The recent military coup in Burkina Faso that toppled President Roch Kaboré highlights a disturbing trend in African politics: a resurgence of unconstitutional means to bring about regime change since the start of the pandemic. In the past two years, Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea, Mali, and Sudan have all seen military takeovers. And Niger had an unsuccessful coup attempt.
In Sudan, a popular people-driven revolution led to the ouster of military dictator Omar al-Bashir in April 2019. However, the military has undermined the power-sharing...
Anne Paisley
Anne Paisley is ONE's Associate Editorial Director. Prior to joining ONE in 2019, she worked at Devex and the Center for American Progress. She holds an MA in International Policy from Georgetown University and a BA in International Affairs and Economics from George Washington University, both with honors.
A roundup of the latest news, stats, and analysis of COVID-19’s impact in Africa. View our data tracker and sign up for our weekly newsletter. This week, how war in Ukraine could impact world food prices and Tanzania’s gas trade, the suspension of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa, and a recap of the AU-EU Summit..
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Of war and wheat: Russia’s attack on Ukraine, a major grain exporter, could have a ricochet effect on food prices in low-income countries – adding layers of concern to the already...
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Face saving or life-saving?: BioNTech announced the launch of not-for-profit (aka at-cost), movable vaccine factories to scale up mRNA vaccine production in Africa and other regions with low vaccine rates. The modules, enclosed in shipping containers and described as a “turnkey solution,” are capable of producing up to 50 million vaccines per year. The first units will be shipped to Rwanda and Senegal (and possibly South Africa), with a fill-and-finish role for Ghana. Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo welcomed the news, thanking “BioNTech and...
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Two viruses collide: Scientists are increasingly concerned about a possible link between HIV/AIDS and new COVID-19 variants. A team of experts at the Network for Genomic Surveillance in South Africa recently documented the case of an HIV-positive woman whose COVID-19 infection lasted nine months and resulted in more than 20 viral mutations. The team is planning additional research to study whether this is a widespread phenomena. Meanwhile, experts are concerned that vaccine inequality combined with higher rates of immunocompromised people increases the...
Last year, Njeri, a hawker in Nairobi, was paying 90 shillings (roughly $0.8) for a packet of maizemeal. Today the same packet goes for 120 shillings, a 30% increase. She is also paying more for non-food items, such as rent and electricity. Njeri’s rent for a single room in Kangemi, an informal settlement, increased by more than 10%, from 4,500 Kenya shillings to 5,000 Kenya shillings (roughly $44) a month, which is nearly a third of her income.
As a...
A roundup of the latest news, stats, and analysis of COVID-19’s impact in Africa. View our data tracker and sign up for our weekly newsletter. This week, up to 80% of South Africans have had COVID-19, eye-popping levels of healthcare waste, and a mental health crisis born of the pandemic.
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Don’t know, can’t tell: South Africa has scrapped quarantine for asymptomatic COVID-19 cases and cut quarantine times to seven days for symptomatic cases. That policy change stemmed from new...
Many African countries reacted positively to the recent news that the German biotechnology company BioNTech will be building COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing plants in Rwanda and Senegal. Across the continent, insufficient and unpredictable vaccine supplies, poor distribution networks, and infrastructure challenges have hampered mass vaccination efforts. Proponents of vaccine technology transfer to African countries view this development as a positive step to improve vaccination rollouts across the continent.
The pandemic has been a wake-up call for African countries that rely solely on...
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Money, money, money: The world’s 10 richest men made trillions during the pandemic. They doubled their fortunes, at a rate of $15,000 every second. Some have chosen to do good – the Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust pledged $300 million to CEPI (CEPI is seeking a total of $3.5 billion to tackle the minor issues of pandemic response and preparedness). But even if each of the 10 richest men gave away 99.9% of their current wealth, they would still be richer than 99% of...
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Lost generation: Uganda’s schools reopened after nearly two years of COVID-19 closures – the longest in the world. More than 50% of students stopped learning as a result. One-third of students are expected to stay out of school, instead working to support their families. And many teachers have been lost to other professions. The situation is similarly dire in South Africa, where at least 775,000 students have dropped out and teen pregnancies have increased by 60%. The changing nature of the virus means it...
As children across Africa return to school this week, they might find a very different landscape to the one they left behind before the pandemic. Classroom sizes in some schools will be smaller due to high dropout rates, especially among adolescent girls.
COVID-19 has shut an entire generation in Africa out of the education system. Millions of children in low- and middle-income African countries will not return to schools as they reopen due to a variety of reasons. That includes...