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Aug 05, 2008
New AIDS Numbers Reveal Past Inaccuracies, and Conflict Over Best Approaches
The newest CDC data on HIV/AIDS infections in the United States suggest that the agency has underestimated new US infections by 40 percent since the late 1990s. The agency nonetheless asserts that the number of annual new has remained stable since the late nineties. The UN likewise says that new infection rates worldwide remained stable this year overall, with decreases in some countries (such as Uganda and Ethiopia) offset by increases in others (such as China, Russia and Vietnam). The conclusion being drawn from the evidence is that prevention efforts are failing the vulnerable.
Aug 01, 2008
The Costs and Benefits of Intervention
It’s quite difficult to persuade anyone to try military intervention since the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Except the Australians that is. Australia’s strategy of humanitarian military intervention has received endorsements from the most unlikely of places—the communities where the Australian government has intervened.
Jul 28, 2008
Pricing a Drop to Drink
Whether the motives are commercial or environmental, almost everyone seems to agree that the time to put a price on water has come.
Jul 24, 2008
Fertilizer No Substitute for Good Management
Providing fertilizers in parts of the world with poor soil quality will not only do little to improve agricultural productivity, and may do harm. A strategy more likely to be successful is to lay the groundwork for farmers to gain secure land rights.
Jul 21, 2008
Interview: United Way of America CEO Brian Gallagher
Recently we discussed United Way’s refocusing, the meaning of accountability, and the state of philanthropy in general with CEO Brian Gallagher.
Jul 21, 2008
The Thorny Problem of Donor Intent
It may seem that honoring donor intent in all cases is the right and obvious thing to do. But the recent revelation that before her death Leona Helmsley charged her multi-billion dollar charitable trust to attend to “the care and welfare of dogs” starkly illustrates that donor intent is a thornier question than it seems.
Jul 16, 2008
An Emerging Markets Cellular Behemoth Means Opportunity
A company the size of a merged MTN and Reliance Communications would have the potential to make capital investments in infrastructure that could drive faster subscriber growth in emerging geographies. A larger and more exciting possibility is the possibility of using cellphones to dramatically lower the cost of small transactions.
Jul 11, 2008
The Role of Genetically Modified Crops in World Food Security
Most discussions of the role of GM crops in the current food crisis fail to address whether non-technical solutions such as land stewardship and efficient water use have been fully explored.
Jul 07, 2008
Bush Proposes Tracking Mechanism for Aid Pledges
A mechanism for tracking whether members of the G8 are keeping up with their pledged contributions toward development in impoverished countries would be a step in the right direction for injecting more accountability into foreign aid.
Jul 03, 2008
More Young People Looking for Post-College Stints in the Volunteer Corps
More recent college graduates are applying to join volunteer organizations such as Teach for America or the Peace Corps. Yet in the last few months two relevant stories have come out about the Peace Corps specifically, both of which suggest that its historical reliance on young volunteers has played a role in the organizations’ reputation as a particularly ineffective conduit for humanitarian relief.