crisis

South Africa’s proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) — billed by the government as the country’s most sweeping health overhaul since the end of apartheid in 1994 — is effectively frozen amid court challenges and constitutional clashes. Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism spoke with health economist Susan Cleary to explore whether the NHI is a wise way forward. The debate now centers on capacity, cost, equity and the political will required to remake a deeply unequal health system. The case for NHI is straightforward…

The Zimbabwean government’s decision to allocate US$25 million to a new football tournament has ignited a debate about priorities and transparency, underscoring tensions between high-profile state-sponsored projects and urgent public-sector needs. President Emmerson Mnangagwa launched the Munhumutapa ZIFA Cup in Harare, a five-year competition that will include men's, women's, developmental and futsal categories. Organisers say the men's champions will receive US$1 million and a berth in the CAF Confederation Cup, details…

Synthetic Drug Crisis in West Africa: A Public Health Emergency A new report warns that the proliferation of synthetic drugs across West Africa presents the most "urgent and complex" public health and security challenges facing the region. Published by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, the report says the burden of consumption—and its devastating consequences—falls disproportionately on young people. "The crisis has grown so severe that since 2024, two countries have declared states of…

The United States–Iran crisis is not a two-player standoff. It is a layered confrontation running from Washington and Tehran through a lattice of militias, allies, maritime chokepoints and nuclear facilities. Understanding who the main actors are—and what levers they control—clarifies why the standoff persists, where it can flare and how it might be defused. The U.S. presidency is the cockpit of American policy, blending deterrence with limited diplomacy. The White House sets risk tolerance, balances support for Israel,…

MOGADISHU — Hunger is surging across Somalia as four consecutive failed rainy seasons collide with steep reductions in humanitarian funding, pushing millions toward acute food insecurity, according to a new analysis by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). The report estimates 4.8 million people faced Crisis-level or worse acute food insecurity in January, with that figure projected to jump to 6.5 million between February and March — nearly double the number recorded a year ago. Aid groups say the trend…

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s federal government says al-Shabab is facing mounting financial strain after a string of operations that killed senior operatives overseeing the group’s revenue networks and a sustained push to dismantle its funding channels. State news agency SONNA reported Saturday, citing intelligence sources, that the al-Qaida-linked group is struggling to reconstitute income streams amid a coordinated financial offensive aimed at its economic backbone. Independent verification of the internal figures was…

MOGADISHU — Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre met Monday with a senior German delegation for talks on Somalia’s deepening humanitarian crisis, security cooperation and political reforms, as drought-driven displacement and hunger surge across the country. The delegation, led by Germany’s Minister of State for Economic Cooperation and Development, Niels Annen, and including Ambassador Sebastian Groth, discussed emergency assistance, stabilization and development priorities, according to Somali officials. The talks also…

Analysis: The UN’s budget math has turned existential The United Nations is navigating its most acute cash crunch in decades. In a letter to the 193 member states, Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the organisation faces “the very real prospect of financial collapse,” with cash potentially running out as early as July. Senior UN officials now acknowledge that shuttering the Secretariat’s Manhattan headquarters this summer is a “distinct possibility.” This is not rhetorical brinkmanship. It is the cumulative…

Gordon Brown said the crisis engulfing Keir Starmer over Peter Mandelson was “serious” and that the Labour leader had been “too slow to do the right things,” even as he backed Starmer as “a man of integrity” who had been “betrayed” by his former Cabinet ally. The intervention from the former prime minister came as the Metropolitan Police confirmed its misconduct-in-public-office investigation into Mandelson will “take some time,” after officers searched properties in London and Wiltshire. Mandelson has not been arrested. “I…

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s main opposition alliance, the Somali Future Council, says it will attend a federal government–led consultative conference in Mogadishu, a move the bloc casts as essential to averting a constitutional vacuum and breaking the country’s escalating political and electoral impasse. In a statement issued Saturday, the alliance framed its participation as a bid to secure an inclusive political settlement that preserves the unity and statehood of the Federal Republic of Somalia. The Somali Future…