It's Africa Day, marking 54 years since the Organisation of African Unity - today the African Union - was established. It's a good chance to consider how democracy is performing on the continent. Nic Cheeseman explains why it's clear that democracy can work in Africa, and why this doesn't mean it always will.
The World Health Organisation has chosen an African as its director general for the first time in its 70-year history. David Sanders unpacks why the appointment of Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, Ethiopia’s former health minister, is important for the Global South.
We’ve been running our first annual reader survey. If you’ve filled it in already, thank you! We appreciate your inputs enormously. If you haven’t, please do. We’d love to learn more about you and your interests. You can find the survey here. (We’ll only be running it for another four days.)
|
Shutterstock
Nic Cheeseman, University of Birmingham
As we celebrate Africa Day and reflect on how far the continent has come since the Organisation of African Unity was founded in 1963, it's a good time to assess whether democracy is working.
|
Tedros Ghebreyesus, the newly elected Director-General of the World Health Organisation.
Reuters/Denis Balibouse
David Sanders, University of the Western Cape
There are a number of challenges that the World Health Organisation's new leader, Ethiopian-born Tedros Ghebreyesus, will have to navigate during his tenure.
|
Business + Economy
|
-
Karen Hofman, University of the Witwatersrand; Charles Parry, South African Medical Research Council
Under pressure to create new markets, big alcohol producers are scouring the African continent in what promises to yield negative socioeconomic consequences.
|
|
Education
|
-
Liesel Ebersöhn, University of Pretoria
Schools that have supportive strategies in place can offer buffers. They can promote positive outcomes -- for pupils and teachers.
|
|
From our international editions
|
-
Andy Price, Sheffield Hallam University
Suspending the political campaigning was the right thing to do but we still have to face this problem.
-
Mia Bloom, Georgia State University
To the terrorist, children have become but a means to an end. Weapon and target.
-
Lena Ting, Emory University; Young-Hui Chang, Georgia Institute of Technology
These birds spend long periods, often asleep, standing on one leg. Is it passive biomechanics or active nervous system control of their muscles that allows them to do easily what's impossible for us?
-
Harriet Dempsey-Jones, University of Oxford
There can be benefits to fidgeting, such as boosting attention or helping you burn up to 800 extra calories a day. But it comes at a cost...
|
|