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 country follows in the footsteps of Zimbabwe, Zambia and Lesotho, neighboring south-east African states that have legalized medicinal cannabis, as well as South Africa, where medicinal and recreational use was decriminalized in 2018.
The Taliba N’Diaye wind farm, West Africa’s largest, will be completed by mid this year and will supply 158MW of clean energy and increase the country’s energy supply by 15%.
According to a new census, the mountain gorilla population in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park has increased. Overall, the global wild population is now estimated at 1,063.
Besides being a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Zambia’s Lower Zambezi National Park is 1,500 square miles of classic African bush (about half the size of Yellowstone).
A Kenyan startup, Opibus, is forging ahead with its plans to electrify old Matatus and Boda Bodas. Opibus begins mass EV conversions of minibuses and motorcycles in Q1 2020.
As part of a 10-year deal, Norway will pay $150 million to Gabon to battle deforestation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Malaria research has taken a genuinely hopeful turn, with Kenyan scientists at KEMRI identifying a bacterial derivative that kills Plasmodium falciparum through a mechanism the parasite hasn’t yet learned to resist — a critical advantage as drug resistance spreads. Building on earlier trials showing ivermectin-treated patients had blood lethal to mosquitoes, this research opens a new line of attack, originated by African scientists and designed around pregnant women and children from the start. Human trials still lie ahead, and that path is long — but the science points toward tools the world urgently needs.
It has been three years since the continent’s last reported case of the virus.
The new drug regimen tested has shown a 90% success rate against a deadly plague, extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis.
The court’s decision makes production of thin plastics under 60 microns in thickness illegal with immediate effect.
