The rise and fall of the South African arm of the international accounting firm KPMG, which has been caught with its hands in the slush fund jar, tells a number of fascinating tales. One of them is how engaged the country’s citizens are. As David Everatt writes, South Africans of all shapes, colours, sizes, creeds have reached a tipping point. And that spells danger for corrupt people, both in government and the private sector.

Lassa fever, which is transmitted by rats, affects hundreds of thousands of people in West Africa every year. Oyewale Tomori challenges governments and scientists in endemic countries to commit more time and resources to preventing the spread of the disease - and to finding a vaccine.

In the Horn of Africa, poor rains have been blamed for the increasing famine, leading to thousands of children in need of life-saving aid. This is particularly true in a region in which agriculture is mainly non-irrigated. But the link is not so direct and the processes which lead to famine are much more complex, and include armed conflicts and poor infrastructures, explains Philippe Roudier.