Zambia

people behind a glass door at a table

Wagner mercenary group recruits Africans held in Russian prisons

Ukraine

In recent months, reports have emerged that at least two men, one from Zambia and another from Tanzania, were killed while fighting for the Wagner group in Ukraine. Wagner reportedly recruited the men from Russian prisons, promising them amnesty. 

A collage of video screenshots that feature Africans exploited for profit in a growing trend known as "blessings videos."

A new documentary uncovers the story behind China’s racist ‘blessings video’ trend

University Teaching Hospital in the capital Lusaka, Zambia is home to the first neurology residency program in the country. The program has trained seven neurologists since starting in 2018.

‘We’re seeing the tip of the iceberg’: Neurologists in Zambia upend understandings of multiple sclerosis in the region

Disease
a drop of blood being placed onto a slide

A second HIV patient has been ‘cured,’ but researchers say reducing cases is still the top priority

A orca lands on the beach to catch a baby sea lion

What a grieving orca mother tells us about animals and death

a gay man in zambia hides his face

For gay men in Zambia, where homosexuality is banned, suicide is a common end

Conflict

The LGBTQ community isn’t acknowledged in Zambia because the law doesn’t allow for its existence, so people who struggle with mental health issues often can’t find the care they need. Some grassroots organizations are working to help LGBTQ people, but they often operate in secret.

Mavis, a housekeeper from the Pretoria township of Mamelodi, depends on her garden to help provide for her five children and seven grandchildren. But with this year's region-wide drought, her garden is just a dusty patch of seedlings. “I want rain every d

For one South African house cleaner, this year’s big drought means crying, hungry children

Environment

The current drought in southern Africa is the worst in decades, and likely a harbinger of things to come as the region warms up and dries out as its climate changes. The drought is having real impact on one resident in a Pretoria township, and what governments in the region can do to help prepare for a hotter and drier future.

This Pakistani woman lives in extreme poverty; 60 percent of Pakistanis live on less than $2 per person per day.

Can extreme global poverty end in this century? Here’s why it looks promising

Development

Geeking out to help end global poverty. (That’s meant with the highest respect for geeks.) Tapping great minds to help the world’s poorest, Shashi Buluswar leads the Institute for Globally Transformative Technologies at Lawrence Berkeley Lab in Berkeley, California.

Zambia 5

A musician convicted of rape is released after he sings the praises of Zambia’s president

Justice

Clifford Dimba went from serving an 18-year sentence to a presidential pardon.

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe addresses members of the media

Time might be running out for Africa’s ‘Presidents for Life’

Global Politics

In total, 18 African countries do not have presidential term limits, even though a new study shows most Africans are in favor of them.