insert_link Africa Lake Victoria: why so many fishers are dying and what can be done about it By Ranaivo Rasolofoson, University of Toronto and Kathryn Fiorella, Cornell University Small-scale fishers on Lake Victoria (Africa’s largest freshwater lake, shared by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) are drowning. Safety issues such as storms, a lack of available life jackets, and a shortage of navigational equipment and rescue services are a major cause of this. Existing studies have found that climate change is projected to […] todayJune 26, 2024 7
Africa Fencing offers teens hope in impoverished Nairobi slum By Rose TROUP BUCHANAN Along the muddy tracks of a sprawling slum in Kenya's capital Nairobi, scores of teenagers learn how to fence each weekend under Mburu Wanyoike, whose initiative offers hope in a place bedevilled by crime and lack of opportunity. Several hundred thousand people live in closely packed poverty in Mathare, many born there like 27-year-old Wanyoike, who a decade ago was on […] todayJune 10, 2024 4
insert_link South Africa UNICEF Report Indicates South Africa Is Among Top 20 Nations With Highest Child Food Poverty A UNICEF report reveals South Africa is one of 20 countries accounting for 65-percent of all children globally living in severe food poverty. Twenty-three-percent of South African children experience food deprivation and they are 50-percent more likely to suffer life-threatening malnutrition. UNICEF's Christine Muhigana says the consequences can last a lifetime, weakening immunity, increasing disease risk and perpetuating the poverty cycle: E todayJune 10, 2024 12
insert_link South Africa ANC set to lose majority after watershed vote By Umberto BACCHI with Zama LUTHULI in Durban South Africa's ruling ANC was on course to lose its 30-year-old unchallenged majority on Thursday after voters queued long into the night to cast their ballots, preliminary results and projections showed. With a fifth of votes tallied, the ANC was leading but with a score of 44 percent -- well down on the 57 percent it […] todayMay 30, 2024 18
insert_link Interview Transcripts Herbert Jauch, a Social Justice Activist, Talks Minerals and Poverty in Namibia Herbert Jauch, a Social Justice Activist, on Minerals and Poverty in Namibia Namibia, a nation blessed with abundant mineral resources, has long been a significant exporter of valuable commodities such as uranium, diamonds, zinc, copper, and lead. Additionally, its marine fish products contribute substantially to the global seafood market. In recent years, the extraction of rare earth minerals has further expanded Namibia's role in the global resource landscape. Despite this […] todayMay 16, 2024 16
insert_link South Africa South Africa will be president of the G20 in 2025: two much-needed reforms it should drive By Danny Bradlow, University of Pretoria South Africa will play an important international role in 2025 as president of the G20. The G20 is a group of 19 countries as well as the African Union and the European Union. Between them they represent 85% of global economy, 75% of world trade and 67% of global population. The G20 defines itself as the premier multilateral forum […] todayMay 15, 2024 15
insert_link Africa Ghana’s forests are being wiped out: what’s behind this and why attempts to stop it aren’t working By John Tennyson Afele, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Ghana has around 7.9 million hectares of forested land (35% of the total land area), according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. Around 7.6 million hectares are primary or naturally regenerated forest, and around 297,000 hectares are planted forest. In 2022, Ghana lost 18,000 hectares of primary forest, a nearly 70% increase from […] todayMay 15, 2024 14
insert_link South Africa Over 26 million South Africans get a social grant. Fear of losing the payment used to be a reason to vote for the ANC, but no longer – study By Leila Patel, University of Johannesburg and Yolanda Sadie, University of Johannesburg Social grants to reduce poverty feature prominently in the campaign promises of political parties in South Africa’s 2024 national and provincial general elections, set for 29 May. The country’s social grants system is one of the largest in Africa in terms of number of beneficiaries. Research shows that this has helped reduce poverty. […] todayMay 15, 2024 10
Africa South Africans are abandoning smallholder farming – history and policy can help explain why By Klara Fischer, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences South African smallholders are abandoning farming. The decline in field cultivation is a problem, since many of these smallholder households struggle to make ends meet. If people were able to produce more of their own food this would improve their lives. The current situation is a combined effect of the country’s historical legacy and the negative impacts of recent […] todayMay 10, 2024 12
Paying it forward: Kenyan coastal doctor Bashrahil Mohammed Mafudh has made it his life’s work to care for the most vulnerable in his community, at no cost.
