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Sub-Saharan Africa

University Teaching Hospital in the capital Lusaka, Zambia is home to the first neurology residency program in the country. The program has trained seven neurologists since starting in 2018.

‘We’re seeing the tip of the iceberg’: Neurologists in Zambia upend understandings of multiple sclerosis in the region

Disease

For years, medical providers were taught that MS is very rare among Black Africans. But the presence of more neurologists in Zambia has upended previous thinking on the condition. Now, more people are getting diagnosed and treated for the disease.

São Sebastião Fort and Museum with statues of conquistadors São Tomé.

‘Born in Blackness’: A new book centers Africa in the expansive history of slavery

History
Four people are shown looking through a white-framed windows and wearing green medical scrubs.

Discussion: Sub-Saharan Africa’s deepening coronavirus crisis

Coronavirus Conversations
A scaly pangolin with small, brown eyes and a pointy nose forages for food near some greenery.

Pangolin smuggling: The next coronavirus time bomb?

COVID-19
Contact tracers are pictured in a room

COVID-19 threatens global progress in fight against other communicable diseases 

dried mud in south africa

Climate disruption is worsening global economic inequality

Environment

New research finds that since 1961, global warming has reduced the gross domestic product of poorer countries an average of 25%, while some richer countries have benefited.

Women with green bandanas protest in a crowd

Abortions rise worldwide when US cuts funding to women’s health clinics, study finds

Health & Medicine

The “global gag rule” has been rescinded by every Democrat and reinstated by every Republican to occupy the Oval Office, reflecting the partisan nature of abortion. But studies show the rule may actually lead to increased abortions abroad.

a drop of blood being placed onto a slide

A second HIV patient has been ‘cured,’ but researchers say reducing cases is still the top priority

Researchers say a cure for HIV/AIDS is on the horizon, but it’s important to reduce cases overall while a cure is developed.

A strip of closed offices and empty sidewalk with a single woman waiting for offices to open.

Zimbabwe’s internet crackdown shows the ‘economic sabotage’ of shutdowns

The government of Zimbabwe shut down the internet last month to quell dissent. But the move cost the nation $5.7 million per day and set Zimbabwe’s growing “technopreneur” business back during the blackout.

A young Tanzanian woman speaks to a male doctor.

Tanzanian president bluntly attacks contraception, saying high birth rates are good for economy

Development

Tanzania was one of the first countries in sub-Saharan Africa to embrace family planning. But current president John Magufuli made headlines when he said he does “not see any need for birth control,” asserting that population growth is actually an economic boon to the East African nation.