Economic growth alone won’t end hunger. Good policies and programmes are needed, too. Scientists and researchers have a role to play in these initiatives.
Pokot girls in Kenya wait for an ceremony that marks their passage into womanhood – and means they’re ready for marriage.
Reuters/Siegfried Modola
Mozambican civilians are again bearing the consequences of war between the government and opposition party Renamo. How has Renamo mobilised popular support for a new uprising?
There are indications that climate change in Malawi will make the country poorer and its people more static.
Meaduva/Flickr
The decline in commodity prices means African countries must work that much harder to encourage both local and foreign smaller and junior mining companies.
A freeze of donor funding has resulted in the Malawian government not hiring a group of nurses and intern doctors.
Reuters/Eldson Chagara
A group of junior doctors, nurses and healthcare workers will not be employed by the Malawian government this year as it is cuts its wage bill to satisfy its international donors.
In Malawi men who have sex with men can access healthcare services but they do not always get adequate treatment, care and support.
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Malawi and Tanzania have created programs to provide sexual and reproductive health services and HIV interventions. But men who have sex with men say it’s still difficult to access care.
Malawian President Peter Mutharika has promised to fight the corruption that has seen donors withdraw their support for his impoverished nation.
Reuters/Eldson Chagara
Malawi appears to have learnt nothing from the biggest state corruption scandal that rocked the country two years ago, leading to donors withdrawing their support. The same conditions still remain.
A Malawian mother and her child in front of maize harvested in Lilongwe. A fertiliser programme has increased crop yields.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
Channing Arndt, United Nations University; James Thurlow, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) e Karl Pauw, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Malawi’s large-scale subsidy for farmers has resulted in higher maize production, lower food prices and higher wages. But this has come at significant costs.
Poverty is rife in Malawi, with more than 90% living on less than US$2 a day. One of the reasons young urban Malawians give for engaging in transactional sex is to get food.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
If Malawian children do not learn basic skills like reading, will this harm them in the long term? Recent evidence suggests the answer is yes – at least in terms of their health.
Joyce Banda, who was forced to fire her entire cabinet for corruption.
DFID via Flickr
Like many aid-dependent countries in the developing world, Malawi cannot balance its books without donor support, which makes up as much as 40% of the national budget. Yet because of the ongoing nightmare…
Farmers delivering by bicycle at Chandamale milk station in southern Malawi.
Cesar Revoredo-Giha
Governments and donors have tried hard to improve dairy farming in sub-Saharan Africa in recent years. Many recognise that it has much potential to boost the economic situation of poor farmers in the region…
It has been an interesting month for leaders across Africa. Goodluck Jonathan finally declared a “total war” against Boko Haram despite not having the means to wage one, and after a puzzlingly sluggish…
Associate Professor, Department of Environmental and Geographical Science and African Climate and Development Initiative Research Chair, University of Cape Town