The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
Government plans to introduce a fleet of new taxis running on diesel has triggered off an outcry in South Africa. Environmentalists view the country's new-generation taxi fleet with diesel fuel as a major "lost opportunity' to reduce air pollution. While supporting the initiative to improve the public transport system, the …
Plagued by torrential rain and floods, people in Africa are nevertheless faced with an acute shortage of water. According to the African Development Bank, two out of three Africans living in rural areas lack an adequate supply of water while nearly three-quarters have insufficient sanitation. The situation is predicted to …
the population of gorillas has declined alarmingly in the war-ravaged eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Several years ago there were 258 gorillas in the highlands of the Kahuzi-Biega National Park situated outside the Bakavu town. Today, only 70 gorillas remain. In the last one year, most …
cases of malaria are on the rise across the world. Malaria, transmitted by the Anopheles mosquitoes, kills over one million people and causes 300-500 million episodes of illness each year. Majority of the 3,000 deaths each day and 10 new cases each second occur in Africa. Malaria not only takes …
the Burkinabe Energy Institute in Burkina Faso in Africa has introduced several models of stoves that will reduce the consumption of wood for domestic purposes. Around 85 per cent people in Burkina Faso use wood as a source of energy in their homes. This has resulted in largescale deforestation and …
purging nut or physic nut ( Jatropha Curcas) is a native to tropical America. It is also found in many parts of Asia and Africa. In Cape Verde Islands, it is cultivated as an oil-yielding seed crop. In Madagascar, where the plant is grown as a support for the vanilla …
in semi-arid Africa, the natural floodplains (or wetlands) inundated by seasonal river flows are of strategic economic importance. In many instances, the use of wetlands
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) have called on the leaders of countries where polio still exists to give full cooperation to the global effort to eradicate the disease by the end of this year. "We are on the verge of an historic public …
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in a recently-released report says that some 1.6 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa are facing starvation due to drought and long-running civil conflict. In Somalia, the report says, "the effect of the drought was compounded by civil strife.' The 15 countries facing …
Armed conflict and civil strife were major sources of food insecurity in the 1990s and will continue to be this century, although their number and the losses associated with them may have passed their peak. Depending on which of the various definitions of the term is used, from 30 to …
Armed conflict and civil strife were major sources of food insecurity in the 1990s and will continue to be this century, although their number and the losses associated with them may have passed their peak (see Figure 13). Depending on which of the various definitions of the term is used, …
Many anthropologists believe that our direct ancestors, Homo sapiens , originated in Africa and left the continent about 100,000 years ago. This is popularly known as the "Out of Africa' theory. Others, however, say that H sapiens evolved independently in separate locations. A new analysis of an ancient Australian skeleton …
After World War II, average life expectancy rates have been increasing all over the world. This means a person born today will live 20 years longer than a person born in 1950. However, in African nations like Zimbabwe and Botswana the situation is very different. Life expectancy has been dipping …
The United Nations Children's Fund (unicef), in a drive against polio in Pakistan, will provide a high potency vitamin for children under five years. The aim of the programme is to eliminate one aspect of "hidden hunger' in the country, within a year. The initial policy decision was taken in …
corals across the world may be getting afflicted by diseases transmitted through the dust coming out of deserts in Africa. Moreover, the dust may also be the reason behind a global rise in respiratory infections. This has been proposed by Dick Barber of the Duke University in Beaumont, North Carolina, …
An artist's rendition of the Lunar Prospector shows the spacecraft in lunar orbit. The Lunar Prospector hit the moon on July 31, 1999. The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration, using the Hubble Space Telescope, failed to detect water in the plume created by Prospector 's impact
if the latest findings by scientists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research are found to hold water, the various views on the desertification of the Sahara may soon be turned upside down. In a research paper, published in the July 15 issue of Geophysical Research Letters, they concluded …
The United Nations General Assembly is holding a special session to draw up a strategy for limiting the world population, keeping in view the sharp divisions that exist on issues such as abortion, family planning and sex education in schools. The session is being held to review the decisions and …
The United Nations Education Science and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) will launch the first-ever planet-wide climate research programme involving nearly 70 countries. Under the programme CLIVAR (Climate Variability and Predictability) existing global data will be collected to study the complex interactions among the atmosphere, …
