Council of Councils
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Introduction
Over the last several decades, governments have collectively pledged to slow global warming. But despite intensified diplomacy, the world is already facing the consequences of climate…
Health
Infectious Diseases
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Distrust at Core of Ebola Crisis in Eastern CongoThe Ebola vaccine is proving highly effective, but distrust of health workers, skepticism of the disease’s existence or provenance, and attacks on medical facilities are stymying progress. Popular…
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The Simple Solution That Saved Fifty-Four Million LivesIn 1968, two recent U.S. medical school graduates working in Dhaka, Bangladesh, developed oral rehydration solution—a mixture of water, sugar, and salt—that the British medical journal the Lancet has hailed “potentially the most important medical advance of the twentieth century.” These two doctors, Richard Cash, senior lecturer in the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and David Nalin, professor emeritus at the Center for Immunology and Microbial Diseases at Albany Medical College, discussed the fifty-year legacy of their invention and the lessons that legacy offers to the health challenges emerging in lower income nations today.
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More Support Needed for Recovery Efforts for Cyclone Idai in Southeastern AfricaCyclone Idai devastated parts of Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe this month and dissipated last week. Recovery in the affected countries is starting, but there is still a long way to go. The death t…
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Ebola in DRC Spreads to Urban Areas Amid ConflictA case of Ebola, the deadly hemorrhagic fever with terrifying symptoms, has been found in the second-largest city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The city, Bunia, has a population of a…
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Measles and the Threat of the Anti-vaccination MovementMeasles cases have spiked as a growing number of anti-vaxxers, opting out of immunizations for their kids, threaten decades of progress toward eliminating the disease.
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Plagues and the Paradox of ProgressFor the first time in recorded history, bacteria, viruses, and other plagues and pestilence do not cause the majority of deaths or disabilities in any region of the world. Curbing infectious diseases has extended lives and prevented child deaths in poor societies, but also brought new and unexpected challenges—like rising youth unemployment, overcrowded and underbuilt cities, and surging rates of premature chronic diseases—that many nations are unprepared to handle. In Plagues and the Paradox of Progress, Thomas J. Bollyky traces the rise and fall of infectious disease in human history and the challenges and opportunities that unprecedented health achievements pose for our future.
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The Future of Global Health Is Urban HealthHealth and infectious diseases have shaped the history of urbanization, but it is cities that will define the future of global health.
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Brexit Deal Shakes Up May's Cabinet, and APEC Summit Overshadowed by Trade WarA Brexit deal triggers a political crisis in Britan, trade wars loom large as the APEC Summit gets underway, and an Ebola outbreak in Congo threatens to spread. Ted Alden sits in for Bob McMahon.
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Plagues and the Paradox of Progress
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Global health expert Thomas J. Bollyky explores the paradox in our fight against infectious disease: the world is getting healthier in ways that should make us worry. -
To End the HIV Epidemic, Focus on Sexual Violence PreventionVoices from the Field features contributions from scholars and practitioners highlighting new research, thinking, and approaches to development challenges. This piece is authored by Gary M. Cohen and Dr. Daniela Ligiero.
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PEPFAR’s Impact on Global Health Is FadingDuring its fifteen years, PEPFAR has become one of the most important global health initiatives ever launched. However, its influence is fading, threatening the global fight against HIV/AIDS as the struggle against the pandemic faces a turning point.
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Pandemic Preparedness: Lessons Learned 100 Years After the Spanish Flu OutbreakPanelists discuss the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic as we near its centennial and how this historic outbreak informs our responses to global health emergencies today.
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Ending Polio in Nigeria Once and for AllToyin Saraki is the founder and president of Africa’s premier maternal and children’s health charity, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, and a long-standing advocate for universal immunization in her n…
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The Quest to Save 100 Million Lives (and Prevent Pandemics)It is not an obvious moment for a new global health initiative, let alone one that focuses on cardiovascular disease. Rising populism and nationalism in wealthy nations is undermining support for the…
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A Change of Guard at the WHOWith the United States likely to pull back on global health funding, the World Health Organization, under its new director-general, will need to undertake serious structural and administrative changes.
