Today’s commentary from the UK Telegraph: SIR – The parlous state of the public finances in Britain provides the perfect opportunity for British taxpayers to end their half-century-long experiment with “development aid”, which has, since its inception, stunted growth and subsidised bad governance in Africa. As Africans, we urge the generous-spirited British to reconsider an […]
Information about the Obama administration’s Global Health Initiative has been notoriously slow for those of us trying to deliver services and prepare for funding shifts. Secretary Clinton’s recent speech at Johns Hopkins’ SAIS sheds some light on the initiative; Nandini Ooman’s excellent analysis is here.
The New Republic offers this interesting response to Secretary Clinton’s speech two weeks ago at my school. Compare and contrast. I don’t necessarily agree with the argument that the new Global Health Initiative is doomed to fail, but it’s certainly true that lined up against the budget for military spending, funding for foreign aid looks […]
I’m loving this infographic from GOOD, which juxtaposes life expectancy against cost per capita. Check out the zoomable version.
In Hubert Humphrey’s final speech, he said “…the moral test of government is how the government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twighlight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.” Recent articles in […]
Friday spotlight is a bit late again: I blame the economics homework referenced in the earlier post. Ahead of the January referendum on independence, South Sudan has unveiled an ambitious plan to remake their major cities in the shapes found on each regional flag. Juba, the capital, is to be made into a rhino, and […]
Corruption in the police force is commonplace in countries with high levels of petty bribery. In Georgia, the solution was to fire the entire traffic police force and rehire through objective procedures. In neighboring Armenia – where the government is either more gradualist or less committed, depending on your viewpoint – the Achilles project is […]
Monday morning Secretary Clinton spoke at my school about the future of U.S. global health aid. I got to school four hours before she was due to speak, and had to stand outside in the blazing sun for two hours before I was even let inside the building. It’s a bit unnerving to see your […]
I’ve been spending some time reading the pledges rolling in for Gates’ and Buffet’s Giving Pledge – the movement to inspire global billionaires to give away 50% or more of their wealth. I’m curious to know what impact this pledge could have on health research and treatment. Here are some excerpts from pledges that give […]
The June issue of Wired Magazine profiles Google founder Sergey Brin’s quest to change health research, and his own future at the same time. At 36 years old, Brin has discovered that he possesses the indicator gene that has a higher risk of Parkinson’s. So, instead of waiting on the sidelines while traditional research may or may not […]
I had an offhand conversation with a friend the other day about the cost and quality of US healthcare relative to the rest of the world. I then came across this “infographic” republished in Fast Company earlier this year, and originally by National Geographic. The visual is startling: upward sloping lines indicate value for $$ […]
Last week Newsweek published an article entitled “The Death of Generosity.” The article outlines a decline in the West’s commitment to the aid goals set in the 1990s and makes ominous predictions for the future of the developing world: the Millennium Development Goals will not be met, corruption will run rampant in over-bureaucratized governments, and […]
The recent “victory” of GSK’s Avandia raises questions about protocols in clinical trials. Curious about a trial participant’s perspective? Ana Cantu at the American-Statesman recalls her own participation in a drug trial 5 years ago.
How is health measured? A consistent measure used by global health practitioners is the DALY, or Disability Adjusted Life Year, which compares one disease with another and uses this comparative measure to quantify the overall disease burden. Karen Grepin recently posted about a collaboration between the WHO, Harvard University, among others, to update and revise the […]
Somali militant group bans 3 aid agencies (shockingly, all agencies are Christian) (AP) More about the aid workers killed in Afghanistan (CNN) Huffington Post is sponsoring three blogs from women leaders in aid. Check out the posts by Melinda Gates on saving children and rotavirus, Mia Farrow on the value of education, and Susan Smith […]