• English-language site
  • Site francophone
Africa Check
  • Donate

Get a weekly dose of facts

Skip to content
  • Home
  • Reports
    • Back
    • By country…
    • Kenya
    • Nigeria
    • South Africa
    • Senegal
    • Any country
    • By topic…
    • Health
    • Education
    • Crime
    • Economy
    • Facebook checks
    • All topics
  • Factsheets & Guides
  • How to fact-check
    • Back
    • Info Finder (Beta version)
    • Tips and advice
    • Submit a claim to check
    • The African Fact-Checking Awards
      • Back
      • What counts as a fact-checking report?
      • Our previous winners
    • Fact-checking studies
  • About us
    • Back
    • TRi Facts
      • Back
      • Training
      • Research
      • Information
    • Our team
    • How we are funded
      • Back
      • Partners
    • How we work
      • Back
      • Principles
      • How we rate claims
      • Corrections
      • Terms and Conditions
    • Vacancies
    • Contact us

Healthcheck Reports

Blog post: Analysis: Do inhalers ‘damage lungs’?

Recent newspaper reports suggested that inhalers, used by sufferers from lung disease, could be dangerous. What data supports these claims, and is it inhalers themselves or the steroids dispensed by some of these devices that are the problem? We investigated.

11:27 | 19 June 2019 (GMT)

Be the first to comment

  • health
  • medicine

Does Kenya have one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the world?

Claims

Two claims on maternal and under-five mortality in Kenya.
Source: UK charity Penny Appeal (2019)

checked

Verdict

One mostly correct, one correct

Read more

01:32 | 12 June 2019 (GMT)

  • children
  • deaths
  • health
  • Maternal

Three in four Nigerian women use skin-lighteners? No data supports claim

Nigerian women taking part in a Democracy Day parade in Owerri on 29 May 2017. Photo: AFP/MARCO LONGARI

Claim

77% of Nigerian women use skin lighteners
Source: International media reports

unproven

Verdict

No data supports claim

Read more

11:56 | 18 April 2019 (GMT)

  • health
  • skin lightening

#WorldHealthDay: 10 quick facts about health in Africa

People work out at a well-known spot for fitness enthusiasts near the township of Emakhandeni, outside the Zimbabwean city of Bulawayo in January 2019. The world marks World Health Day on 7 April 2019. Photo: AFP/ZINYANGE AUNTONY

Does South Africa spend five times more on healthcare per person than Nigeria? Does one doctor serve 16,000 Kenyans? We’ve put together some startling facts from our work on the continent.

07:57 | 7 April 2019 (GMT)

Be the first to comment

  • health
  • World Health Organisation

Has SA’s President Ramaphosa kept his 2018 State of the Nation promises?

Claims

Four promises from a 2018 national address.
Source: 2018 state of the nation address.

checked

Verdict

Two promises kept, one broken and one still in progress.

Read more

06:57 | 6 February 2019 (GMT)

  • education
  • health
  • jobs
  • promises

ANC at 107: Eight birthday claims by party leader Ramaphosa fact-checked

A helicopter flies a giant flag of South Africa's ruling African National Congress with a picture of President Cyril Ramaphosa over Durban in January 2019 as the party urged people to register to vote for upcoming elections. Photo: AFP/RAJESH JANTILAL

Claims

Eight claims from the ANC’s 2019 "January 8th statement"
Source: ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa

checked

Verdict

Three correct, two mostly correct, one incorrect, two misleading

Read more

09:52 | 10 January 2019 (GMT)

  • ANC
  • economy
  • education
  • employment
  • health
  • water

Blog post: Right of Reply: Foundation for a Smoke-Free World on smoking in South Africa

The Foundation for a Smoke-Free World has responded to our fact-check of their claim that half of men and a third of women in South Africa smoke.

06:26 | 8 January 2019 (GMT)

Be the first to comment

  • health
  • smoking
  • South Africa

Blog post: 10 things we didn’t learn at Africa Check this year

Does being single kill faster than obesity? Can you sue over an opinion poll? Just how much does Nigeria owe China? Some claims push back at fact-checkers. Here’s why.

07:07 | 31 December 2018 (GMT)

Be the first to comment

  • economy
  • fact-checking
  • government
  • health

Do half of men and a third of women in South Africa smoke?

Photo by Sara Kurfeß on Unsplash.

Claim

49% of men and 34.1% of women in South Africa smoke tobacco
Source: Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (October 2018)

incorrect

Verdict

Better surveys show South Africa has far fewer smokers.

Read more

06:49 | 5 December 2018 (GMT)

  • health
  • smoking
  • suggested by reader
  • tobacco

Yes, Nigeria is the world’s ‘highest producer of HIV-infected babies’

A file picture of medicine to reduce the HIV viral load in a pregnant woman's body, so her baby has a smaller risk of contracting the virus. Photo: AFP/ALEXANDER JOE

Claim

Nigeria is the highest producer of HIV-infected babies
Source: Sun newspaper (October 2018)

correct

Verdict

In 2016 Nigeria had the world’s highest number of children newly infected with HIV.

Read more

10:17 | 26 November 2018 (GMT)

  • children
  • health
  • HIV
Previous 1 2 3 4 … 18 Next

Popular topics

  • Kenya
  • health
  • nigeria
  • false
  • South Africa
  • Incorrect
  • government
  • economy
  • development
  • education
  • fake
  • crime
  • statistics
  • reader suggestion
  • women
  • hoax
  • Jacob Zuma
  • children
  • data
  • employment
  • HIV/AIDS
  • election
  • water
  • electricity
  • police
  • Africa
  • ANC
  • media
  • False evidence of claim
  • environment

View more

Donate to Africa Check

We depend on voluntary donations to run this site. Please help us to keep public figures accountable by supporting the project.

Find out more

We hold public figures accountable


For democracy to function, public figures need to be held to account for what they say. The claims they make need to be checked, openly and impartially. Africa Check is an independent, non-partisan organisation which assesses claims made in the public arena using journalistic skills and evidence drawn from the latest online tools, readers, public sources and experts, sorting fact from fiction and publishing the results.

  • About us
  • Our team
  • Partners
  • Principles
  • How we are funded
  • Contact us
  • Terms

Get in touch

  • info@africacheck.org
  • Subscribe
  • Follow @africacheck
  • Find us on Facebook

Our partners

The Aga Khan University Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation E-jicom FacebookKonrad Adenauer StiftungLuminateMillenium TrustOpen Society Foundation      The Raith Foundation   Social Justice InitiativeStandard Bank  Wits Journalism

Get a weekly dose of facts, straight to your inbox.

Get updates from TRI Facts