The presidential elections on 25 October will be the first since Andry Rajoelina overthrew Marc Ravalomanana in a coup in February 2009. The country is in dire financial straits and desperately need to move on, but what will polls bring an end to the crisis? Read the full story here. Published on economist.com on 16 October 2013. Continue reading Elections in Madagascar: Better Than Nothing?
A standard protocol on diagnosis and tests for HIV/AIDS tests will streamline product development and distribution, and accelerate access to treatment for patients. Read the full story here. Published on the Guardian Development Professionals’ Network, 6 August 2013. Photo is ©2011, Sokomoto Photography for International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) Continue reading Wanted: standard model for HIV diagnostics in Africa
Everyone knows about the great national parks of eastern and southern Africa – Masai Mara, Kruger and Serengeti all conjure up images of majestic landscapes, packs of lions lazing in the shade and herds of elephants roaming the savannah. But have you heard of Mole, Pendjari and Waza? These reserves are some of the finest in West Africa and bring a low-key charm many eastern … Continue reading West Africa’s best wildlife parks
The old guard seems determined to ruin the country’s political prospects. Read the full story here. Published in The Economist, 21 June 2013. Continue reading Madagascar’s elections: they just won’t give up
Arts and crafts play a large role in economies dependent on tourism. Now some governments are waking up to the need to professionalise the industry. Read the full article here. Article published in The Africa Report, April 2013. Continue reading Africa’s village crafts have big ambitions
Some 12 million Africans are thought to have been sold as slaves from Senegal to Angola over a period of 500 years. Most were destined to work in European colonies in the Americas. Today, the Ghanaian forts from which so many were shipped have become places of pilgrimage for their descendants – and for Africans too. Read the full story here. (UK residents will need … Continue reading A pilgrimage to Ghana’s slave forts
Africa is beginning to win its battle against the terrible parasitic river blindness infection, thanks in no small part to the painstaking work of villagers who catch the flies responsible for the disease and send them on for testing. The story first aired on the BBC’s From Our Own Correspondent on Radio 4 on Saturday 4 May – you can listen to it here. Or … Continue reading Beating river blindness, one fly at a time
The global health community should not take its eyes off the target to eliminate the disease that still kills 600,000 people every year. Read the full story here. Published in The Guardian’s Development Professionals Network, 25 April 2013. Continue reading World Malaria Day: Time to stay focused
Though Malagasies are likely to remember 2013 as the year of the long-awaited presidential elections, it will also stay in the annales as the year when the country started producing oil. Read the full story here. Published in The Africa Report, 16 April 2013. Continue reading Madagascar joins the oil producers’ club
The wife of former president Marc Ravalomanana is one of the frontrunners in the 23rd August elections but her husband’s role in the campaign remains ambiguous. Read the full story here. Article published in The Africa Report, April 2013. Photo ©Official Robinson 2013 Page on Flickr. Continue reading Lalao Ravalomanana: undaunted presidential candidate
