With one-fifth of the global population under 25 residing in sub-Saharan Africa, the continent is the world’s youngest region. But unemployment rates loom large, particularly among the youth. Education, Skills, and Leadership are crucial in creating a path to success for Africa’s young people.

In this edition of The Africa Roundtable Podcast we are joined by Taha Bawa, Co-founder and CEO of Goodwall, a social enterprise which connects youth to opportunities for skilling, working and social impact. He explains why he thinks that building skills is key to empowering young people on the continent and to helping them build their future careers.

Taha Bawa shared his perspective in the fifth edition of The Africa Roundtable “The Path to Success: Education, Skills, and Leadership” in Berlin. The participants discussed what is required to achieve an optimal alignment between the skills of the workforce and the demands of the labor market – shining spotlights on future markets, digitalization and professions in the green sector.

After more than two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, the emergence of a new epidemic has surprised many people. However, the global outbreak of monkeypox was predictable and perhaps could have been avoided.

Back in 2017, Dimie Ogoina pointed out a possible outbreak of monkeypox in Nigeria and sounded the alarm. In 2019, a scientific study was published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases discussing the findings. But until the disease reached Europe and North America, little attention was paid to the steadily rising cases in Nigeria. It wasn't until recently that NPR picked up on the issue.  

In this episode, we talk with Dimie and discuss what lessons he draws from the monkeypox outbreak for improved pandemic preparedness worldwide. Dimie, a member of WHO's Monkeypox Emergency Committee, questions the double standard in the global science community and a persistent inequality in responses between North and South. Still, findings from the global South often find little regard and solutions from the global North are repeatedly not shared globally. In African countries where monkeypox is endemic, there are little to no vaccines, while European and North American countries have started systematically vaccinated at-risk groups.  

The New York Times rightly asks what the world has learned from Covid-19 if we repeat the same mistakes of ignoring and excluding valuable inputs. Diseases know no borders. Now more than ever, we would do well to shed our Western hubris, in order to be prepared for the many future challenges. 

https://globalperspectives.org/en/

Over the last two years, a public health crisis has been at the forefront of our news. However, other health emergencies continue to receive very little or no attention at all. More than one billion people globally are affected by Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), a grouping of diseases which is made up of 20 different conditions, some more known such as Dengue or Rabies, and some much less known. In most cases, these diseases occur in tropical areas and therefore often in lower and middle income countries, and they disproportionately affect women and children. NTDs rarely receive as much attention when it comes to global health policies or funding in comparison to, for example, HIV or Malaria. And the consequences of this neglect have been devastating on a health, social and economic level.

Today's episode of The Africa Roundtable explores:

• Has the COVID-19-pandemic been helpful for highlighting health challenges in the Global South? Has there been a donor fatigue when it comes to funding?
• How can the relationship between African and European nations be described when it comes to pharmaceutical research and specifically to NTDs? 
• What are the biggest challenges in researching affordable remedies? And is there a more appropriate way to deliver affordable medicine? 

Dr. Borna Nyaoke Anoke is a Kenyan physician and a senior project manager for clinical trials related to NTDs at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative.  Additionally, she works on COVID-19 and antibiotic research. She was named in Business Daily's Africa Top 40 Under 40 Women is a renowned public health expert and founder of the Hema Foundation, a Nairobi based NGO working on physical and mental health for marginalized groups and environmental health. She holds multiple degrees from the University of Nairobi, the University of Liverpool and the Harvard School of Medicine.

https://globalperspectives.org/en/