There is growing volume of data that shows Covid vaccines safely protect pregnant women
Covid-19 can strike hard and fast – especially when you are pregnant. Alison Cahill, a specialist in maternal-foetal medicine at the Dell Medical School in Austin, Texas, vividly remembers a patient from the first wave of the pandemic who was 26 weeks pregnant and woke up one morning with a...
US federal agencies consider creation of integrity council to shield science from political meddling after Trump missteps
US federal agencies need to strengthen the policies that protect science used in government decision-making. They should also create a scientific-integrity council spanning many agencies, to help address political meddling by government officials. Those are some of the top conclusions of a long-awaited report from a taskforce convened by US...
Human rights: The minute the word gender enters dialogue, some regions get up and leave conference room
Since the beginning of the war in Tigray in November last year, more than 1,300 incidents of rape have been reported, while many argue that more cases went unreported due to societal stigma surrounding the topic. A high number of cases of gender-based violence including gang-rape and other atrocities were...
NASA’s outer space engineering wonder flawlessly unfurls its mirrors, sunshield to formally become a telescope
After several tense days of unfurling and clicking its various parts into place, the biggest and most sophisticated space telescope ever launched is now complete. On January 8, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope slowly swung the last three of its 18 hexagonal mirror segments into position, locking them together into...
Prevailing uncertainty in South Sudan makes it difficult to resettle millions of returning refugees, IDPs
Political divides are at the root of the displacement of the Shilluk and must be resolved before sustainable and equitable returns can take place. Yet, if returns are to occur – in the run-up to next year’s polls – various electoral processes will likely lead to violent contestations over administrative...
Africa’s political leadership mounted a robust response helped to mitigate impact of Covid
As omicron continues to make its impact across the globe, scientists in Africa are rapidly learning more about the new coronavirus variant. Omicron was first identified in southern Africa in November. Dr John Nkengasong, the director of Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told The World’s host Carol Hills...
Why the return of refugees and internally displaced people is such a thorny issue in South Sudan
South Sudan’s government wants millions of people who fled the country’s devastating civil war to return home ahead of national elections tentatively scheduled for 2023. But some humanitarians worry that returns could be risky as violence continues to flare around the country despite a 2018 peace agreement and the subsequent...
Covid management: Too many projects on health and disease in Africa are pursued in silos
Africa’s Covid-19 management proved that building regional control and capability will be key to containing future disease outbreaks. This means strengthening national public-health institutions, such as the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and the Zambia National Public Health Institute in Lusaka. It also means strengthening and empowering the Africa CDC...
Health experts forecast: How Africa averted 70 million Covid infections, three million deaths
Africa’s achievements, especially in the early phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, are at least part of the reason the continent was able to mitigate the first and, to some degree, the second waves of the Covid-19 pandemic. As of December 13, 2021, around 8.9 million cases of Covid-19 and nearly...
As rest of world grapples with soaring numbers of Covid infections, Africa praised for coordinated response
In the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, Africa’s rapid and coordinated response, informed by emerging data, was remarkable. Now, in 2022, as vast vaccination campaigns have enabled the global north to gain some control over the pandemic, Africa lags behind. Since the 1960s, when many African countries gained independence,...
