Dr. Kwegyir Aggrey "Only the best is good enough for Africa."
Kwame Nkrumah "The independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of Africa."
We have heard the story repeatedly – countries fall further behind the rest of the world when they lack the infrastructure needed to sustain growth. It may seem repetitive, but sometimes it’s important to reiterate what may appear obvious. Last month the International Food Policy Institute (IFPRI) launched a new tool – the Food Security […]
Babies born to mothers in sub-Saharan who are overweight or obese are significantly more likely to die in the first two days after their birth, according to new research. Published online in The Lancet, the study is the first to shed light on the role of maternal obesity in neonatal death (during the first […]
New York — On the 20th anniversary of World Breastfeeding Week, UNICEF says strong national policies supporting breastfeeding could prevent the deaths of around 1 million children under five in the developing world each year. Despite compelling evidence that exclusive breastfeeding prevents diseases like diarrhea and pneumonia that kill millions of children every year, global […]
Olenguruone — It is a chilly morning in Olenguruone village on the southern flank of the Rift Valley, but Gloria Chepng’etich is warming up to the task at hand. Spread neatly on her workbench are bamboo splices that the 21-year-old will weave into floor mats over the next hour or so. She will then pass […]
London — Water scarcity is both a natural and a human-made problem. Population growth, rapid urbanization, industrial development, rising agricultural needs and overuse of lakes, waterways and aquifers – all put pressure on water supplies. Additional drivers of water scarcity include drought, desertification, rising sea levels and accelerated melting of glaciers, which scientists say […]
London — Melinda Gates wants you to know this: if women in poor countries can get the contraceptives they want, millions of lives will be saved. By Tami Hultman She questions why modern contraceptives should be controversial, when they can reduce a staggering death toll. “We have 100,000 women who didn’t want to get […]
Rome — Common indicators and guidelines for environmental assessments will lead to shared understanding of environmental impacts, better policymaking. A new FAO-led partnership is looking to improve how the environmental impacts of the livestock industry are measured and assessed, a necessary first step in improving the sustainability of this important food production sector. Livestock-raising and […]
By Anso Thom Health and social justice activists as well as health ministers and key policy makers from across the world will meet in Cape Town this week to address the drivers of inequity which fundamentally impact on the health of the poor. Despite unprecedented global wealth the world is experiencing a crisis of […]
Stephenie Hollyman/WHO Deerfield, Il (July 3, 2012) — A pair of provocative studies in the July 2012 issue of The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (AJTMH) provides a window into the intense ground war now underway against malaria. In one review, researchers offer new evidence supporting indoor insecticide spraying as a way […]
By Eleanor Whitehead Africa’s private health insurance industry is growing as coverage broadens across income groups. Over half of Africa’s total annual expenditure on healthcare, estimated at around $55bn, comes from the private sector. Across sub-Saharan Africa, not only are most countries still a long way from achieving the targeted 15 percent government budgetary […]