NPR: Despite grim Headlines, Africa Is Booming – While headlines about war and famine tend to dominate the news from Africa, “six out of the ten fastest growing economies in the world are there,” and this growth is rapidly transforming the continent’s culture. While the population in Africa booms, urban populations in sub-Saharan Africa will triple between now and 2050. Simultaneously, the physical infrastructure in many cities is improving, yet many analysts believe that this development is still very fragile. (Neal Conan, Howard French, Edward Miguel, Susan Lund)
Reuters: Farm prices on upward trend in next decade, FAO, OECD – According to a joint report released by the OECD and the FAO, “world farm commodity prices will edge higher in the next decade,” due to increased demand in emerging economies. In addition, agricultural output is expected to slow to 1.7 percent per year over the next decade from over 2 percent in the past several decades, an alarming trend considering agricultural production needs to increase by 60 percent in the next 40 years to meet growing demand. (Catherine Hornby)
AP: ‘Brilliance is colorblind’: Star dancer born in war-torn Sierra Leone grows up to inspire – A 17-year-old Sierra Leone native, Michaela DePrince, lives a different life from her childhood. She escaped her country’s civil war, only to be called “the devil’s child” at the safe-house orphanage. DePrince was adopted at four, and now she is an African ballerina whose presence “shakes and rattles the whole idea that ballet is not for black people and shows it’s for all people.”
VOA: In Uganda, HIV Prevention No Longer Just ABC – Now that HIV infection rates have been increasingly rising in Uganda, the country has adopted new biomedically-proven prevention strategies, moving away from their once-celebrated campaign, “ABC: Abstain, Be Faithful or Use a Condom.” Uganda will focus on preventing mother-child HIV transmission and strengthening male medical circumcision, which can reduce the chance of HIV transmission by up to 60 percent. (Andrew Green)
