Santé, Science et Développement

Last month saw one of the biggest breakthroughs in the history of climate response. UN member countries gathered in France to discuss and approve a global deal for emission reductions. The agreement is poised to give a critical push towards reducing the impacts of global warming in the coming decades and beyond. As 2016 starts, we cast a critical eye over the agreement and reflect on the challenge...

As the UN climate talks kick off in Paris this week, we travel to South Africa to look at the real impacts of global warming on people. We discover how worsening heatwaves already pose a serious threat to public health in Africa, that under climate change is likely to get on average two times hotter than the rest of the world. We then learn about the less known applications of nuclear technologies...

In this audio interview, South African Gloria Hlongwane talks about her research into using graphene to create a cheap, portable DNA detector. Once she has completed her PhD at the University of the Witwatersrand, Hlongwane aims to move into business — something she says is more challenging because of a lack of connections between industry and science in today’s South Africa. She plans to become a...

Of the 16 million people worldwide who are injection drug users, 3 million are HIV positive and 10 million have Hepatitis C. In this month’s podcast we first look at an effective approach to reducing harm from drug abuse. Earlier this year, the city of Vancouver in Canada hosted a global conference on HIV to discuss options for treatment and infection prevention. Vancouver is one of the first citi...

In early October the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will nominate its new chair, chosen from five candidates announced in August. In this month’s podcast, we kick off a series of interviews where we hear their thoughts about the future of the IPCC and its role in informing sustainable development. Our first two guests are Nebojsa Nakicenovic, energy economist and deputy director...

Livestock farming is the largest land use system on Earth. It uses 30 per cent of the world’s ice-free surface and sustains about 1.3 billion people. But livestock is also responsible for 14.5 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans, of which cattle produce 65 per cent. Better cattle management is vital to improve productivity while reducing emissions. In Kenya, researchers are worki...

Le Mali lance une campagne d’indentification des abonnés du téléphone mobile.

In this month’s podcast, we follow up on June’s reflection around internet access by reviewing a new device, called BRCK, that can bring connectivity to rural areas where electricity is scarce. Albeit remaining unaffordable to many, BRCK could be a step towards the ultimate goal of enabling everyone, everywhere to connect to the net. We hear about how, after more than three decades of rapid growth...

They are the world’s most vulnerable people. Often living in informal settlements and speaking only local languages, they are difficult to count and conventional surveys don’t capture their opinions, needs or even their presence. A recent report by the Overseas Development Institute, in the United Kingdom, looks at the issue and tries to explain why the poorest are often left out of the official s...

The powerful earthquake that struck Nepal on 25 April could be just the first of a series of quakes to hit the region in coming weeks. Future tremors could add to the current death toll of more than 4,800 people and make it harder for aid agencies to deliver help where it’s needed. While NGOs are saving lives on the ground, freeing people trapped under the rubble and building emergency shelters, w...

In this month’s programme, we imagine a hotter world through the eyes of scientists and policymakers. We kick off our podcast with ‘super beans’: 30 new varieties that can thrive in weather extremes. The beans were developed by scientists at CGIAR, a global research partnership for food security, to protect the ‘meat of the poor’ from being wiped out in a warmed world. We then visit Oxford Univers...

Data is changing the world. It influences our way of learning, communicating and consuming services. And it is affecting development, informing policymaking and empowering citizens. Since the advent of the internet, the use of data has become widespread, with faster and more powerful tools to process online information and big data sets. For example, scientists can now collect information from sou...

Last August, the WHO declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa a “public health emergency of international concern”. The epidemic, with over 22,000 cases across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and almost 8,800 likely victims, is the biggest Ebola outbreak ever recorded. This month, as the rate of new Ebola deaths slowly declines, we examine how the world got together to fight the crisis, making...

In this month’s programme, we examine what’s on the radar for science and development in 2015. First, we take stock of the global response to the escalating danger of climate change, with a report from the UN’s latest climate summit in Lima, Peru. We reflect on the outcome of the conference, on what ongoing efforts will be taking place over coming months and on the major milestone for climate nego...

In this month’s programme, we discover how technology is turning mapping into a powerful tool for supporting development and tackling humanitarian crises. First, at the launch of the Missing Maps Project in London, United Kingdom, we join volunteers as they help to map two vulnerable areas in the Central African Republic and South Sudan, using satellite imagery to create basic maps to which local...

In this month’s programme, we examine how the Ebola emergency has led to new forms of humanitarian response. One is the use of music to educate people about safety practices using simple language. We interviewed Carlos Chirinos, a visiting professor at New York University, United States, where he specialises in radio and development. He says that local West African communities tend to trust musici...

In this month’s show, we visit the island state of Kiribati, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, whose future is at risk from rising sea levels brought about by climate change. Scientists agree there are limited adaptation options for the tiniest archipelagos of the small island developing states (SIDS), a group of diverse tropical islands facing similar economic and environmental issues. Within 3...

This month’s podcast sheds light on the role of medical research in the current Ebola crisis. We learn about the main experimental treatment available and what the scientific institutions in the United Kingdom are doing to enable a fast and effective response to the outbreak. We then travel to Maputo, capital of Mozambique, to discover how African universities are joining up their efforts to foste...

This month’s podcast features a long journey across Tanzania to discover how low-tech innovation can help developing nations eradicate poverty and meet the Millennium Development Goals. From improved cookstoves to a new system that combines sanitation and composting, small initiatives aimed at local communities can bring big leaps where limited resources and infrastructure are available. Looking a...

In this show, we also hear about global health challenges and the rising burden of obesity in developing countries.

In June's podcast, we also hear about e-learning platforms and balancing conservation and development in Costa Rica. http://www.scidev.net/global/disease/multimedia/june-podcast-dengue-vaccine.html

This edition explores sustainable architecture, the financial risks of farming and Cuba’s scientific diaspora. http://www.scidev.net/global/environment/multimedia/scidev-net-podcast-climate-change-adaptation-and-more.html

This broadcast also explores Africa’s knowledge economy and how biomedical researchers establish informed consent. http://www.scidev.net/global/education/multimedia/scidev-net-podcast-geojournalism-the-world-s-largest-radio-telescope-and-more.html

This month’s podcast explores how a data revolution can help push governments to be more accountable to meeting the Millennium Development Goals. Ndeye Fatu-Sesay of the Millenium Challenge Coordinating Unit talks about progress in Sierra Leone, and how more can be done to listen to the voices of the country’s citizens. Next, we travel to Ethiopia for the second meeting of the Africa-EU Energy Par...