Since its first emergence in 2014, Lassa fever has existed in Benin as a quiet, persistent shadow. While official outbreak reports remain relatively few, this lack of data is not proof of safety; rather, it reflects a dangerous gap in surveillance. Because Lassa fever symptoms frequently mimic common ailments like malaria, many cases go misdiagnosed and uncounted. Local healthcare workers, particularly in border communities like Igolo, have shared harrowing accounts of losing patients to the virus, yet they remain tethered by the systemic sensitivity surrounding the disease, often discouraged from reporting the true extent of the suffering they witness. This…

Ghana has spent the last two years constructing an impressive legal and institutional fortress to combat the tide of misinformation. With the Cybersecurity Amendment Bill, a pending Misinformation and Disinformation Bill, and various government-led awareness campaigns, the country appears, on paper, to be a regional leader in digital integrity. By 2025, Ghana even ranked top among four West African nations for its capacity to detect falsehoods, boasting a vibrant press corps and sophisticated fact-checking organizations. Yet, this high-level institutional success masks a glaring, uncomfortable truth: the gap between legislative ambition and the reality on the ground is widening. While the…