Mandela’s work is our own
On December 5th, the world lost not only a wise and inspiring leader, but a wonderful person in Nelson Mandela. Touching virtually all of our lives, he not only changed the course of world history, but...
View ArticleGod helps those who help themselves
I grew up in a religious family but I am not particularly religious. I believe that there is (are) some Supreme Being(s) above us, but I consider the religious narrative and beliefs of organized...
View ArticleLessons from an epidemic
Ebola’s natural reservoirs are animals, if only because human hosts die to too quickly. Outbreaks tend to occur in locations where changes in landscapes have brought animals and humans into closer...
View ArticleThe Ebola numbers
Last week, over at The Atlantic, Jacoba Urist wrote about a truism in journalism: deaths closer to home matter more. This sounds ugly but makes sense intuitively. We feel the death of a loved one in a...
View ArticleAfrica leaping off-grid
Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the least developed areas in the world. According to the World Bank, of the approximately 940 million people living in the region, roughly 600 million lack access to...
View ArticleLet’s stop killing 26,000 African women each year
January 21 is the anniversary of the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v Wade, striking down restrictive abortion laws across the US. At the time I was the Medical Director of the International...
View ArticleCecil is dead – now what?
The world has been outraged by the death of Cecil, a well-known radio-collared lion killed by a trophy hunter outside Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park. I know too well the pain of losing beloved study...
View ArticleCultivating the next generation of East African researchers
The demand for rigorous, robust data to inform African decision makers has never been higher. Earlier this month, the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) East Africa Social Science Translation...
View ArticleThe road not taken: How the migrant crisis in Europe could have been ameliorated
I was visiting my family in Kent in southeast England. I rounded a bend and there was a queue of cars and trucks. Obviously an accident. I bumped over the median, read my map, and found another route....
View ArticleWhat environmentalists get wrong about e-waste in West Africa
Beginning in 2009, Ghana’s computer import industry went almost instantly from totally invisible, to worldwide infamy. The work of two photojournalists — Pieter Hugo and Kevin McElvaney — played a key...
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