Guinea has declared an Ebola outbreak in one of its regions. The last outbreak in West Africa, which also started in Guinea, occurred between 2014 and 2015. It was the world’s deadliest Ebola outbreak – more than 11,300 people died. But West African countries are better placed today to deal with Ebola than they were seven years ago. Mosoka Fallah, who led national response teams in previous Ebola outbreaks, lays out crucial questions which are key to preparedness strategies, and which all countries in the region should address.

Twenty-four years after his death, Fela Kuti’s influence on music and pan-Africanist thought hasn’t waned. The Afrobeat pioneer spoke truth to power through his music, challenging the Nigerian government at great personal and professional cost. Little wonder there seems to have been an unrelenting search for someone to perfectly fill the void he left behind. While there have been numerous musicians making protest music, musicologist Garhe Osiebe explains why none can be regarded as Fela’s successor and if anything, it is time for these calls to be discontinued.

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Moina Spooner

Commissioning Editor: East and Francophone Africa

Medical staff check each others protective suits. Photo by SUMY SADURNI/AFP via Getty Images

Ebola strikes West Africa again: key questions and lessons from the past

Mosoka Fallah, University of Liberia

Countries in the West Africa region are in a very different position to seven years ago. They now have the experience of the past as well as new tools to tackle Ebola.

Femi Kuti performing in Mexico City in 2019. Photo by Pedro Gonzalez Castillo/Getty Images

The quest to identify Fela’s successor: why it’s time to end it

Garhe Osiebe, Rhodes University

The truth remains that no artist through Nigeria’s postcolonial years has contributed close to what Fela did – and continues to do - for human rights and social justice.

Business + Economy

Africa indigenous fruit trees offer major benefits. But they’re being ignored

Abiodun Olusola Omotayo, North-West University; Adeyemi Oladapo Aremu, North-West University

Africa's key to future food-nutrition security may depend on the untapped potential of indigenous fruit trees.

Many African countries had a surprise manufacturing surge in 2010s – it bodes well for the years ahead

Gaaitzen de Vries, United Nations University; Emmanuel B Mensah, University of Groningen; Hagen Kruse, University of Groningen; Kunal Sen, United Nations University

Industrialisation was key to long-term economic growth in the west and Asia. After years of going in the wrong direction, new research suggests that many African countries have seen a turnaround.

From our international editions

Facebook has pulled the trigger on news content — and possibly shot itself in the foot

Diana Bossio, Swinburne University of Technology

Facebook pulling the plug on Australian news will cause short-term disruption, but readers and media will recover.

Feel like breaking up with Facebook? Maybe it’s time for a social media spring clean

David Tuffley, Griffith University

If you're fed up with Facebook, there are many options to step away, from taking a deactivation break, to a digital spring clean of how the platform accesses your data, to a full divorce.

Why do antibodies fade after a COVID-19 infection, and will the same thing happen with vaccines?

Steven Smith, Brunel University London

Maintaining antibodies in the blood requires creating certain long-lasting immune cells – but this doesn't always happen.

How a mass suicide by slaves caused the legend of the flying African to take off

Thomas Hallock, University of South Florida

The myth has become a symbol of the traumatizing legacy of trans-Atlantic slavery. It also serves as a form of resistance and healing.

 

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