The messaging and media sharing platform WhatsApp is ubiquitous in most African countries, Nigeria among them. So it makes sense that WhatsApp was a huge part of that country’s recent elections and the campaigns that preceded it. As Nic Cheeseman explains, there were both pros and cons to the platform’s extensive use.
South Africa has in recent years run into electricity shortages. In response policy developments have factored in a greater role for liquefied natural gas in the country’s energy mix and the overall economy. This could help spur re-industrialisation, reduce the country’s over-reliance on coal-fired power stations, and contribute to increased regional trade. Marie Blanche Ting argues that to develop a liquefied natural gas sector South
Africa could re-purpose existing institutions, namely those relating to the country’s established liquid fuels industry.
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Supporters of Nigeria’s All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari, at a rally earlier this year.
EPA-EFE/Stringer
Nic Cheeseman, University of Birmingham
In the recent Nigerian election WhatsApp was used to mislead voters in increasingly sophisticated ways. But it also strengthened democracy in other areas.
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A gas-fired power station will be a cheaper option for Eskom than its current diesel plant.
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Marie Blanche Ting, University of Sussex
South Africa's policymakers see a greater role for liquefied natural gas in the country's energy mix, reduce the country's over-reliance on coal and drive re-industrialisation.
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Health + Medicine
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Sasha Frade, University of the Witwatersrand; Jo Vearey, University of the Witwatersrand
Excluding international migrants from the public health care system can result in a population wide risk.
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Andrew Gibbs, South African Medical Research Council
Poverty, traumatic experiences, and gender inequalities, directly increased HIV-risk behaviours such as having unprotected sex and having multiple sexual partners.
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Kellie Morrissey, Newcastle University; James Hodge, Newcastle University
Dementia villages and care homes that try and recreate the past are unsustainable.
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Robert Huish, Dalhousie University; Sharon McLennan, Massey University
Cuba is offering a compelling example of how we can take care of each other during the climate crisis with its work training doctors on Kiribati, a nation that is being devastated by climate change.
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Environment + Energy
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Aurore Julien, University of East London
Air conditioning requires energy, and contributes to global warming – here are five ways of cooling which won't cost the planet.
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Kate Parr, University of Liverpool; Caroline Lehmann, University of Edinburgh
Ecological literacy is needed to guide global tree planting initiatives to avoid damaging some ecosystems.
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