Good news recently in the world of disease control and prevention. Scientists have discovered a way to inject DNA into mosquito eggs to produce insects that are resistant to malaria altogether.
While there are a number of logistical, ecological, ethical, and legal barriers to overcome before this kind of technology can really begin to make a dent in the worldwide pandemic that is malaria, it is an encouraging step-forward.
For those of you who missed it…Nelson Mandela (former South African political prisoner of Apartheid turned former president of South Africa) turned 92 years old on Sunday.
Mandela is a celebrated political figure whose unfair imprisonment for 27 years in South Africa ended in 1990. Just four years after being released, Mandela became the first black president of South Africa—a massive feat for South African society.
Mandela’s birthday fall just after the World Cup event that took place in South Africa just a few weeks ago. Hosting the World Cup in South Africa was a long-held dream of Mandela’s—and surely he received no greater birthday gift than it’s very successful execution.
Bill Gates is obviously one of the most influential people on the planet. Aside from having been one of the most wealthy persons in the world for a significant portion of his life, the products that his company created have revolutionized the way that people live and think everywhere. There may literally not be a single person alive today whom Bill Gates and his career hasn’t affected.
A man in that position could easily ride the wave of that success until the day he died. However, after stepping down from day-to-day operations at Microsoft, Mr. Gates and his wife began another organization that aims to touch people in a different way—the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. And by starting the foundation with more than $20 billion his own money, Mr. Gates essentially knocked himself out of the running for wealthiest man alive (causing runner-up Warren Buffet to follow suit by donating about $20 billion to the foundation).
But what does the Gates Foundation do on a day-to-day basis that can defend The Guardian’s claim that the Foundation has “arguably become the most powerful charitable organisation in the world”? The link below will take you to The Guardian article that answers just that question. As a former resident of Seattle, I can’t help be proud of the work my fellow Washingtonians are doing down there. Click the link to find out more.
After an outbreak of ethnic violence last month, refugees are beginning the long journey to normalcy by returning to their homes. The trip is bittersweet for many who are happy to return to their hometowns, but who are finding that much of their cities and property have been damaged or destroyed by the fighting. A quote from an article about the journey published on the UN World Food Programme website:
“Now the barricades have come down, the markets reopened and the 75,000 refugees who fled across the border into neighbouring Uzbekistan have largely returned. However, life is far from normal for families who came back to find their shops looted and their homes burnt down.”
As usual, the United Nations World Food Programme is on the ground, doing what it can to meet the needs of the people there as best they can. They need your help to make a difference. Click the link below to do your part!
Drought in Niger has pushed levels of child malnutrition past emergency levels, according to an alarming new government report. In response, WFP is scaling up its operation to provide over 4.5 million people with food assistance, nearly twice as many as it is now.
Originally posted from Niger: WFP Responds To Child Malnutrition Emergency
About six months has past since the devastating earthquake that shook Haiti early in the year. In that time, hundreds of thousands have had to figure out what to do with their displaced and damaged lives. A major element of the world response to this situation has been the creation and maintenance of refugee camps. OXFAM is a major contributor to that effort.
OXFAM posted an interview with one refugee family in a camp called Corail that gives the reader an insight into the difficult conditions of a resettlement camp. Among the issues of living there is the imminent threat of relocation, as various meteorological or logistical demands require. Read the article for a more detailed picture, and continue on to their home page to donate to OXFAM.
There are a lot of health problems out there in the world today. Malaria, AIDS, tuberculosis, diabetes, and cancer are all terrible diseases that plague different parts of the world in different ways. However, the most prevalent and dangerous health problem of all is still based on one of the body’s simplest needs: food.
If you’re not familiar with the effects of malnutrition in the human body, reading this article from The Star will give you an insight into the complications societally and individually that this plague can cause. With the hunger crisis flaring up in Central Africa, compassionately minded people should be preparing to help alleviate the effects of this terrible condition.
In the short term, the World Cup was undoubtedly a wonderful moment for the citizens of South Africa, as a nation that has been so synonymous with strife and conflict came together to host the world’s most conspicuous and widely followed sporting tournament. Only time will tell us if the tournament will have any lasting political or economic benefits for the people of the region. And yet, now that the tournament is complete, it’s safe to say that the memories of this tournament has firmly implanted South Africa in the world’s consciousness as a nation capable of adequately hosting a world-class event.
While this is ultimately a good thing for South Africa—and probably for the continent as a whole—it doesn’t solve all of it’s problems. The tournament brought in over $1 billion (mostly related to tourism for the tournament) for the nation, but it’s unemployment rate is still over 25%. Compared with the US’ current “crisis” levels of unemployment that hover between 9-10%, and it’s easy to see how there’s still a lot of work to be done. Nonetheless, the tournament has been a crucial milestone to celebrate in the life of Africa.
Newsweek released an article written by Rana Foroohar on July 8, 2010 titled “The Poor Always Pay” in which she discusses the success of microfinance models both as financial ventures and humanitarian solutions. But instead of talking about the poor in Nigeria or Laos, Indonesia or Bombay, she brought to light successes much closer to home:
“It’s pretty safe to say that three years ago no one could have predicted that one of the few financial institutions to be opening new branches and expanding lending in America would be a Bangladeshi bank that specialized in loans to people below the poverty line (the vast majority of them women). But that’s just what has happened. Grameen America, the U.S. offshoot of the famous Asian microlending institution founded by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, is now in its third year of operation in America, and even as the major banks, still battered from the financial crisis, are keeping credit tighter than ever, particularly to the small and midsize businesses that need it so desperately, Grameen is expanding. This summer, the little Bangladeshi bank—already operating in New York; Omaha; and Washington, D.C.—will move into its fourth U.S. city, San Francisco, fueled by a series of loans from institutions like Wells Fargo and Capital One that, aside from basking in the glow of good PR, have realized that they are more likely to get their money back by lending to African-American hairdressers in Queens or Latina food-cart operators in D.C. than by chucking money at middle-class whites who have bought more McMansion than they can afford.”
Americans have been growing more and more aware of microfinance as a solution for foreign development, but it has remained largely unnoticed as a means of domestic urban development. Nonetheless, microfinance outfits like kiva.org continue to perform admirably considering the current economic climate. In the words of Guy Kawasaki—Apple’s long-time Chief Marketing Officer turned Internet oracle—”Who would’ve thought Kiva.org would outlast Lehman Brothers?” Good point, Guy.
Last month, we featured an article from the BBC regarding the difficult living conditions for children growing up in Kabul, Afghanistan. 62 years ago, President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave a speech detailing the difficulty of raising peaceful people if they grow up struggling with hunger. It seems that Eisenhower’s insight is as relevant today as it was just after World War II.
