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Cholera Vaccination in Haiti

The cholera epidemic in Haiti will be a year old in October and is far from under control. As cases spiked across the country during the summer rainy season, the ranks of cholera relief workers grew thin. Too few patients reach healthcare facilities with enough time to be sure that treatment—simple rehydration in most cases—can restore them to health. Access to clean water and to modern sanitation is dwindling. We must redouble existing efforts at cholera prevention and care—case-finding and treatment, water and sanitation projects, education and surveillance—while simultaneously integrating vaccination into the ongoing response. Even prior to this epidemic it was clear that waterborne pathogens posed great risks to communities across the country, including those not affected directly by the January 2010 earthquake. All steps to protect Haiti’s vulnerable population needed, and still need, to be taken.

By Alan R. Hinman, Fernet Léandre, Jean-William Pape, Jonathan L. Weigel, Louise C. Ivers, Mark L. Rosenberg, Paul Farmer  |  December 25, 2011  |  2
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The Impact of Change

AIDS has now been with us for a quarter of a century, and there are people still alive who were among the first people to be diagnosed with HIV after the retrovirus was discovered and named in 1983. Think back to the world of that time: Ronald Reagan was President of the United States, and still locked in what seemed to be a permanent state of hostility with the USSR, whose collapse at the end of the decade was almost entirely unexpected. The greatest economic challenge to the United States was thought then to be Japan, and very few people anticipated the rapid rise of China.

By Dennis Altman  |  December 25, 2011
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Instruments of Peace

As the hunt for Osama bin Laden began to focus on the now infamous compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, the CIA desperately sought confirmation that he was there. The agency came up with an idea: hire a local doctor to conduct a fake vaccination campaign, which it hoped could lead to obtaining blood samples from bin Laden’s grandchildren that could be analyzed for a DNA match to bin Laden. One could dismiss the campaign as just another imaginative tactic used by the CIA in the search; the fact that it involved a population health ruse could be of no more significance than had the CIA hired agents to sell lottery tickets door to door in the neighborhood.

By Leonard Rubenstein  |  December 24, 2011
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A Mixed Legacy

STANLEY WOLPERT is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research and published works focus on the sociopolitical and intellectual history of modern India, Pakistan, and South Asia.

By Stanley Wolpert  |  March 7, 2011  |  1
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India’s Catastrophic Landscape

JESSICA SEDDON was Director of the Center for Development Finance at the Institute for Financial Management and Research in Chennai, India. She is currently a Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and senior advisor to the Indian Institute for Human Settlements.

Geologists have an evocative term for majestic landscapes prone to tectonic shifts: catastrophic landscapes. India is in many ways similar: the economy is reaching new heights, but the forces playing out not so far beneath the surface have the potential to suddenly alter the terrain.

By Jessica Seddon  |  March 7, 2011  |  14
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The Global Professional

Arvind Panagariya is Professor of Economics and Jagdish Bhagwati Professor of Indian Political Economy at Columbia University.  He recently published his latest book, India: The Emerging Giant, with Oxford University Press.

By Arvind Panagariya  |  March 6, 2011
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Democracy's Resilience

Subrata K. Mitra serves as Professor of Political Science of South Asia at the University of Heidelberg. His research and published works focus on democratization in South Asia, identity and religion in Indian politics, and the evolution of Indian political parties.

By Subrata K. Mitra  |  March 6, 2011
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Summer of Discontent

Amitabh Mattoo is a leading scholar serving as Professor of International Politics at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, in New Delhi. Souresh Roy serves as a Research Scholar at the school.

By Amitabh Mattoo, Souresh Roy  |  March 6, 2011  |  10
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Freedom of Press in Zimbabwe

Andrew Meldrum worked in Zimbabwe for 23 years, from 1980 to 2003 until state agents illegally threw him out of the country. He was a freelance journalist who wrote primarily for The Guardian and The Economist. 

Printing presses destroyed by massive bombs. Five newspapers outlawed and closed down. Scores of journalists jailed on spurious charges. Editors, reporters, photographers and videographers beaten, tortured and murdered. Laws that give the state a monopoly on all radio and television broadcasting. Monitoring of personal email use.

By Andrew Meldrum  |  December 23, 2010
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Giving Persecuted Journalists A Voice

Jean-Francois Julliard is the secretary general of Reporters Without Borders. He joined RWB in 1998, overseeing the Asia and Africa desk operations , before becoming the organization’s head researcher. Julliard is a regular contributor for the French weekly Le Nouvel Observateur and has published opinion pieces about press freedom in several major American and European newspapers.

Difficulties for journalist amidst a peak in violence

 

By Jean-Francois Julliard  |  December 23, 2010
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