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 …
That the grass seems greener on the other side rings more true for Africans. They have been relying heavily on food imports to combat famine, drought, starvation and malmarition and ignoring native grains, vegetables, and fruits. A report by the National Research Council of the us has revealed that the …
The announcement of the 10- year long, us $25 billion Africa Development Initiative comes as a much needed helping hand for a continent sinking into the quagmire of increasing debt and poverty. The joint programme involving the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and its own agencies, aims at setting …
The Denakil desert of Eritrea in Africa has turned out to be another exploration site for human fossils. In December last year, a team of Eritrean and Italian scientists led by Ernesto Abbate from the University of Florence in Italy, recovered well- preserved parts of a two-million- year-old human fossil …
SCENES of starvation in the African, countries are a common feature and a subject of constant world attention. Often, aid and food have been rushed to these countries to stave off the hunger crisis. But help seems to be literally at hand, in their own backyards, asia recent study of …
The African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) population is declining fast. one of the most endangered large carnivores in the world, the wild dogs face constant threats in the form of loss of habitat, persecution by humans and disease. Whatever numbers remain are confined to six countries (Tanzania, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, …
NOWADAYS, there is increased fear that the African environment, especially the tropical forests, contains all sorts of strange and lethal viruses which are sidelining more known tropical diseases like malaria. Nothing exemplifies this better than the "predicted" emergence of the Ebola, which is a haemorrhagic fever virus which causes uncontrolled …
The World Health Organization (WHO) has given a clean chit to West Africans regarding the deadly Ebola virus. All tests on suspected carriers of the virus have proved negative. The WHO had ordered tests on all those who were in contact with a Liberian refugee, who had tested positive early …
Using S-I-R and S-E-I-R models, it was possible to simulate two Ebola outbreaks: the 1976 outbreak in Yambuku, Zaire and the 1995 outbreak in Kikwit, Zaire. The dynamics of these models are determined by the per-capita death rate of infected individuals and the per-capita effective contact rate of an individual …
WESTERN and 'civilised' notions concerning the relation between population patterns and economic status may seem to dominate our world-view today. This book exposes and seeks to counter the rather inadequate and insensitive understanding of the motivation for child bearing in the developing world. Anthropologist Caroline Blendsoe has produced a fascinating …
ONE-THIRD of all Africans are undernourished. It is shocking to learn how rapidly and dangerously food security continues to deteriorate, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Soil fertility is on the slide, yields per hectare of principal food crops are declining and population growth has exceeded growth in food production in most …
An agricultural revolution is in the offing in the Sabel, the driest zone of the West African semi-arid tropics. The change in agricultural systems is being spearheaded by the Sah Centre set up to ched downward trend to po, by the International C Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, one …
Calauit island, the island reserve legacy of Ferdinand Marcos, the former president of Philippines, has become a killing field for African wildlife. Animal species including eight species imported from Kenya such as giraffes, zebras, impaias and gazelles, have struggled to survive on a shoestring budget from the Department of Natural …
While malnutrition stays with us in a big way, the quantity of arable land per capita is diminishing rapidly. Africa's population has increased from just under 300 million in 1970, to over 500 million in 1990. The number of malnourished rose from 101 million to 168 million people. The speed …
After working on the Water Wars series of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and winning the Young travel Writer Award from The Observer, Pratap Rughani has just finished shooting another documentary for BBC. This time he focuses an the wildlife conservation programmes in Africa. Entitled African Game, the film captures …
A catfish, Synodontis nigriventris, native to the rainforest streams of central Africa, swims with its belly upwards, but not because it is afraid that the heavens will crash on its head. The strange behaviour, say researcher Lauren Chapman and her colleagues at the University of Florida, is to help the …
SWEET potato produces more biomass and nutrients per ha than any other food crop, but only now has it become the focus of sustained scientific research. Recognising its potential as a source of food, animal feed and industrial raw material, scientists around the world are now exploring its properties to …
From the Ivory Coast to the dusty expanses of the Sahara, time honoured techniques are still followed to heal sick animals. A sick cow need not be taken to a hospital: a barefoot vet can disinfect the affected areas with urine, administer medicines from the local Materia Medica and even …
*Every year, 4 million children in Africa and Asia die of diarrhoea. * Nearly 800 million people in the 2 continents are at serious risk of contracting chronic respiratory diseases and cancer from indoor air pollution. * It is believed that global warming could trigger epidemics of tropical diseases worldwide. …
TANZANIA will be invaded by red locusts if preventive measures are not taken on a war footing. The country's agriculture minister, Jackson Makwetta, says large colonies of locusts were spotted in the traditional breeding areas. The "red army" is expected to move into Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Zaire. Makwetta …
ABOUT 2 million years ago, deep in the tropical jungles of Africa, a humanoid creaked into an upright posture. This was Homo erectus, our most immediate ancestor; it soon learnt to chip stones into useful tools and weapons, such as handaxes. A million years later, armed with these tools, the …
