IN SHORT: A graphic circulating online in South Africa and Nigeria warns of criminals claiming to test blood sugar for free, only to infect people with HIV instead. But this hoax circulated in the Philippines in 2025, and the country’s health department debunked it. According to a shocking claim sent to Africa Check by subscribers…
Ramaphosa Unveils 90-Day Plan to Tackle South Africa’s Gender-Based Violence South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a national emergency response and a clean-up of high-risk areas following the discovery of the bodies of 12 women east of Johannesburg over two months. Four people have been arrested, but Ramaphosa said police have found no…
Geneva — Cholera deaths increased globally by 30 percent in 2025, despite fewer cases being reported to the World Health Organization, with five countries in Africa accounting for around 90 percent of all cases, the WHO said on Tuesday. In 2025, 47 countries reported 451,499 cholera cases and 7,870 deaths to the Geneva-based WHO, the health…
Cholera deaths increased by 30% in 2025, despite fewer cases being reported to the World Health Organization (WHO). In 2025, 47 countries reported 451 499 cholera cases and 7870 deaths to WHO. This is the highest number of annual cholera deaths reported to WHO since 1999. These figures reflect surveillance data reported to WHO and…
The Horn of Africa is approaching the final months of 2026 with an increasingly important climate signal that is a strengthening El Niño that could bring substantially wetter conditions to parts of the region while increasing the risks of flooding, landslides, crop damage, disease outbreaks and infrastructure disruption. El Niño is a recurring climate phenomenon…
The entrance to Comic Con Africa 2026 When Comic Con Africa launched in 2018, organisers faced an immediate surge in local demand for a large-scale pop culture and gaming convention. Eight years on, Carol Weaving, MD of organiser RX Africa, says the South African event is the fourth-largest Comic Con in the world, behind only…
Raj Kamal, founder and CEO of TransFi By Bonface Orucho (Bird Story Agency) Africa is building faster ways to move money across borders. However, faster payment rails are exposing the question whether banks and payment providers have enough of the right currencies, at the right price, to settle those payments. In February, the Pan-African Payment…
Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Oliver Alawuba, has called for greater focus on turning Africa’s vast opportunities into investable projects. He also emphasised the need for dependable revenues, credible institutions and accountable delivery to unlock sustainable capital for the continent. Alawuba made the call in New York,…
Richard Firth has paid a ransom and seen what it bought. Now the MIP Holdings CEO wants South Africa to outlaw such payments. “I think banning ransomware payments will be a powerful deterrent,” Firth told TechCentral on Tuesday. MIP, which supplies software to insurers, paid cybercrime group The Gentlemen a sum Firth described as “substantial”…
In a RootsToFoods Capital Series interview continuing Wave 2 of the series, Michael Meehan, founder of the Forum for Impact and former chief executive of the Global Reporting Initiative, argues that capital corridors are not built from scratch. They are recognized, then organized, and some of the most active ones now connect the Gulf, Europe…
