Wednesday, April 14, 2021
News and Views from the Global South
Changing Lives: Making Research Real
AFRICA: New Drugs To Speed TB Treatment
Researchers are testing a new combination of tuberculosis drugs on patients in South Africa which they are hoping will shorten the treatment term of the disease to six months.
Could Water-Efficient Maize Boost Africa’s Food Security?
As controlled field trials of a genetically modified (GM) crop are about to begin in five African countries amidst promises of improved crops grown under poor conditions, critics are charging organisations with selling out the interests of African farmers.
SOUTH AFRICA: Satellite Preparing Scientists for New Space Industry
Though practically invisible to the naked eye, a uniquely South African satellite has been orbiting the earth for the past year, creating an archive of images and jumpstarting what its creators hope will be a space revolution in the country.KENYA: Room to Improve on Governance
Kimani Wanyama*, a homosexual man living in Nairobi, knows what human rights violations are all about. His attempts over three years to receive treatment for reoccurring rectal gonorrhoea had resulted in verbal abuse and intense stigmatisation from the very people who were meant to help him.ZIMBABWE: Free Maternal and Child Care Needed From Government
Mother-to-be Agnes Ncube budgets up to 100 dollars each month from her informal roadside business just so she can pay for the maternal services at her local government clinic.
WEST AFRICA: Black-Eyed Peas Key to Economic Development
The black-eyed pea, commonly known as the cowpea, is the new kid on the block when it comes to improving the welfare of women and their families in West Africa, researchers say.PHILIPPINES: Call Centre Boom Breeds New Culture – and Risky Behaviour
Anthony, a 22-year-old call centre agent, goes to work at 6 p.m. and finishes at around 2 a.m. But instead of going home, he heads to a bar to meet another male agent over beer, and if the late night looks promising, they spend more time together until daytime.
AFRICA: Can Research Strike a Balance Between Food and Fuel Crops?
While researchers and farmers are still divided on the benefits of growing crops for biofuel production as Africa grapples with food security, Senegal is steadily working to balance the growing demands for food and biofuels.
AFRICA: In Search of Lasting Farming Solutions to Climate Change
In the semi-arid Laikipia district of Kenya’s Rift Valley province, research scientist Sarah Ogalleh Ayeri travels from one village to another, documenting methods used by peasant farmers as they attempt to adapt to changing climatic conditions.Progress in Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV
The number of pregnant women being tested for HIV and accessing treatment in Sub-Saharan Africa has shown significant progress – indicating that virtual elimination of mother-to-child transmission of the virus by 2015 is possible.
SOUTH AFRICA: Coal – A New Solution to Fuel Problems?
A new solution to power and fuel problems worldwide may be developed by using a resource long characterised as dirty and non-renewable: coal.
ETHIOPIA: New Wheat Variety to Deal with Wheat-killer Diseases
Like most farmers in Ethiopia, Jundi Hajji expected that the profit from his wheat harvest would be sufficient to feed his family of eight until next year's harvest.
Better Nutrition On the Menu for Zambia
Eighty percent of Zambians live on less than two U.S. dollars a day, a situation that has contributed to high levels of hunger and malnutrition for a majority whose staple diet consists largely of white maize.
KENYA: Primary School Teachers Test Poorly in Mathematics
Like many primary school teachers in Kenya, Nemwel Mokua is not coping. He has to teach at least six subjects a day, which include a mix of arts, mathematics and science.
Harvesting Water to Save Crops and Lives
Peter Kivuti, a 51-year-old farmer from Eastern Kenya, never relied on meteorological weather predictions all his life - until three years ago. It was then that rainfall in the region become less predictable.
INDIA: Buoyed by Growing Market, More Farmers Go Organic
He had decided to grow watermelons this summer on his one-acre (.405 hectare) plot, and so Veera Narayana went about preparing the arid red earth by first ploughing it and then lighting fires in the furrows.
AFRICA: Stronger Will Needed from Governments to Save Poorest Children
"Herding goats is tough with the thirst, sun, loneliness and hunger each day. And it can last forever. You herd as a girl, then as a wife, as a pregnant woman, as a mother and even as a grandmother," says Rukia Ibrahim whose 13-year-old younger sister was married off to a herdsman.
ANGOLA: More Mothers Survive Childbirth
As darkness falls on a cool evening in Luanda, a group of women sit huddled under threadbare blankets outside one of the city’s few maternity hospitals. "I have to be here," Paula Silva, 45, said, shivering slightly.
AFRICA: Woman Researcher Tackles Aflatoxin Poisoning*
Despite a bumper harvest of maize just a few months ago, many residents in the eastern part of Kenya are facing hunger and starvation. While granaries in the region may be full, the grain cannot be freely sold, let alone eaten.
Uganda Could Become Regional Rice Exporter say Researchers
In a small garden at the Entebbe Botanical garden, about 40 kilometres from Kampala, a few yellowish plants are trying to adapt to their new environment.BOTSWANA: HIV-positive Mothers Not Convinced to Exclusively Breastfeed
"An HIV-positive woman must never be encouraged to breastfeed because regardless of what the doctors or researchers say - it is too dangerous for the baby," says Koziba Kelatlhe an HIV-positive mother who was advised by health workers not to breastfeed her child.« Previous Page — Next Page »
Research findings may be widely published in scientific journals, peer-reviewed and academically admired -- but are they filtering through to the public, and bringing about tangible improvements to everyday life? In partnership with www.research4development.info, IPS is seeking to answer these questions, enliven the debate about research, and help to ensure that it does indeed change lives.
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