New DFID Blog

There's a new blog from three intrepid field workers at the British Department for International Development. So far, it fits the anti-poverty label best but as befits folks on the ground they're not being rigid about the categories.

Worst Case Scenario

Scary thought. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control starts monitoring influenza activity in October. Imagine what would happen if the world suffered a pandemic flu in the midst of the current credit crisis.

Not saying it will happen. Just imagine it.

Makes you realize the need to continue funding global health and development initiatives in the midst of the inevitable downturn.

Not saying that will happen either.

Jobs: Global Health Policy Director

An unnamed global health non-profit with a budget of $20 million is looking for a policy director. Location: Northeastern US. Salary up to US $135,000.

Blogs, Fellowships, Rights and Global Health

Karen Grepin wants you to know about new post-doc fellowships for global health at Duke University.

Jon Shaffer explores whether healthcare is a right.

I plan to study Tara Smith's paper in PLOS Biology on "Advancing Science through Conversations: Bridging the Gap between Blogs and the Academy." I have found that the same reticence that academics have about joining the global conversation permeates the global health community as well.

How Wars End

Jeb Sharp looks at Iraq through the prism of the American Civil War, as part of her amazing radio series for PRI on "How Wars End".

This 12-minute segment blew me away. It carefully covers the ground most American kids learned in grade school and then, bam, before you know we're going from Appomattox and the American Reconstruction to reconstruction in Iraq.

Most impressive of all, it leaves you thinking, "Wow, why didn't anyone make that connection before?"

You can also read the transcript but the audio had a much greater impact on me.

Here's a taste:

Sharp: Ayers thinks the messy struggle that followed the war is one reason Americans cling to the story of Appomattox. He says the gentlemanly handshake between two great generals gives us the illusion of a clean ending.

Ayers: “We just love that story, not thinking about days after that Abraham Lincoln's assassinated, two years after that military reconstruction begins, a decade after that Reconstruction finally comes to an end. Americans are most uncomfortable with the period of Reconstruction of anything else in our history, because it's not a story, it doesn't have any kind of shape to it, it just kind of explodes.”

Sharp: After the invasion of Iraq, Ayers was dismayed that in all the public debate over post-war reconstruction in 21st century Iraq, no one bothered to look at post-war reconstruction in the 19th century American South. After all, it involved many of the same elements: military occupation, democracy-building and economic development. But administration officials and pundits alike ignored it.

Conflicting News on Malawi's Maize

Something doesn't add up. Malawi is enjoying bumper maize crops according to James Morgan at the BBC. And yet the hunger season was already starting in northern and southwestern Malawi in August when I was there.

Global Health And Polymeme

Ethan Zuckerman has put me on to an intriguing news site called polymeme.com, which uses OpenCalais to "help you discover intelligent content that lies beyond the usual echo chambers of tech news, celebrity gossip or American politics."

Although there are other compound categories like "green and energy," there is still no category for global health. Just the tried-and-true-and ultimately not very informative "health" category.

As I've written before (here, here and here), the ways the traditional media and now the cybermedia define categories means that global health often falls between the cracks.

But maybe that just means there's an untapped opportunity for enterprising global healthalites. At any rate, Polymeme is intriguing enough that I'm going to check it out over the next few days.

Wall Street Down; Africa Up?

We'll see how long this trend lasts.

"For the first time, Africa's economic growth is sustaining an upward trend amid a global economic downturn induced by the financial crisis, high fuel and commodity prices and the immediate impact of measures against climate change." (The East African)

Nobel for AIDS Virus Discovery

Bob Gallo loses out to Luc Montagnier and Francoise Barre-Sinoussi in the Nobel sweepstakes. Harald zur Hausen shared the prize for his work linking human papilloma virus to cervical cancer.

Transparency in Global Health

Is this the start of a much-needed groundswell for greater transparency and accountability in global health? Data/ONE, UK Aid Network and others have launched a campaign calling on health, development and international aid organizations to Publish What You Fund.