By Humanosphere
Historian David Oshinsky writes: Since 1988, the number of new polio cases worldwide has plummeted from 350,000 cases to 223 last year. With only 26 so far in 2013, we have the smallest number of cases in the fewest countries ever, creating a dramatic opportunity for eradication. India, for example, was recently declared polio-free following … Continue reading →
By Humanosphere
Toxic waste sites “fly under the radar” in terms of public health awareness and action. Little research has been done on the health impacts of chemical pollutants in developing countries. Source: Ipsnews Toxic Waste on Par with Malaria as a Global Killer – Toxic waste sites in 31 countries are damaging the brains of nearly … Continue reading →
By Humanosphere
I didn’t know there was a global scientific agenda, but apparently there is and some think it’s dominated (like most things) by Western interests: “In Africa, we sometimes believe that global curiosity-driven research — studies driven by researchers’ inquisitiveness rather than political or strategic directives — is at “odds with the continent’s development priorities.” Source: … Continue reading →
By Humanosphere
Delaney Ruston spent a lot of her early days as a physician working in clinics for the poor and disenfranchised, like Berkeley Free Clinic and, later, Seattle’s Pike Market Medial Clinic with a few of area’s leading and long-time health activists Les Pittle and Joe Martin. Partly as a result of her father’s schizophrenia, she’s now a documentary filmmaker advocating greater awareness of mental health needs globally. Continue reading →
By Humanosphere
Don McNeil of the New York Times looks at the many reports about how a ‘cure’ for AIDS is on the horizon and explains why it’s not. Source: Nytimes What to make of all the recent “cured of AIDS” headlines? An American in Berlin, a baby in Mississippi and 14 patients in France are all … Continue reading →
By Humanosphere
The Seattle Globalist has published a list of the top 30 films it believes will get you inspired about global health. Continue reading →
By Humanosphere
Failure is a big part of the scientific method. It is, in fact, most of the scientific method. Dealing with failure and accepting uncertainty is the nature of this task, as one of the central players — and administrators of this trial — told me a few months ago. Continue reading →
By Humanosphere
Welcome to the Humanosphere podcast, our weekly look back at the world of global health and development. This week we discuss the horrific and deadly collapse of a garment factory in Bangladesh with Kristen Beifus, executive director of the Washington Fair Trade Coalition. By coincidence, Beifus’ organization had co-organized a visit and protest in Seattle featuring Bangladeshi garment worker Sumi Abedin who had survived what, until this week, had been the country’s worst industrial disaster – a factory fire last November. Continue reading →
By Humanosphere
My friend Joe Brewer and his colleague Martin Kirk, proponents of /The Rules initiative, are on a campaign to get all of us to recognize poverty is not an accident or natural consequence of life. It is created and enforced. Here’s their latest installment. Source: Thinkafricapress A Ugandan boy looks into the camera.
By Humanosphere
Flickr, ACJ1 The world has made great strides against malaria, bringing down the estimated global death toll from more than a million — mostly children — to about 650,000 per year today. That’s been done through a concerted and diversified strategy supported by the international community, through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and … Continue reading →
By Humanosphere
Despite efforts by Uganda, the United States, the AU and other partners, LRA warlord Joseph Kony remains hidden in the jungles that span the Central African Republic (CAR) and its neighbors. A recent coup in the CAR slowed down the effort that has had trouble finding the rebel leader. Uganda suspended its efforts in early … Continue reading →
By Humanosphere
David Bornstein talks with the Nobel Peace Prize-winning father of microfinance, Muhammad Yunus. This is an excellent overview that touches on a number of issues beyond microfinance, including the possibility that a for-profit business can be a critical tool for defeating poverty: We can create a world where poverty doesn’t exist. In order for the … Continue reading →
By Humanosphere
There’s a fairly good correlation between media freedoms and freedom in general. Last year was the deadliest on record for journalists, by the way Continue reading →
By Humanosphere
Erica Kochi and Christopher Fabian work together on mapping the future of innovation at UNICEF House, New York Susan Markisz Celebrities often fill the pages of the annual TIME 100 list. The 2013 list fulfills that trend with the inclusion of Beyonce, Sheryl Sandberg, Jay Z, and Justin Timberlake. A more cynical article would gripe … Continue reading →
