The controversy surrounding this year‘s World Cup in Qatar reminds us that it‘s more important than ever to stand up for what is right. The host country has a questionable record of human rights, as well as denying rights to women and more. That‘s why we‘re standing with footballers who are doing their part off the pitch to make the world a better place. Keep reading to meet 8 footballers who are fighting for a better world. Sadio Man, Senegal Sadio Man...
Top news Upending lending: Despite federal troops and rebels in Ethiopia having declared a truce in the 1.5 year-long civil war in Tigray, lenders are scaling back. Disbursements from public and private banks are down by nearly 75%, from $3.1 billion in 2019-20 to under $775 million in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, with a growing budget deficit. This comes as aid is desperately needed: the conflict, paired with severe drought, has caused over 2.6 million...
Top news COVID-19’s poor legacy: The pandemic pushed 55 million people into poverty in 2020. That’s more than the total number of people pushed into poverty in the entire 20 years prior to 2020. In Africa alone, another 58 million people could fall into poverty, with women more likely to be affected.  Future focused: Senegal President Macky Sall called for a united African vision for restructuring the international system at this year’s Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (CoM2022). Conference discussions centred on...
A roundup of the latest news, stats, and analysis of COVID-19’s impact in Africa. View our data tracker and sign up for our weekly newsletter. Today, Thursday, 12 May, Belize, Germany, Indonesia, Senegal, and the US co-host the Second Global COVID-19 Summit. In this special edition, we take stock of where we are in the pandemic. Spoiler alert: The world wants to be done with COVID, but the virus is far from done with us. Top news Vaccination apartheid: The summit takes...
Top news A slow TRIPS: A draft TRIPS proposal for COVID vaccines is (finally) before the WTO, a leisurely 18 months after it was originally proposed. ⏳ Despite being heralded as an agreement between the EU, India, South Africa, and the US, only the EU has indicated support publicly. The proposal will now go to the WTO’s 164 members for consideration. It notably excludes important pandemic-fighting tools like therapeutics and diagnostics. Resolve to save profits: Scientists in Egypt, Ghana, and Uganda are working around patent restrictions...
A roundup of the latest news, stats, and analysis of COVID-19’s impact in Africa. View our data tracker and sign up for our weekly newsletter. This week, we look at progress on a malaria vaccine, the not-so-good records broken at the World Bank-IMF Spring Meetings, Africa’s role in a new vision of global finance, and more. Top news Default tip of the iceberg: Hunger and blackouts are the immediate symptoms of global economic fallouts, which will see growth stall at 3.6% in 2022...
Top news Seismic waves: Russia’s war in Ukraine is going to weaken the economies of 143 countries this year — that’s 86% of the world — driven by rising food and energy prices. Likening the war to “seismic waves” rolling over the global economy, the IMF lowered its global growth projections from an estimated 6.1% in 2021 to 3.6% in 2022 and 2023 (and 3.8% for sub-Saharan Africa in 2022, see chart below). This could lead to greater risk of violence from heightened economic tensions in...
Top news Hunger emergency: Amidst a historic drought threatening 13 million people in East Africa with severe hunger, the rise in grain, fertilizer, and fuel prices resulting from Russia’s war in Ukraine is exacerbating an already dire problem. A gas shortage persists in some parts of Kenya despite government interventions. The cost of wheat has risen 80% over the past six months, causing the price of bread in Sudan to roughly double. Median food inflation across Africa is 10.6%. Fertilizer...
Top news Bounce back bias: Low-income countries’ GDP would have been more than 5% higher in 2021 if they had been able to access vaccines at the same rates as high-income countries. The vaccination of one additional person out of every 100 would have boosted global GDP by 0.10%,  according to modeling by the UNDP. While the COVID-19 vaccines have helped high-income countries economically, the growth outlook for low-income countries continues to trend downwards and is 10 times lower than that of upper-middle-income countries. History...
Top news Desperate need: South Sudan is experiencing the worst refugee crisis in Africa. Triggered by floods, famine, and political violence, 2 million people have been displaced and 2.3 million people are currently refugees. 8.9 million people are in “desperate need” of humanitarian aid. Meanwhile, the $10 million in aid and 80,000 bags of rice intended for those who need it have instead been “looted” by political elites, according to a UN official. Rape and sexual violence are being used as “spoils...