Africa

World News

In Zimbabwe, Doctors Are Taking To The Streets To Strike Over Diminishing Pay

5:17pm October 02, 2019

by Eyder Peralta

When Robert Mugabe was ousted in 2017, Zimbabweans thought the new administration would right the economic ruin. But instead, life has gotten worse. Doctors are striking over diminishing pay.

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World News

Zimbabwe Continues Its Economic Downward Spiral

7:02am September 30, 2019

NPR's Noel King talks to Andrew Meldrum of The Associated Press about the future of Zimbabwe following this month's death of former President Robert Mugabe, who was buried over the weekend.

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Botswana has the world's largest elephant population, with some 130,000 animals.

Why Botswana Is Lifting Its Ban On Elephant Trophy Hunting

2:28pm September 28, 2019

by Krista Mahr

The government is revoking a ban on elephant hunting. Some say that's good news for the tourist business and local farmers who say the animals trampled their crops. Others aren't so sure.

Orthopedic surgeon Kebba Marenah and his team get ready to perform knee surgery on a 14-year-old at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital in Banjul, the capital of Gambia. The country struggles with a lack of access to sufficient pain medications.

Health & Safety

A Place Where The Opioid Problem Is Upside Down

10:36pm September 27, 2019

by Jason Beaubien

While the opioid problem in the U.S. is about too many opioids, in some countries there are few options for treating or controlling pain.

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A girl receives the Ebola vaccine in Beni, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Doctors Without Borders Calls For More Transparency In Distribution Of Ebola Vaccine

5:47pm September 23, 2019

by Paolo Zialcita

The international humanitarian group says the World Health Organization is restricting access to the vaccine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the current outbreak has killed more than 2,100.

Belinda Qaqamba Ka-Fassie poses at a community space where women cook and sell meat. She started drag as an escape from oppression she felt at Stellenbosch University for being "black, Xhosa, poor, queer and effeminate." "It is through pageantry and perfo

PHOTOS: Drag Queens In South Africa Embrace Queerness And Tradition

4:41pm September 20, 2019

Even though they face discrimination, they proudly embrace their heritage in the way they dress.

World News

The Legacy Of Robert Mugabe

4:25pm September 16, 2019

by Eyder Peralta

Zimbabwe remembers Robert Mugabe, its liberator and longtime tyrant, and looks ahead at more troubled times.

World News

Why Zimbabwe Is Again In A Deep Economic Crisis

6:33am September 16, 2019

by Eyder Peralta

The people of Zimbabwe used to say that things would get better once longtime leader Robert Mugabe was no longer alive. Now, they see a future after Mugabe as more of the same.

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Workers sort through bundles of vanilla at the Virginia Dare warehouse in Antsirabe Nord, Madagascar. When this photo was taken last year, the warehouse contained roughly $5 million worth of vanilla.

PHOTOS: Vanilla Boom Is Making People Crazy Rich — And Jittery — In Madagascar

7:00am September 15, 2019

by Wendell Steavenson

The price of vanilla is ten times higher than a few years ago. That's bringing unimagined wealth to local villages — and problems as well.

Military officers carry the casket of former president Robert Mugabe out of his state funeral at the National Sports Stadium in Harare.

World News

Mugabe's State Funeral Proceeds, But His Burial Plan Has Been Mired In Controversy

2:16pm September 14, 2019

by Jenny Gathright

Zimbabwe's longtime president Robert Mugabe was honored with a state funeral on Saturday — put on by the president and military leaders who had forced him out of office just two years ago.