I’ve received a few requests recently for my data sources, so I thought I’d highlight Eric Green’s latest post at Change.org. Here, he has compiled an excellent list of data sources for global health. In particular, he highlights the open data initiative at the World Bank, which was launched last Tuesday, compiling more than 2,000 […]
An article by Robert Guth in the Wall Street Journal last week highlighted the theory that I posed in last Thursday’s post, that our global health system is designed to be reactionary and emergency-focused: That question goes to the heart of one of the most controversial debates in global health: Is humanity better served by […]
Earlier this month, on World Health Day, I wrote about how we are all in this together, with a focus on the social determinants of health, including the social and environmental factors which affect our health. What I overlooked, however, were the environmental determinants of health – a conversation which is pretty timely, considering that […]
I’m planning to devote Wednesdays to simple solutions that have a big impact in Global Health. In anticipation of World Malaria Day (April 25th), I thought I’d highlight some of the latest research on insecticide-treated nets and some of the simple solutions that are being utilized to get them where they are needed most. […]
In an effort to focus this blog – and provide myself a bit of structure and sanity! – I’m devoting Tuesdays to “systems issues”. For today, let’s start with the basics: what is a health system? I know, this sounds patronizing, but in fact, the goal of defining and strengthening health systems has only recently […]
Last week, on April 15, South Africa launched the largest HIV testing campaign in the world, aiming to have 15 million South Africans tested by June 2011. This initiative is evidence that the recent budgetary increase of over $1 billion in funds available for HIV prevention and treatment are having an impact on the ground, and it […]
Two significant topics are causing buzz in maternal and infant health circles: (1) on Monday, the Lancet published an article that shows significant decline in the number of maternal deaths, from 526,300 deaths in 1980 to 342,900 deaths in 2008, representing a 35% decline; and (2) today, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has announced a joint action plan […]
Violent demonstrations led to the fall of President Bakiyev in Kyrgyzstan last week. The opposition has taken control of the country, including the president’s supposed stronghold in the south. This is, of course, the second time a popular uprising has led to a change of government in Kyrgyzstan in the last five years. Both times, […]
Just a few of my favorites from this last week… Learning from developing countries – Jaclyn Schiff at NPR has written an excellent article about lessons that so-called first-world countries can learn from third-world countries. She references Lord Nigel Crisp’s op-ed in The Times which precedes his forthcoming book, Turning the World Upside Down: The Search for Global Health in […]
Last week President Obama flew to Afghanistan to rally the troops before the upcoming offensive in Kandahar. He also paid a visit to President Karzai. According to the Associated Press, “The trip was intended to let Obama tell Karzai that he must deal with corruption and cut the flow of money from poppy production and […]
Today, as health crises are played out in an ever-increasingly inter-connected world, I believe that leaders (or at least the enlightened ones) are seeking methods to stabilize systems as a long-term risk mitigation strategy. Since health is one of the foundations upon which stable societies are created, it is increasingly important to analyze and incorporate all of the determinants that factor into the functioning of a healthy community and society.
Just a quick post to highlight a documentary that I downloaded over the weekend. The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard is an excellent and quick study on consumerism, which she describes as a system in crisis. Her description of a linear system being unsustainable is very interesting, quote: “you cannot run a linear system […]
Where should global health dollars go? The good news is that more funders are investing energy into devising ever-more-sophisticated ways to allocate health spending. When priorities are aligned, such as the international commitment to reducing maternal and child mortality rates through the Millennium Development Goals, these sophisticated allocation methods can assist in deploying scarce resources to greatest […]
This week, Google closed its internet search service in China. Whether its January pledge to do so was a threat or a promise might depend on whether you are a Chinese internet user or a global lover of internet freedom. Government accountability today is revolving more and more around internet freedom. So-called freedom of the […]
Two articles have been sitting on my desk for weeks now and I’ve spent a number of afternoons mulling over what to write about them. The first Doing God’s Work from the Wall Street Journal takes another look at the success of Islamic finance funds and ask how well they are fairing & whether they […]