Global Health

Wiring Africa's Internet Deserts

Would you pay $4,000 a month for a home internet connection? Marc Andreessen does . That amount, the Bay Area-based Netscape creator says, affords him an unbelievably zippy 100mpbs line. Which at $4,000, you'd expect. But what sort of speed would...

Published Thu, May 13 2010 11:22 AM by Change.org's Global Poverty Blog

In the Land of a Thousand Hills, a Future in Hotels

The rural outskirts of Rwanda's capital may not look like the place to launch an economic revolution. But don't tell that to the women of Akilah. Akilah Institute for Women is quite literally creating opportunities for rural Rwandan women — 50...

Published Fri, May 21 2010 7:39 AM by Change.org's Global Poverty Blog

UNESCO Gets Chummy With Equatorial Guinea's Dictator

You wouldn't expect the United Nations to offer a Robert Mugabe Award for Presidential Distinction, would you? ( Motto : "If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold.") Or a World Food Programme Than Shwe Humanitarian Medal? Of course...

Published Mon, May 10 2010 8:29 AM by Change.org's Global Poverty Blog

Pedals for Progress in the Developing World

In the spirit of spring cleaning and good weather, I thought I'd give you all a little spotlight on one of my favorite organizations: Pedals for Progress. Pedals for Progress (or P4P for short) is a small non-profit organization that ships used bicycles...

Published Sat, May 08 2010 8:21 AM by Change.org's Global Poverty Blog

Praise for North Korea's "Enviable" Health System

Did you ever hear the North Korean joke about the farmer who decides to release a fresh-caught fish back into the river, because he has no cooking oil or pot to cook it in? The fish darts back into the water, joyfully hollering, "Long live General...

Published Wed, May 05 2010 10:00 AM by Change.org's Global Poverty Blog

Sergio Vieira de Mello: A True International Hero

The ultimate humanitarian, model diplomat, star of the UN. Those are just a few of the ways one might describe Sergio Vieira de Mello. A Brazilian diplomat, Vieira de Mello dedicated his life to the United Nations system, accepting field assignments in...

Published Sat, May 01 2010 6:48 AM by Change.org's Global Poverty Blog

Children and the World Bank Agree: It's Good to Share

There is a big push these days to open up information. Open Government. Open Data. Open Access. Open Source. And now, open global health and development. In January 2010, PLoS Medicine , a peer-reviewed open-access journal, published a commitment from...

Published Wed, Apr 21 2010 11:03 AM by Change.org's Global Poverty Blog

A Better Way to Feed Haiti: Buy Local

Over the past few months, we've seen Bill Clinton hang his head and talk penitently about how U.S. trade policies destroyed Haiti's rice-growing tradition. We've heard plenty of discussion about the need to learn from mistakes of aid efforts...

Published Tue, Apr 20 2010 8:04 AM by Change.org's Global Poverty Blog

What the West Can Learn From China in Africa

There's very little that China manages to accomplish on the world stage without being shadowboxed into the realm of suspicion. Its engagement with Africa is no exception. Does the Great Dragon (to echo one tiresome metaphor) swooping over the continent...

Published Mon, Apr 19 2010 10:05 AM by Change.org's Global Poverty Blog

Loans for the Developing World Poor Aren't Enough

When people talk about microfinance, most commonly, we hear about lending, not saving. After all, why would people who live on $2 a day need a savings account? But while the microfinance industry has long been heavily dominated by lending alone, many...

Published Wed, Apr 21 2010 6:49 AM by Change.org's Global Poverty Blog

The iPhone Skips Over Africa

Steve Jobs may not know it, but some of his biggest fans reside in Kenya. Even before the earliest iPhones were being sold in the country, enthusiastic programmers were already designing applications for the phone, anticipating the day the sleek devices...

Published Tue, Jun 29 2010 6:00 AM by Change.org's Global Poverty Blog

Landon Donovan Can Teach Us More Than How to Save the Day

Right now, Landon Donovan is best-known for how he scored some epic goals in this year’s World Cup. Internet traffic in the moments following Donovan’s historic goal spiked to a record not seen since the 2008 presidential election , while online chatter...

Published Fri, Jun 25 2010 7:21 AM by Change.org's Global Poverty Blog

Keeping Health Workers in Rural Communities

The case of the developing world's missing health care workers can be explained in many ways — some more contested (for e.g., brain drain) and complex than others. Now, the World Health Organization is trying to boil down such phenomena to help governments...

Published Fri, Jul 09 2010 3:21 PM by Change.org's Global Poverty Blog

Solar-Powered Light Bulb Shines in the Developing World

In parts of the world where electricity is a). too expensive b). non-existent or c). always being cut off by power rationing, candles and kerosene light the way for everyday tasks such as cooking, schoolwork and cleaning. For those of us accustomed to...

Published Mon, Jul 12 2010 12:42 PM by Change.org's Global Poverty Blog

How Transparent is U.S. Foreign Aid?

There are plenty of adjectives that can be used to describe U.S. foreign aid overseas: messy, sporadic and fragmented, to name just a few. And unfortunately, as a new Oxfam report makes overpoweringly clear, 'transparent' isn't high on that...

Published Mon, Jun 14 2010 8:40 AM by Change.org's Global Poverty Blog

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