The article “The Challenges of the Debate on the Decolonization of Global Health in Francophone Countries”, published in Santé Publique (Vol. 37, No. 1, 2025) by Valéry Ridde, Amandine Fillol, Fatoumata Hane, and Fati Kirakoya-Samadoulougou, examines the controversies surrounding decolonization within Francophone global health. The authors highlight the growing academic interest in this topic alongside persistent institutional resistance to questioning colonial power structures. They discuss epistemic injustices that marginalize non-Western knowledge and emphasize the need for reflexivity, relational responsibility, and cognitive justice. The editorial calls for transforming research practices, partnerships, and policies to authentically integrate Southern voices and knowledge systems, fostering more equitable and inclusive global health governance.

Natural ressources, Justice, Education, Social, Health, Soicial sciences, Researh, Knowlege production, Colonization

The book The Financialization of Health in Senegal (1840–1960), written by Valéry Ridde and published in 2025 by Éditions Science et Bien Commun (Québec), explores the evolution of health financing under French colonial rule. Drawing on extensive archival sources, Ridde reveals that colonial health systems—often depicted as humanitarian progress—were in fact marked by deep inequalities and fiscal exploitation. The study traces the origins of health financialization through patient payments, private medical practice, and limited mutual aid schemes. The Indigenous Medical Assistance (AMI), ostensibly free, imposed taxes and fees that burdened African populations. By examining budgets, hospital structures, and policy reforms, the book exposes the ideological and bureaucratic mechanisms that shaped colonial health governance and laid the groundwork for modern health inequities in Senegal.

Politics, Political party, Natural ressources, Justice, Education, Social, Health, Researh, water

This study assesses the Health and Social Development Program (PADSS2) implemented in Mali’s Mopti region to improve healthcare access for pregnant women and children amid increasing terrorist attacks. Using a controlled interrupted time series analysis (2016–2021), the authors compared intervention and control districts. Results show modest but positive effects: assisted deliveries increased by 1.5%, antenatal consultations by 1–2%, and under-five child visits also rose. However, intensified terrorist activity led to a sharp decline in child consultations (up to 40%). The program’s overall impact remained below expectations due to security challenges, governance constraints, and limited implementation capacity. The authors call for stronger collaboration between donors and researchers, and better integration of security dynamics in the design and evaluation of public health interventions in fragile contexts.

Gender, Security, Conflict, Education, Human security, Influence, Health, Soicial sciences, Researh, Knowlege production, Information

The article titled “Freedom to Inform: A Democratic Bulwark under Pressure in West Africa?” explores how journalism in several West African countries is increasingly an act of resistance amid growing restrictions. Media outlets face rising authoritarianism, the frequent use of “fake news” laws, online disinformation and financial precarity. The digital space, as a new frontier for democracy, is especially under threat: unregulated platforms, shared data and interoperability raise major concerns for independent, reliable journalism. Journalists’ roles are being redefined: they must verify, connect, simplify and defend everybody’s right to information. The piece emphasises that protecting freedom to inform is essential to safeguard one of democracy’s pillars in the region.

Governance, Democracy, Disinformation

The article titled “Presidential election in Côte d’Ivoire: ‘Political practices have fundamentally not changed’?” published by Radio France Internationale (RFI) on 28 October 2025 questions the actual evolution of political practices in Côte d’Ivoire during the presidential election. It observes that despite proclaimed change and institutional reforms, power dynamics remain largely unchanged: concentration of power, personalization of leadership and use of state mechanisms for partisan ends. The text refers to the re-election or extended candidacy of the outgoing president, the sidelining of opposition forces and weak governance transparency mechanisms. It highlights the gap between democratic promises and political reality on the ground: enduring political dynasties, economic dependence of actors and clientelist governance persist. In consequence, the article suggests that the claimed change remains superficial and democratic development in Côte d’Ivoire is still hindered by inherited practices.

Politics, Governance, Democracy, Election

The paper examines whether greater accessibility to electronic money boosts financial inclusion in WAEMU countries over 2010–2022. Using annual data and Method-of-Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR) to tackle heterogeneity and endogeneity—plus IV-2SLS robustness checks—the authors find that both geographic and demographic penetration of e-money service points significantly increase financial inclusion. Two mechanisms drive the results: (1) expanding formal financial services (payments, transfers, savings) to rural and peri-urban areas by cutting transaction and travel costs; and (2) a catalytic effect that is stronger where initial inclusion is higher, deepening usage among already banked populations. Additional positive correlates include schooling, trade openness, mobile subscriptions, and internet access. Despite progress, WAEMU’s inclusion rate lags developing-country averages, implying a need to scale digital infrastructure, security/trust measures, and human-capital investments.

Governance, Démographie, Inclusion

The article explores how in Africa the law is increasingly used as a “pimping” tool for gerontocratic regimes, undermining substantive democracy. It argues that although the post-independence era held promise for law as social regulation, it became captured by privatized state institutions and used to eliminate opposition rather than secure alternation. Cases in Benin, Senegal and Cape Verde are discussed as (relatively) positive exceptions, while in countries such as Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon and Chad, candidacies are constrained and civil rights subverted. Law becomes flexible, adapting to the interests of those in power and thereby reinforcing hybrid and gerontocratic systems. The author calls for a reinvention of citizenship, a law in service of life rather than exclusion, and a stronger role for civil society to reposition politics beyond mere elections.

Governance, Democracy, Election, Inclusion, Gerontocracy

The article highlights that the quality of education in West Africa is largely dependent on teachers’ skills and commitment, yet significant gaps remain in both initial and ongoing training tailored to local contexts. It points out that while corporal punishment has been banned in some countries such as Benin, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal, this legal change has often not been paired with effective pedagogical tools and disciplinary strategies for teachers. Current training schemes frequently fail to align with classroom realities and student needs. The piece calls for comprehensive reform: modernization of teacher training curricula, stronger practical training, responsiveness to social and pedagogical changes, and an improvement in teachers’ working conditions. It urges policymakers, trainers and education systems to act so that teacher training becomes a real lever for transformative education.

Governance, Education, Réforme

This paper investigates how the digital divide shapes access to essential services—drinking water, health, and education—in West Africa using Afrobarometer Round 9 data. The authors build a multidimensional digital divide index integrating access to equipment, internet use, and information isolation. Three main findings emerge: (1) formal education is by far the strongest determinant of digital inclusion, ahead of wealth or geography; (2) the digital divide is strongly associated with lower access to basic services, even after accounting for territorial heterogeneity; and (3) rural–urban differences are less significant than expected, suggesting that marginalization transcends geography. The study concludes that without inclusive and educational policies, ongoing digitalization efforts could inadvertently deepen social and territorial inequalities across the region.

Politics, Inequality, Natural ressources, Religious education, Education, Discrimination, Soicial sciences, Knowlege production, Information, Equality