harvest of maize, the staple food grown by nine out of 10 farming households in …
African countries can’t resolve their debt crisis under a system rigged against them: The debt situation in many African countries has escalated again to a critical juncture. Twenty are in, or at risk of, debt distress. Three pivotal elements significantly contribute to this. Firstly, the rules governing the international banking system favour developed countries and …
2024 Senegal election crisis points to deeper issues with Macky Sall and his preferred successor: The botched attempt by Senegalese president Macky Sall to postpone the presidential election has stirred unnecessary tension in an already strained electoral process. The move reflected deeper governance problems in the country. Sall’s decree, subsequently annulled by the Constitutional Council, …
Crisis in Abyei: South Sudan must act and stop violence between Dinka groups: Abyei – a territory roughly the size of Jamaica – is being contested by two countries, Sudan and South Sudan. Abyei, which covers just over 10,000km², is under special administrative status following the terms of a 2005 peace agreement between the two …
DRC-Rwanda crisis: what’s needed to prevent a regional war: In the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South African, Burundian and Tanzanian troops are fighting against the Rwandan army, which has deployed in support of the rebellion by the March 23 Movement, or M23. Soldiers from South Africa and Burundi, as well as from …
Africa’s debt crisis needs a bold new approach: expert outlines a way forward: It hasn’t been easy for African states to finance their developmental and environmental policy objectives over the past few years. Recent events suggest that the situation may be improving. For the first time in two years, three African states have been able …
History’s crisis detectives: how we’re using maths and data to reveal why societies collapse – and clues about the future: The Death of Julius Caesar, an 1806 painting by Vincenzo Camuccini. Wikipedia American humorist and writer Mark Twain is believed to have once said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” I’ve been working …