Without course correction, 20 of 26 countries would remain poor through 2050 ANALYSIS | AGENCIES | The next 25 years could prove decisive in determining whether the world’s 26 poorest countries progress to middle-income status, a new World Bank analysis shows. Home to more than 40 percent of people struggling on …
Read More »IDPs want to stay rather than go home, says report
New solutions needed as 60% wish to stay in their displacement location ANALYSIS | RONALD MUSOKE | For every 10 people internally displaced by conflict or disaster, six of them would rather remain in their current locations than return to their communities of origin, according to newly released findings from the …
Read More »Good gourd! Artist turns dried fruit into art
David Thille is the face of a craft that most people have never even heard of ART | AGENCIES | David Thille is France’s only known professional cougourdonnier, a job that consists of creating ornaments, implements and other artisanal objects from hard-shell gourds. His workshop is near Saumur (Maine-et-Loire), and Thille …
Read More »African men most at risk of prostate cancer
ANALYSIS | A new breakthrough study has identified the genetic risk factors that contribute to increased prostate cancer in African men. The study, the largest of its kind, recruited 7,500 men from eastern, southern and west Africa. Medical scientist Wenlong Carl Chen explains why the findings are significant and the promise …
Read More »How vaccine turned Ebola into a preventable disease
The Ervebo vaccine uses a modified virus to produce antibodies against Ebola ANALYSIS | YAP BOUM | The Ebola virus devastated west Africa in 2014, claiming over 11,000 lives in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. It was the largest Ebola outbreak since the virus had first been discovered in the Democratic …
Read More »The end of US dollar dominance
Why Donald Trump’s policies could hasten the dollar’s relegation from being the only world currency COMMENT | DAVID MCMILLAN | Donald Trump’s victory in November’s U.S. presidential election saw the U.S. dollar strengthen. It surged to a one-year high within two weeks, and has since retained its strength against its major …
Read More »Frank Nabwiso: Development thinker dies at 84
He once described – on the floor of Parliament, the plan President Museveni had of ruling Uganda for up to 50 years OBITUARY | THE INDEPENDENT | Frank Wilberforce Bulima Nabwiso died on Saturday Dec.14 at Mukono Church of Uganda Hospital after a short illness. He was a Member of Parliament …
Read More »After fall of Assad dynasty
What Syria’s risky new moment means for Syrians, leaders in the region, Turkey, Israel, and America COMMENT | STEVEN A. COOK | On January 21, 1994, Basil al-Assad was killed in what the Syrian government described as a car accident. According to official dispatches, he had been driving too fast on …
Read More »Malaria’s silent drain on blood supply
Kampala, Uganda | PATRCIA AKANKWATSA | While malaria remains a major public health challenge, its impact extends far beyond the immediate illness and death it causes. One of its less recognised but critical consequences is the severe strain it places on blood supplies, particularly in malaria-endemic countries like Uganda. In Uganda, …
Read More »When Kenya moves people out of the country illegally
What the law says about extraordinary rendition, including of Ugandan opposition politician Kizza Besigye INTERVIEW | THE INDEPENDENT | Kenya has been accused by various non-state and state actors of supporting extraordinary rendition, which refers to the secret transfer of people from one country to another without due process of law …
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