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To date, over 1,600 people have died and around 14 million people have been affected by the floods in Pakistan which have followed the country’s worst monsoon rains in 80 years. Sir John Holmes, the Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and the Emergency Relief Coordinator at the UN, has stated that “if we don’t act […]

With Russia’s worst heatwave on record expected to last for the next ten days, experts begin to worry about the potential for devastating economic losses; in this case, a possible $14 billion off economic growth. On August 5th, Russia’s prime minister, Vladimir Putin, announced a ban on grain exports after more than a third of […]

In a strange twist on the tense situation in Pakistan following flooding that caused 1,600 deaths, the media is being silenced. Pakistan’s two major media outlets–ARY TV and Geo TV–have been silenced for the past 3 days in Karachi and Sindh province. The row started after the stations reported on a story about President Asif […]

That, of course, is the title of James Baldwin’s famous two-essay collection.  Baldwin took it from the old spiritual, “Oh Mary, Don’t You Weep.” “God gave Noah the rainbow sign, No more water, the fire next time!” Well, I don’t like to get all biblical, but I bet a lot of folks in Russia 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.

The use of rape to terrorize women and girls, has continued throughout the Congo’s long and bloody war-torn history. Fear has become a daily emotion for women and girls, as the numbers of rape victims have continuously risen since the end of the Second Congo War, becoming a common feature of Congolese daily life. Why […]

A comments section conversation about WikiLeaks between myself and my FPA-o-sphere colleague Patrick Frost has morphed into a conversation about the morality of American military force.  Patrick wrote: The US military’s history of bringing literally unsurpassed prosperity, liberty, and security to the world in the past 70 years cannot even be compared to a minimal […]

It’s 1965 in Indonesia. Sukarno heads an ever-increasingly unstable government. That is the backdrop for this story, the story of Australian journalist Guy Hamilton and his trial by fire in his first overseas assignment. He meets the diminutive Billy Kwan, a photographer who helps him secure sources for his stories. Through Kwan, Hamilton is introduced […]

A recent BBC article reports that more people are classified as “poor”in India’s eight poorest states than Africa’s 26 poorest countries. In this case, an estimated 421 million Indians are in poverty.  Recently, many have argued that the Indian government should replace its inefficient social safety net of subsidized government food, cooking fuel and education […]

There is an excellent op-ed in today’s New York Times, Slumdog Tourism, by Kennedy Odede.  It notes the increase in “slum tourism” in places like Rio de Janeiro, Mumbai and Nairobi. Slum tourism has its advocates, who say it promotes social awareness. And it’s good money, which helps the local economy. But it’s not worth […]

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 […]

One of children’s biggest pastimes is hunkering down in-front of the old tube and playing video games.  While of course the fist thought is to recommend that your child’s access to games and TV is limited, as an advocate for good old outdoor play. Nonetheless we all know that moderate video game usage isn’t necessarily […]