Category: Articles

Access to safe water is central to human health and economic development, yet most rural households in sub-Saharan Africa don’t have water piped to their home. When women and girls are forced to spend hours each day hauling water for their households, the consequences can be devastating. Beyond harming both physical and mental health, fetching water also takes time away from activities such as education, caregiving, gardening and employment. It’s no surprise that households that depend on distant water…

Read More

Year after year, March 8 is celebrated as the International Women’s Day the world over. It celebrates the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women while highlighting the problems they face in day-to-day life as well as in the professional environment. The day also marks as a call to action for accelerating gender parity. This year, International Women’s Day is being specially marked to highlight the challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. So ahead of this notable…

Read More

( Dr Meshach  Agogoe using his hanwashing machine) Proper handwashing with soap under running water is critical for the prevention of infectious diseases, but this is not a common practice everywhere in most part of the world especially in developing countries.  The outbreak of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) necessitated the need for a national handwashing campaign alongside other important behaviours like physical distancing as the first line of defence against the spread of the pandemic. The campaign responds directly…

Read More

Some African countries have been criticized for not issuing accurate data on COVID-19. For structural reasons data gathering is more of a challenge in Africa than in Europe. But that’s not the main problem, experts say. Recently, Tanzania’s President John Magufuli raised eyebrows around the world by stating that his country had “eliminated the corona disease, thanks to God.” Magufuli has been on the receiving end of particularly harsh criticism since he decided to stop issuing data on the…

Read More

How plant genetic material ensures future food security   Throughout history 6 000 – 7 000 plant species have been cultivated for food. Yet today 40 percent of our daily calories come from just three crops: rice, wheat and maize. Humans depend on little more than 30 plant species, many of which are struggling in the face of today’s environmental changes. With biodiversity and entire ecosystems in serious decline, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture plays…

Read More