Category Archives: Policy Watch

Impact of Funding Cuts on HIV Services in Sub-Saharan Africa – World AIDs Day 2025

Science has made it possible for people living with HIV, including pregnant women, to live healthy lives and protect their babies from HIV.​But sudden funding cuts in 2025 disrupted essential care.​Swipe to see the impacts in Ghana and across Sub-Saharan Africa➡️​

Learn more: https://www.unaids.org/en/2025-world-aids-day  ​

Programmes serving key populations are vital to slow new HIV infections and accelerate progress toward ending AIDS.​

But funding cuts are undermining these efforts, at a time when HIV is rising fastest among key populations.​

These services are lifelines. We must protect them.​

Podcasts swapped for water cooler gossip

What do you listen to while you work?

I religiously listen to podcasts while working. I will occasionally listen to music but podcasts are my default work companion. Once in the full “work zone” I will usually stop paying attention or lower the volume if there’s an interesting discussion amongst coworkers.

Today I forgot my earphones needless to say the walk from the parking lot was gruesome and when I finally sat down my thought was eurghhhhh why me?!??

Well it wasn’t all bad I did that thing where you connect with people infront of you instead of strangers you’ve never met.

I heard some awkward conversions, started some uninteresting ones and what do you know I didn’t die from not having something in my ear all day.

So what do I listen to at work podcasts with a touch of gossip inbetween episodes or ad breaks.

Extended Contract – Labour Movement is in Shambles

Can you share a positive example of where you’ve felt loved?

I worked at a job that started as a 6 week contract that kept getting extended. Now the person I was covering for eventually came back and the company looked for a way to evolve my role. I know it’s cheating and that isn’t really a positive example of “feeling loved” but it is a positive example of feeling appreciated in the workplace which I think on this internet of ours is a rare occurrence.

As we enter 2025, I didn’t make a New Year’s resolution but I decided to trust: trust people, trust the process and most importantly trust myself. I am starting a new blog collection, based on the current labour market and I will start with this as our foundation “Asking your work if they are laying people off is like asking a man if he would ever cheat on you or a woman if she likes money” . . . If you like go and argue with your ancestors 

An intro to the Labour Movement is in Shambles – An examination of work in 2025

TThoughts Podcast – But I think I’m the only one

Daily writing prompt
What podcasts are you listening to?

Lately, I’ve been grappling with the sense that the work I produce is slipping into a void, unheard and unacknowledged. I’ve poured time, energy, and passion into exploring topics I believe matter deeply—yet the response often feels like a haunting silence. Listening to TThoughts Podcasts, where a young Black woman boldly shares her political musings, I’m struck by the courage it takes to put ideas out there, regardless of the echo or response.

It feels lonely to question systems, to critique social policies, and to dissect the nuances of political theory without feeling seen or heard. Still, perhaps there’s a deeper meaning in sharing perspectives, even when they seem to go unnoticed. Maybe it’s about planting seeds, sending out ripples we may not immediately see.

This feeling of “shouting into the void” reminds me that building awareness and change, especially on complex issues, can be a quiet, slow process. Maybe it’s okay if my voice, and the voices of others like me, reach just one person today and another tomorrow. One day, those small connections may turn the quiet into a resonant call for change.

With Love from ChatGPT

Work aka Commute aka wages

What do you complain about the most?

I will start this post with the full acknowledgement that I should be and am grateful for all the blessings I have, but seeing is the post is not an ode to my lack of gratitude I will say the thing I complain most about is work. I am an advocate of the labor movement and am of the belief that “the labor movement is in shambles” so I find myself often complaining about different elements of work.

My favorite and timely complaint is the mandatory return to office. Wait hear me out. I know this is somewhat of a first world and white collar worker problem to have but still its emblematic of a larger problem between workers and employees. The issue is never if the work is done because when work is isn’t done there are many different metrics that employers have figured out to calculate efficiency. In fact if you fall below an adequate level of efficiency I believe they do something they call “firing you”. No the problem is not that work will not be done. The problem is trying to control employees time so if they are able to complete the required tasks in an adequate manner you figure out a way to pile more tasks on without paying them anymore. God forbid they use the extra time to spend with their family, friends or figuring out how to make additional income.

That brings us to the second thing I like to complain about. Much like what we keep hearing about inflation “it’s going down”, “we have brought it to an adequate level”, we should be really happy we are paying $20 for cooking oil our wages may be “up” but it seems like we still can’t afford rent, houses or the $20 cooking oil yet at every turn we are told wages are higher than ever and we should be happy and grateful. So we may not be the greatest mathematician but we can do the maths and see that the amount that we are getting paid and the profits we are helping make don’t add up.

To conclude, I like to complain about the state of employee rights in this current economic climate