“During the recent uprising in Egypt, the city of Alexandria witnessed fierce violence including the burning down of the provincial government building and state security headquarters. However a rare point of agreement between anti-regime protestors and the government security apparatus was to protect the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA). The images of a human barricade shielding the BA during the protests highlight the importance of this institution.

Loss of forests is having a significant impact on accessibility of traditional medicines in Ghana:

“The HIV/Aids prevention community is abuzz with excitement with the news that South African research has developed a vaginal gel – known as a microbicide – that can reduce sexually transmitted HIV infection by as much as 54%. A two-and-a-half-year study of 889 women by the Durban-based Centre for the Aids Programme of Research in South Africa (Caprisa) found that a vaginal gel containing the antiretroviral drug tenofovir was 39% effective in reducing a woman's HIV risk when used for about three-quarters of sex acts.