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Countries around the world are struggling to deal with record numbers of new COVID-19 infections. Particularly, countries like Kenya and India have been battling to keep up with the demand for oxygen. Trevor Duke provides some guidance on what countries can do to secure better oxygen supplies. Governments and health services should invest in bedside oxygen concentrators and generators to supply whole hospital or district needs. And
global agencies should support this in a way similar to the scaling up of vaccines through global partnerships like COVAX.
Meanwhile the global drive to vaccinate people against the coronavirus faces challenges. Even developed countries that have secured the bulk of the world’s COVID-19 vaccine supplies are falling short of their vaccination targets. Nana Kofi Quakyi explains some of the key challenges facing Ghana’s rollout plans, while Veronica Ueckermann takes a closer look at the issues preventing South Africa’s vaccination from taking off.
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Moina Spooner
Commissioning Editor: East and Francophone Africa
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Police personnel escort a truck carrying medical liquid oxygen to the Guru Nanak Dev hospital in Amritsar, India, on April 24, 2021.
Photo by NARINDER NANU/AFP via Getty Images
Trevor Duke, The University of Melbourne
For now, governments and health services should invest in bedside oxygen concentrators and oxygen generators to supply whole hospital needs.
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Nana Kofi Quakyi, New York University
The COVID-19 vaccination programme requires stringent data collection and transparency.
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Veronica Ueckermann, University of Pretoria
At the current vaccination pace it will take over a decade for South Africa to reach herd immunity, with many lives lost along the way.
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Arts, Culture + Society
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Liani Maasdorp, University of Cape Town; Ian-Malcolm Rijsdijk, University of Cape Town
A tide of 'the feels' buoyed the underdog documentary to an Oscar win – but the local industry will need to focus on where international gains are most needed.
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Charles Helm, Nelson Mandela University
It appears that the South African Cape south coast's dunes and beaches formed a vast canvas of sand on which our ancestors could leave their mark.
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Environment + Energy
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Ozayr Patel, The Conversation
Is Botswana allowing the hunting of elephants a good or a bad thing? Two academics weigh in.
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Ellen Fungisai Chipango, University of Johannesburg
The socio-economic and political factors that keep conventional energy out of reach of the poor can do the same with renewable energy.
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Business + Economy
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Nnamdi Madichie, Nnamdi Azikiwe University
The Igbos, like most other indigenous groups, believe in maintaining a legacy of not just their language, but other values, including trans-generational business legacies.
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Sophie Van Huellen, SOAS, University of London
The importance of raw cocoa beans to Ghana's foreign exchange earnings is derailing the development of a viable chocolate industry
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Health + Medicine
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Wale Fatade, The Conversation
Nigeria must invest more in research and incorporate World Health Organisation-recommended interventions to eliminate malaria.
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Patience Afulani, University of California, San Francisco
Provider burnout is expensive for the health system given its associations with low quality of care, absenteeism, and high workforce turnover.
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Politics
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Abdi Ismail Samatar, University of Pretoria
The political and security order which numerous foreign actors have been investing in has produced marginal benefits for the population.
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Julius Heise, University of Marburg; Werner Distler, University of Marburg
Colonial powers framed secessionism as a threat to state-building and not as an expression of self-determination
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Folahanmi Aina, King's College London
Chadian president Idriss Deby's death has serious implications for stability in the troubled Lake Chad Basin and the broader Sahel region of West Africa.
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Steven Friedman, University of Johannesburg
In the country’s insider politics, the majority who try to survive outside the formal economy are talked about, but are never heard.
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Education
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Heleen Hofmeyr, Stellenbosch University
Research shows that grit is a strong predictor of reading achievement. This suggests that socio-emotional skills are important for student achievement, even in high-poverty contexts.
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Conrad Hughes, Université de Genève
Far too often it is still an education for some and not for everybody.
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Featured events
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Online, Hatfield, Pretoria, Gauteng, 0083, South Africa — University of Pretoria
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Robert Sobukwe Road, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, Cape Town, Western Cape, 7535, South Africa — University of the Western Cape
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MS Teams, Western Cape, 7600, South Africa — Stellenbosch University
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Zoom, online, Zoom, online, Gauteng, Zoom, online, South Africa — University of Pretoria
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