BY: Renard Siew – Tropical cyclones that form over Southeast Asia’s Savu Sea do not typically hit land. But in early April, Cyclone Seroja created a path of destruction across Indonesian islands and East Timor. Within days, more than 200 people were dead or missing and 2,000 buildings damaged. Seroja is the latest reminder of …
BY: Junaid Nabi – Health care leaders have typically pointed to resource constraints as the reason for the United States health care system’s high costs and poor outcomes. Now, as the COVID pandemic has claimed over 550,000 lives and led to over 30 million cases across a country with immense resources, it is clear that …
BY: Robert Agyarko – Africa launched a new era of vaccine sovereignty this week, when government and industry leaders convened in Addis Ababa to map out a vaccine manufacturing strategy for the continent. At the meeting, the AU announced a partnership with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to establish five vaccine production sites (one …
BY: Nkasi Wodu — In early March, over three hundred schoolgirls abducted by armed groups from a secondary school in Zamfara State in northern Nigeria were released by their abductors. Unfortunately, the global outrage this incident stoked has not deterred the armed groups operating in the north. Just last week, another set of students was …
BY Oyeronke Oyebanji — The first vaccine deliveries by the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) facility to Ghana, Nigeria, and Ivory Coast brought a glimmer of hope to African countries keen to start immunizing their populations against the disease. But while COVAX is ramping up deliveries, its mission to provide rapid, fair, and equitable access …