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 …
South Africa, Namibia and Angola have signed an agreement that enables them to utilise the marine and coastal resources of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (bclme), along Africa's southwest coastline. The Benguela Current Commission Agreement, the first of its kind in the world, also facilitates the understanding, conservation and …
antibiotics may get a fresh lease of life following the discovery of a potent compound by a team of scientists at Merck Research Laboratories in Rahway, New Jersey, in the us. Called platensimycin, the compound was isolated from a fungus-like bacterium found in a soil sample from South Africa. The …
This report highlights the importance of social protection in the struggle against global poverty. Social protection aims to enhance the capacity of poor and vulnerable persons to manage economic and social risks, such as unemployment, sickness, disability and old age.
High levels of air pollution in Johannesburg in winters and the rising exhaust emissions on its roads has prompted the city to adopt stringent air-quality measures. Atmospheric scientist Margot Richardson, who works in the city's department of development planning, transportation and environment, said that tests in Johannesburg during winter found …
The prolonged shutdown of oil refineries in South Africa has sparked a critical shortage of fuel, stemming from a change to cleaner fuels like unleaded petrol and low-sulphur diesel. Many petrol stations are running short of fuel. Some flights in South Africa were cancelled due to fuel shortage. This shortage …
This publication takes a broad look at several dimensions of carbon trading. It analyses the problems arising from the emerging global carbon market pertaining to the environment, social justice and human rights, and investigates climate mitigation alternatives. It provides a short history of carbon trading and discusses a number of …
Why should epidemiological studies include social aspects of diseases? Public health requires an interdisciplinary approach. So, at the hsrc we study all factors that cause disease and what prevents people from accessing health care. For example, in my area of interest, hiv and poverty, we found that not only do …
bacco off the shelf: Thailand has taken a strong step against tobacco sales in the country. They ordered vendors in September to remove all cigarettes from display or risk a US $50,000 fine. Activists say cigarette packets are also effectively an advertisement and so should be hidden from view. sa …
• Army contractors halted operations at the Newport Chemical Depot, in western Indiana, as nearly 500 gallons of caustic wastewater containing hydrolysate, leaked into a sealed area at the facility. This plant is used for destroying Cold War era chemical weapon VX. • A regional conference on sustainable transportation and …
a 3.8 metre-long female great white shark has completed the first documented round-trip ocean crossing by a shark. It travelled from South Africa across the Indian Ocean to Australia
South Africa (sa), again wants to cull elephants, a practice it halted in 1994 in the face of public outrage. Between 1967 and 1994 over 14,000 elephants were "removed' from the country's Kruger National Park by culling and over 2,000 relocated to other game reserves. Government scientists complain that the …
City authorities in Durban, South Africa, have discovered up to 4,000 times higher concentration of the chemical hexavalent chromium, or Chrome 6, in groundwater near a factory owned by Lanxess, an offshoot of German multinational company Bayer. Chrome 6 is a carcinogen that enters the body by inhalation, ingestion or …
A major challenge facing developing countries is how to allocate scarce capital, especially public capital, for the provision of basic services. Electrification, as part of an integrated service delivery package, is both a large draw on public funds and also an important catalyst for economic development. One of the major …
Two hundred thousand traditional medicine practitioners of South Africa will be officially recognised as health-care professionals. So says a new legislation passed on September 9. According to health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, the Traditional Health Practitioners Bill received near unanimous backing in the South African parliament. Under the new law, a …
close on the heels of Japan banning asbestos, South Africa too has decided to prohibit the manufacture and new use of the mineral fibre. South Africa's environment minister, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, made this declaration on June 21. "For certain products, where no current alternatives are available, we will allow for …
It is difficult to make people pay for something they perceive to be their natural lawful right. That is the problem facing the company that supplies water to the South African city of Johannesburg and the giant townships nearby. With new investment from foreign companies, supplier firm Johannesburg Water is …
