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Special Reports
February 24, 2026, marked the 60th anniversary of the military coup that ousted Ghana’s first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. Declassified U.S. government documents indicate that the coup had been planned in Washington for two years prior and was supported by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Baffour Ankomah revisits these facts and examines the coup’s long-term …
About 45% of deaths in Ghana are attributed to chronic, non-communicable diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular ailments. However, the national health system is largely focused on acute care. To close that gap, President John Mahama initiated the Ghana Medical Trust Fund last year, and full operations are set to commence this April. Africawatch …
Ghana: New health fund aims to close chronic-care gap Read More »
Last year, thousands of Russian prison inmates were offered pardons if they served for six months in the war against Ukraine, fighting in the Wagner Group’s mercenary army. Three of those who did were Africans, from Tanzania, Zambia, and Cote d’Ivoire, who’d migrated to Russia and run afoul of its harsh drug laws. Two of …
The tales of 3 Africans who fought with Russia’s Wagner mercenaries in Ukraine Read More »
Fifty-eight years after African leaders rejected Ghanaian president Kwame Nkrumah’s radical African-union project, Europeans, via the European Union, have implemented all the nine proposals Nkrumah made in 1963, including a common currency and the ability for citizens to cross borders without a passport. At home in Africa, however, it has been more talk than action: …
When South Sudan became independent in 2011, many hoped that its oil wealth would provide a base for building the nation’s economy and lifting citizens out of poverty. Instead, politicians have purloined these revenues and put them toward patronage and personal enrichment, feeding internal conflict. Where the oil money goes is kept murky: Much of …
French President Emmanuel Macron wants to fix the country’s relations with Africa. But he’s going about it the wrong way. Rather than change the unequal economic system that is the legacy of colonialism, he is reviving the 1950s-1960s strategy of cultural diplomacy. Frank Gerits reports. French President Emmanuel Macron has committed himself to remaking the country’s …
Almost 4 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered worldwide since they became publicly available late last year. But access in Africa has been extremely limited, with supplies restricted by the wealthiest countries buying up doses, drug companies refusing to share manufacturing processes, and donations delivered in small amounts and often delayed. Lori Hinnant, …
Over the last 15 years, international donor organizations have given more than $700 million to the U.S. firm Cepheid to supply its rapid disease-testing equipment to developing countries particularly African nations at a discount. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Cepheid most its COVID-test cartridges to wealthy nations who could afford to pay more and left …
New Tanzania President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who took office after the death of John Pombe Magufuli in March, is the East African nation’s sixth president since it became independent in 1962, and currently the only woman running a country in Africa. Affectionately called Mama Samia, she may bring a calmer style to the office – …
Caught in the Trump-China feud, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the leader of the World Health Organization, is under siege. The U.S. offensive against the WHO has shaken its director-general at an already difficult time for the United Nations-affiliated health agency as it seeks to coordinate a global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO insiders and diplomats …