Major Topic Areas

Health Go to full list on this topic
Feb 3, 2012  Africa: Paying for Health http://www.africafocus.org/docs12/hf1202.php
    "Simply put, if we allow the fund to fail, many people will die, and we will forfeit the chance at the "AIDS-free generation" that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for in November. This is no time to step back." - Paul Farmer

Peace and Security Go to full list on this topic
Jan 30, 2012  Sudan/South Sudan: A Lose-Lose Scenario http://www.africafocus.org/docs12/sud1201.php
    Sudan and South Sudan seem to have entered a "lose-lose" scenario, precipitated by failure to agree on payments for transport of oil from fields in South Sudan through the pipeline in the north to the Red Sea. Despite African Union mediation and pressure for compromise not only from Africa but also from the United Nations, China, and the United States, South Sudan has closed the oil fields, with likely disastrous economic and humanitarian consequences for both countries.

Politcs and Human Rights Go to full list on this topic
Jan 30, 2012  Sudan/South Sudan: A Lose-Lose Scenario http://www.africafocus.org/docs12/sud1201.php
    Sudan and South Sudan seem to have entered a "lose-lose" scenario, precipitated by failure to agree on payments for transport of oil from fields in South Sudan through the pipeline in the north to the Red Sea. Despite African Union mediation and pressure for compromise not only from Africa but also from the United Nations, China, and the United States, South Sudan has closed the oil fields, with likely disastrous economic and humanitarian consequences for both countries.

Special Topics

Aid, Poverty & Public Investment Go to full list on this topic
Aug 5, 2011  Somalia: Updates and Reflections http://www.africafocus.org/docs11/som1108.php
    It is difficult to get beyond dichotomies. Either focus on responding to undeniably massive life-threatening famine or on understanding the multiple causes and the reasons that it is happening again. Highlight one cause or another among the factors responsible: drought, global warming, war, failures of governments and international agencies, and more. Nor is it sufficient to say "all of the above."

Culture & the Media Go to full list on this topic
Dec 10, 2010  Africa: New Books 2010 http://www.africafocus.org/docs10/book1012.php
    There's never enough time to read all the books one would like to, or even to make sure one hears of those books that one would put highest on one's personal list. This week AfricaFocus highlights 12 new books published this year that I have noted as likely to be of interest to many AfricaFocus readers. They are listed below with brief descriptions.

Debt Go to full list on this topic
Dec 17, 2011  Africa: Capital Flight Updates http://www.africafocus.org/docs11/iff1112.php
    This week Global Financial Integrity released its latest report on illicit financial flows from developing countries, including data for 2009. The result: despite a drop in 2009 due to the recession, developing countries lost between US$723 billion and US$844 billion per annum on average through illicit flows over the decade ending 2009. In current dollar terms, the flows increased in current dollar terms by 15.19% per annum from US$386 billion at the start of the decade to US$903 billion in 2009.

Education Go to full list on this topic
Sep 21, 2010  Africa: Primary Education Pays Off http://www.africafocus.org/docs10/educ1009.php
    "Simply getting all children into school has a direct positive impact on economic growth. Then once children are in school, ensuring that the education they receive is good quality multiplies the impact ... A recently completed study from 50 countries established that every extra year of schooling provided to the whole population can increase average annual GDP growth by 0.37%. Where the education is good quality, the improvement of cognitive skills increases the impact to 1%." - Global Campaign for Education

Environment & Climate Change Go to full list on this topic
Dec 7, 2011  Africa: Carbon Trading Deceptions http://www.africafocus.org/docs11/clim1112b.php
    "Africa's share has remained at about two per cent of CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) projects officially registered with the UN's climate change secretariat. If South Africa and countries in North Africa are taken out of the aggregate, all the other African countries currently account for just 0.6 per cent of registered CDM projects." But even in carbon markets in Africa were expanded, argues this new comprehensive study from the Institute for Strategic Studies, carbon offsets at best bring only deceptive benefits to developing countries, while allowing rich countries to evade their responsibilities for reducing carbon emissions.

Information & Communication Technology Go to full list on this topic
Nov 16, 2011  Africa: Fast-Paced Mobile Growth Continues http://www.africafocus.org/docs11/ict1111.php
    "With over 620 million mobile connections as of September 2011, Africa has overtaken Latin America to become the second largest mobile market in the world, after Asia. Over the past 10 years, the number of mobile connections in Africa has grown an average of 30% per year and is forecast to reach 735 million by the end of 2012." - GSMA African Mobile Observatory

Migration Go to full list on this topic
Oct 13, 2011  Africa: Migration, Inequalities, & Human Rights http://www.africafocus.org/docs11/migr1110.php
    Issues related to the situation of refugees and other migrants are hotly contested in locations as diverse as Libya, South Africa, Kenya, Western Europe, and the United States. Anti-migrant sentiment is a recurring phenomenon, featuring restrictive legislation, official abuses against immigrants, and in extreme cases, xenophobic violence. Yet these issues are most often considered in isolation, rather than also as among the most telling indicators of fundamental structural inequalities between nations.

Trade Go to full list on this topic
Jul 21, 2009  USA/Africa: Trade Profile http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/usa0907b.php
    "In 2008, U.S. imports under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) were $66.3 billion, 29.8 percent more than in 2007. ... Petroleum products continued to account for the largest portion of AGOA imports, with a 92.3 percent share of overall AGOA imports. ... The top five AGOA beneficiary countries in 2008 were Nigeria, Angola, South Africa, Chad and the Republic of Congo." - U.S. International Trade Administration, July 2009.