Last week, a ceasefire was announced after two years of genocide in Gaza. The bombs have stopped falling, but the devastation remains. The majority of homes, schools, hospitals, universities, factories, and commercial buildings have been reduced to rubble. From above, Gaza looks like a grey desert of rubble, its vibrant urban spaces reduced to ghost…
While governments lifted restrictions and international attention moved elsewhere after some declared victory over the initial, acute phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, a significant portion of Covid-19 survivors continued to battle debilitating symptoms that had no name, no recognition, and no clear path to treatment. Dr. Jane Achan, a pediatrician and Principal Advisor at Malaria…
Victoria GillScience correspondent, BBC News Washington Post via Getty Images Naked mole rats live for up to 40 years, compared to about three years for a mouse They are weird, bald, subterranean rodents that look like sausages with teeth, and they have just revealed a genetic secret to long life. A new study of the…
Year after year, Africa’s leaders take the long journey to New York to speak at the United Nations General Assembly. And year after year, they repeat the same demand: Africa must have a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. The hall listens politely, the cameras click, and then nothing changes. The speeches are filed…
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) established its first radio transmitter sites in Africa in the 1930s, to reach the British colonies and beyond. It became a model for radio in Africa and later a model for TV news. But, almost a century on, what is the BBC’s colonial legacy and how does the public broadcaster…
The global impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) extends beyond the acute phase of infection, presenting ongoing challenges for public health and clinical management. Some people continue to suffer health complications long after recovering from Covid-19, yet the reasons why some develop Long Covid while others do not remain unclear, even five years post-pandemic. Long…
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Kizito Zua, a farmer living in Arua, a city in northern Uganda, had earned his way selling his produce at the local market. In 2020, when lockdown rules were enforced in his area, he was no longer able to tend to his land. Left without a source of income, Kizito had…
Cape Town — Long Covid, which is when symptoms persist beyond the acute phase after a person is infected with SARS-CoV-2 that causes Covid-19, is emerging as a major global health challenge. Meta-analyses – a scientific method used to combine the results of many different studies that have looked at the same question – estimate…
Sexual violence in conflict is a tactic of war, torture and terror. It does not only devastate survivors but also tears apart families and communities. The trauma, shame and stigma are borne by victims, not perpetrators – echoing across generations. In 2024 alone, the UN verified around 4,500 cases of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), though…
