The new director-general of the World Health Organisation has set universal health coverage as a priority. There are several ways to make headway with this goal.
Tlou Masehela, South African National Biodiversity Institute
Beekeeping cannot depend on a single forage source. This makes the business of ensuring bees have what they need to stay healthy a precarious business.
There are a number of challenges that the World Health Organisation’s new leader, Ethiopian-born Tedros Ghebreyesus, will have to navigate during his tenure.
Karen Hofman, University of the Witwatersrand and Charles Parry, South African Medical Research Council
Under pressure to create new markets, big alcohol producers are scouring the African continent in what promises to yield negative socioeconomic consequences.
Many African countries are still searching for inclusive commercial farming models that can bring in private investment without dispossessing local people.
The poor quality of hand sanitisers in Kenya poses a health concern. If this market remains unregulated these products might encourage the undetected transmission of infectious pathogens in hospitals.
Kenya’s progressive 2010 Constitution brought improved women’s representation in Parliament and public life. But historical prejudices remain, always more intensely apparent during elections.
Africa is expected to have among the steepest increases in the number of people affected by non-communicable diseases - it needs health care systems that can cope.
One of the confirmed causes of Chronic myeloid leukaemia is contact with an atomic weapon or nuclear radiation. Other risks factors of this type of cancer are still being established.
The Ebola virus is known to occur in the Democratic Republic of Congo and outbreaks are not entirely unexpected. But health authorities must take swift action to contain the outbreak.
While men regard the social norm of ‘proving’ their manhood as normal, research shows otherwise. Combating these misconceptions can help reduce male violence.
Evidence suggests a strong relationship between sustainability and the global competitiveness of a country. Nigerian businesses need to embrace it in order to thrive.
Tanzania and Uganda have improved gender integration in agriculture policy. But a lot still needs to be done in the allocation of resources and transformation.
Although South Africa has taken steps to rid itself of the apartheid-era view of marriage as only heterosexual and monogamous, discrimination against religious marriages persist.
The move by the African Union to develop a policy to regulate the impact of firms on human rights puts it ahead of other regions as it seeks to guide companies conducting activities on the continent.
Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand
Principal Medical Scientist and Head of Laboratory for Antimalarial Resistance Monitoring and Malaria Operational Research, National Institute for Communicable Diseases
Professor and Programme Director, SA MRC Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science - PRICELESS SA (Priority Cost Effective Lessons in Systems Strengthening South Africa), University of the Witwatersrand