The struggle to stabilise Zimbabwe’s economy continues, with no signs of relief for ordinary citizens. The recently introduced currency, Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG), seems destined to suffer the same fate as the five previous attempts to create a local currency. Zimbabwe’s economy thrives on informal trade, with most traders operating outside the banking system. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s decision to introduce the ZiG electronically before hard currency is available has sparked panic. An informal trader in Harare told ISS Today about widespread trading disruptions and uncertainty among fellow deal ..read more

Observers believe that Senegalese citizens and the youth in particular, the Constitutional Council and religious and political actors were impressively resilient in navigating an often violent three-year political crisis. They successfully resisted attempts to extend former president Macky Sall’s term in office. But alongside the praise is uncertainty about how Faye and his political mentor Ousmane Sonko, who has been appointed prime minister, might conduct Senegal’s external relations. Sonko, a firebrand critic of Sall who was disqualified from elections following his imprisonment for ‘corrup ..read more

Despite the relentless stream of bad news from around the world, there are still reasons for optimism. One notable example is the renewed push to localize pharmaceutical production in Africa, demonstrating how even catastrophic events like a pandemic can lead to positive, unforeseen outcomes. The COVID-19 shock underscored the critical need to fund public-health systems and expand access to essential technologies and preventive and therapeutic drugs, and should have served as a wake-up call for policymakers and publics worldwide. But once the virus was brought under control, wealthy countries ..read more

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has not just made a splash but a global tidal wave. Its potential to enhance the lives of people worldwide is staggering. From education and healthcare to agriculture and finance, AI has the power to revolutionise every sector. However, to fully harness the benefits of this technological leap, countries must first address some fundamental issues. The starting point is understanding the context in which AI is being embraced in different sectors across the world. What are the prerequisites for making AI interventions meaningful? What does a nation need to develop and ..read more

From the tiny space he rents in the central business district of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second-largest city, Brian Tinotenda can look across the street and see the supermarket where he used to work. Along with nearly two dozen other informal traders, Tinotenda pays roughly US$200 a month for the small space from which he sells toiletries and foodstuff such as rice, cooking oil and cornmeal – the same products he sold at Spar before starting his own business in 2021. While there are many differences between his new job and his last, one of the big ones is that now all of his wares are priced in U ..read more

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others,” George Orwell famously wrote in Animal Farm, his allegory of Stalinism. But Orwell’s maxim could just as easily apply to the sovereign-debt crisis in Africa. Low-income African countries have the smallest share of global public debt but are more likely to be in debt distress or at high risk of it. This paradox reflects a dysfunctional international financial system. Unlike advanced economies, which have highly developed local-currency bond markets, African countries are subject to prohibitively high interest rates and often ..read more

It is interesting to see, from my vantage point in South Africa, the reaction to the slight rise in tuberculosis (TB) cases in the U.S. Overall, TB in the U.S. has declined steadily since the early 1950s. But in the past few years, TB incidence has started to slowly increase. While the percentages seem steep, the overall increase is less than 1,300 new cases. In contrast, TB has long been a crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa. Seventeen of the globe’s highest TB burden countries are located in the region. But for several years now, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) annual TB report shows progress ..read more

The price of a kidney in Kenya? Just under US$1 000 plus a motorbike. That is how 30-year-old Joseph Japiny, from Oyugis town in Homa Bay County in western Kenya, got his boda boda – a motorbike taxi he uses to earn a living. Japiny told the ENACT project that he was introduced to Jadhot, a broker recruiting young men into the kidney-harvesting underworld that operates between Eldoret, Busia and Nairobi. Jadhot said that if he donated one kidney, he would be paid US$984 as a down payment and another US$984 in the form of a Boxer motorcycle. This he could use as a boda ..read more

Despite the progress made toward gender equality over the past century, women worldwide still lag behind men in pay and job quality. The global labor-force participation rate for women is just 53%, compared to 80% for men. This is not due to a lack of will or effort. Childcare obligations, limited access to education, and poor workplace and public-safety measures often curtail women’s ability to secure “decent” work. For this reason, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to achieve “full and productive employment and decent work for all” by 2030 (SDG 8). But this objectiv ..read more

Africa’s vast potential is overshadowed by a crippling debt burden, exceeding $1.8 trillion in 2023. This represents a staggering 60% of the continent’s GDP, a sharp increase from $468 billion in 2010 (World Bank, African Development Bank, 2023). This suffocating debt significantly impacts social well-being, with education being a prime casualty. Dedicating a large portion of government budgets to debt servicing leaves less for critical areas like education. In 2022, sub-Saharan Africa spent a meager 4.1% of its GDP on education, falling short of both the global average and the recommended 6 ..read more