In The News

Free Trade, Loss of Support Systems Crippling Food Production in Africa

February 18, 2010
Free trade and privatization, two hallmarks of development strategy in the last few decades, have not produced the intended benefits in developing countries. In fact, these policies increased poverty and decreased food production, exacerbating food shortages in the developing world like the one in 2008, according to a multi-university study. The problem is that free trade is not really free and...

Sands Shifting for Africa's Nomadic Herders

February 12, 2010
A recent study undertaken by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) found that African pastoralists produce goods more efficiently than their peers who practice “modern” farming techniques. For example, while cattle ranchers specialize solely in meat, pastoralists utilize their cattle's milk and blood, and produce manure from their excrement. Moreover,...

Demonizing China: Pundits Get its Role in Africa Wrong

Barry Sautman and Yan Hairong February 10, 2010
China’s growing trade with, and investment in, Africa have been much decried of late. It exploits African resources, critics have charged, makes shady deals with despots and warlords, and leaves the population no better, perhaps worse, than the Europeans before. But according to professors Sautman and Yan, China’s role in Africa has been much maligned. Though China mainly imports oil and other...

Hungry for New Content, Google Tries to Grow Its Own in Africa

Noam Cohen January 26, 2010
Google grew because it had the best search engine and content to be found. To continue to grow, Google needs to locate and provide more searchable information. Nowhere is this more evident than in Africa, where Google struggles to find online content. Consequently, the company has sponsored a contest to encourage students in Tanzania and Kenya to create articles for Wikipedia in Swahili, a second...

Americans’ Role Seen in Uganda Anti-Gay Push

Jeffrey Gettleman January 21, 2010
Uganda, a Christian majority nation, hosted three American evangelicals in March 2009 who gave talks describing the gay agenda and its threat to Bible-based values and the traditional African family. The men, widely discredited in the US, spoke to large, rapt audiences, but claim they did not intend what followed a month later: the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 which threatened to hang...

Kenya Fishermen See Upside To Pirates: More Fish

Jason Straziuso January 13, 2010
In a weird twist of fate, Somali pirates have helped Kenya’s fishing improve. The threat posed by these pirates in the western Indian Ocean has discouraged foreign vessels from fishing in the region. This sudden drop in fishing has allowed fish stocks to replenish – especially varieties that had all but disappeared such as red snapper and barracuda – providing Kenyan fisherman with better catches...

Scientists Use Cell Phone Records to Predict Spread of Malaria

Aaron Hoover December 18, 2009
Employing a method for epidemiology research from Europe, scientists at the University of Florida have used cell phones records to track the how malaria might spread in Zanzibar. Calls made by Zanzibar residents while travelling in Tanzania were recorded, showing a small group occasionally visits a region with a high rate of malarial infection. While individuals don’t infect one another with the...