Sub-Saharan Africa spans dozens of countries south of the Sahara, each with distinct challenges and achievements. This archive collects milestones in health, education, conservation, and economic opportunity from across the region — reported with context and care.
The government of Tristan da Cunha, a four-island archipelago of about 250 people, has announced that it will be protecting approximately 700,000 square kilometers of its waters, creating the world’s fourth-largest Marine Protected Area.
The new policy reverses an earlier decision to allow two firms to drill and survey for coal in the world-renowned Hwange National Park, home to more than 40,000 elephants and a population of endangered black rhino, as well as leopard and painted dog conservation programs.
“For Sudan to become a democratic country where the rights of all citizens are enshrined, the constitution should be based on the principle of ‘separation of religion and state,’ in the absence of which the right to self-determination must be respected,” the document states.
Africa is now certified free of wild poliovirus, a milestone reached after more than 95% of the continent’s population was immunized. The campaign began in 1996 when Nelson Mandela launched “Kick Polio Out of Africa,” and since then an estimated 1.8 million cases of paralysis have been prevented. Reaching the last children took extraordinary courage — frontline workers, 95% of them women, crossed Lake Chad by boat and walked through conflict zones, while polio survivors themselves traveled to hesitant communities to make the case in person. The work isn’t quite done, but a disease that once paralyzed tens of thousands of African children each year has been driven from the wild — a reminder that patient, village-by-village trust-building can defeat what once seemed unstoppable.
The 170,000 acre ecosystem is one of the last intact forests in central Africa and a biodiversity hotspot, harboring hundreds of rare plant and animal species, including the tool-using Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee, western gorilla, and giant frogs.
ColdHubs installs 100 percent solar-powered walk-in cold storage rooms at Nigerian markets to help farmers and vendors cut down on spoilage and boost profits. So far, ColdHubs serves 3,517 users and their 24 Hubs have saved over 20,000 tons of food from spoilage.
Google parent company Alphabet’s internet-beaming Project Loon balloons have taken on their first commercial task. The high-flying communications aircraft are now providing thousands of Kenyans with internet access.
Last week, the National Assembly in the central African nation voted in favor a bill that would legalize homosexuality. This past Monday, the Senate passed the law. President Ali Bongo is expected to sign it.
Ethiopia is working on planting five billion trees this year, part of an ambitious plan to plant 20 billion seedlings by 2024 to help build a green climate resistant economy.
The initiative, known as the Great Green Wall, aims to reclaim 247 million acres of land by the year 2030 and create hundreds of thousands of jobs, while warding off the spread of the Sahara and combating the climate crisis.
