Start listening at 12:23 mins to hear my radio report for IRE Radio World Report with John Burke on the factors contributing to high rates of early child marriage in Kenya, including climate change and COVID19.
Video by Vania Turner, produced by Neha Wadekar and Will Swanson. With support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
In north-east Kenya, climate change is driving up rates of child marriage. I traveled to Marsabit county for TIME Magazine to meet the child brides of this region and tell their stories. Video by the talented Vania Turner and Will Swanson.
Start listening at 14:47 mins to hear my radio report on factors contributing to high rates of teenage pregnancy in Kenya, including COVID19, insufficient funding for reproductive health organizations and lack of sex education in Kenyan schools.
‘When you talk about women’s empowerment… it’s going to be affected by what is happening right now.’
Read my latest on the systemic challenges – including lack of funding for reproductive health services and a lack of comprehensive sexuality education in Kenyan schools – contributing to a long history of high teenage pregnancy rates in the country.
With no date set for religious buildings to reopen, an innovative priest brings his own brand of musical service to apartment complexes.
The COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed a global recession that threatens the colossal international loan program that is a symbol of China’s growing prestige and a centerpiece of President Xi Jinping’s reign. The Belt and Road Initiative — China’s effort to finance nearly half a trillion dollars in new infrastructure across Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America — took flight during a period of global expansion and easy travel that has now slammed into a sober reckoning. Beijing faces mounting calls to reschedule loans for shipping hubs, electrical plants and transport links that look unsustainable as economies struggle and globalization slows.
The collapse of medical supply chains has been a catastrophe for women in developing countries. Lockdowns have made matters worse.
As Kenya prepares for a rise in novel coronavirus cases, 3D printing companies are designing and printing personal protective equipment (PPEs) and parts for medical devices to address the expected deficit in the country. Read my latest for Quartz Africa here.
Uganda is concerned that East African truck drivers carrying essential goods from Kenya and Tanzania may also being transmitting Covid-19 along their routes and between borders. My latest on the pandemic for Quartz.