Africa Science Focus

Half of humanity is at risk of the devastating effects of climate breakdown. This disruption in nature, caused mainly by human actions, threatens the planet’s welfare, particularly in poor and developing countries, many of which are in Africa. In the second episode of Season Three, Africa Science Focus talks to a strawberry farmer in Kenya and the Meteorological Department in Kenya to determine th...

It was December 2019 when the first COVID-19 outbreak was recorded in Wuhan, China. Since then, the world has seen global lockdowns, closed borders and healthcare systems stretched to breaking point. But what’s happening now? Is the pandemic over in Africa, or are we poised for a deadly new phase? In the first episode of Season Three, Africa Science Focus takes you from the streets of Nairobi to t...

With nine in every ten new jobs in 2030 expected to require digital skills, graduates in Africa — and young women in particular — without information and communications technology training will be left behind. In this episode, we hear from two women working to change that - Unoma Okorafor and Baratang Miya. Okorafor has founded the Working to Advance African Women Foundation, which is equipping gi...

When a monkey joined her in playing the piano, 12-year-old Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka knew she wanted to work with animals. Little did she know that her passion for primates would eventually lead to her to become Uganda’s first wildlife vet. This week, we look at the topic of agriculture and conservation, and hear how Gladys’ love for gorillas grew into a community coffee and conservation project. Whi...

When Jane Kubai fled forced marriage at the age of 11, she began working as a maid and found support to go to school. She later took a job as a security guard at a hospital in Kenya — and discovered a passion for surgery. Working day and night, Kubai studied to become a theatre technologist. And she has her eyes fixed firmly on becoming a surgeon. However, Jane is the exception. Eight of the ten c...

If you ask any news reporter on the continent what the most important story in Africa is right now, they’ll tell you that it’s climate change. This week, we revisit the COP26 climate summit, we’ll hear how volunteers have planted over 30 million trees across Sub-Saharan Africa, and we’ll discover why bugs are a sustainable source of protein that could help in the fight against climate change. Catc...

It’s hard to believe that we’re already coming to the end of season 2 of Africa Science Focus! Over the next few weeks we’ll take you back through some of the most important issues that we dug into this season. Today, we’ll hear again from some of the best science communicators who have come on the show to tell you about their work. We’ll learn about the Cradle of Humankind, where some of the worl...

Nana Aba Appiah Amfo joined a swathe of women at the top of their fields when she became the University of Ghana’s first female Vice-Chancellor in late 2021. Amfo says her strategy now is to incorporate technology and innovation into every aspect of university life, to produce graduates who are both critical thinkers and technologically adept as the world continues on its digital revolution.   A p...

Coceka Mfundisi is only the third black female neurosurgeon in South Africa. More than 50 years after the first brain and spinal surgeons were trained, the field remains limited in Africa, and the continent’s unmet need for neurosurgery has been described by scientists as “staggering”. Mfundisi tells Africa Science Focus that patients in Africa often turn to doctors of Western medicine as a last r...

While around 30 per cent of researchers in Sub-Saharan Africa are women, just 20 per cent of the continent’s coders are female. Baratang Miya is on a mission to change this statistic.  Miya established the training and entrepreneurship organisation GirlHype in 2003 to introduce girls from disadvantaged and diverse backgrounds to coding, with graduates going on to work with major computer and softw...

Just a few years ago, Nzambi Matee decided to do something about the plastic pollution that she saw all over Kenya. Now, she has designed and built a thriving recycling and brick production facility, and her social enterprise Gjenge Makers has recycled plastic waste weighing more than five female elephants.    This week on Africa Science Focus, reporter Michael Kaloki takes a tour of Matee’s works...

Schools in Uganda have reopened after the world’s longest shutdown. More than 10 million students are now trying to adjust to life back in the classroom. Teachers and researchers will also begin the task of assessing how much learning was lost during lockdown.    Education and science communication guru Connie Nshemereirwe tells Africa Science Focus that it has made an already complex educational...

Around 600 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa live without access to electricity. Leading environmentalist Wanjira Mathai says that communities are forced to rely on burning wood and other fuels for heat and for cooking, which damages ecosystems and threatens families’ health.  Mathai tells Africa Science Focus why energy access is crucial to both development and conserving the continent’s fores...

Managing a wave of an unknown COVID-19 variant is a challenge for even the most experienced doctor. But for one of the youngest doctors in South Africa, the outbreaks of Omicron and Delta were a steep learning curve.  Thakgalo Thibela is just 22 years old, and her first years as a medical doctor have been spent on the frontlines of the pandemic at Johannesburg’s public Helen Joseph Hospital. Thibe...

Fried, crispy and crunchy: entomologist Esther Ngumbi says scientists and chefs are collaborating to find ways to make insects the next big thing in the culinary world.  Packed with protein, bugs can be grown in urban areas with limited space, Ngumbi tells Africa Science Focus. She says insect production is ideal in areas that experience drought, while they could also reduce agricultural emissions...

Season 2, Episode 16 An estimated three million people in Uganda live with vision loss, and more than 80,000 of them are blind. The most common cause of blindness in Uganda — cataracts — can be corrected with straightforward surgery. But with only 45 eye doctors for 46 million people, treatment is out of reach in many of Uganda’s communities.  Gladys Atto is the sole ophthalmologist serving 1.2 mi...

When a monkey joined her in playing the piano when she was 12 years old, Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka knew she wanted to work with animals. Little did she know that her passion for primates would lead to her become Uganda’s first wildlife vet, among a host of other achievements.   Recently named a Champion of the Earth by the United Nations Environment Programme, Kalema-Zikusoka tells Africa Science Foc...

It wasn’t until Daniella Akellot was 28 years old that she found a name for the invisible thing that she felt had always made her different. Akellot was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a group of rare conditions that affect the connective tissues that support the skin, tendons and internal organs.  Akellot tells Africa Science Focus that, as a young African woman, she has struggled at times...

This week on Africa Science Focus, we dive into the results of the world’s largest health attitudes survey, the Wellcome Global Monitor . The survey of around 115,000 adults from 113 countries has found that trust in science has increased globally over the past two years – but not in Sub-Saharan Africa.   Our reporter Michael Kaloki takes to the streets in rural northern Kenya and in the capital N...

The world has entered the most exciting era in science, says Quarraisha Abdool Karim, a leading AIDS researcher. Despite the world being off track to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, South Africa’s Abdool Karim says there are now a wide range of options available for women and men to prevent HIV infection.    Abdool Karim tells Africa Science Focus that the COVID-19 and AIDS pandemics have shown tha...

Pork tapeworms are responsible for between 30 and 70 per cent of epilepsy cases around the world. According to the World Health Organization, the majority of people living with epilepsy can be found in low-income countries, mostly among subsistence farming communities. While treatments for the neglected tropical disease neurocysticercosis – which is caused by the pork tapeworm and can lead to epil...

Taking the stage at a major meeting to look at the way that climate loss and damage is valued at the international climate summit COP26, Ineza Grace delivered a powerful message: climate-vulnerable communities cannot adapt to starvation, and finance for irreparable climate damage is a matter of justice.   At just 25, Ineza is co-founder of the global Loss and Damage Youth Coalition. She also leads...

Togo became the first country in Sub-Saharan Africa to eliminate the disfiguring disease elephantiasis as a public health problem in 2017, followed by Malawi in 2020. Elephantiasis occurs when parasites carried by mosquitos are transmitted to people. Infection usually occurs in childhood, and can later cause the abnormal enlargement of body parts. Despite some progress, the disease is still a majo...

When Jane Kubai fled forced marriage at the age of 11, she began working as a maid and found support to go to school. She later took a job as a security guard at a hospital in Kenya — and discovered a passion for surgery. Working day and night, Kubai studied to become a theatre technologist. And she has her eyes fixed firmly on becoming a surgeon.  Recently recognised as a health hero by the Women...

Season 2, Episode 8   Getting stuck deep underground with thousands of years old human remains may not sound like fun to some people, but for explorer and paleoanthropologist Keneiloe Molopyane, it is a dream come true. And, her discoveries in South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind have the potential to change the world. Molopyane is an underground astronaut, a National Geographic Society emerging exp...