UNICEF has put out an analysis and interactive mapping tool ranking the wealthier countries on how they do when it comes to child well-being. The US is right down there in the bottom third of this report card, with Lithuania and Romania. Go Team America! (Below is just a screen grab. Go to link)
Washington DC - Sequestration hits the US federal budget on Friday. The Washington Post features a countdown to Friday on the front page each day. News reports and the talk around town radiates a certainty that the across the board budget cuts will go through on Friday.
That fact is not dissuading global health activists from warning of the harm caused by budget losses. A group of activists descended upon the US capital to meet with lawmakers and issue a congressional briefing on the setback to global health research that the cuts pose.
Among those pushing lawmakers to maintain the US’ leadership in the global fight against the diseases poverty is the Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC), which issued a report outlining the ways that the US can continue to be a global health research leader. The group is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and housed within Seattle-based PATH, an organization that specializes in finding technological solutions to health problems in poor countries. Continue reading
Tom Murphy at A View from the Cave adds his five myths about foreign aid to the Center for American Progress’ John Norris‘ five myths on same, as published earlier in the Washington Post.
Read Murphy’s blog post and Norris’ op-ed at the Washington Post for their rationales.
Here’s all ten, with Norris offering the first five and Murphy providing the second five:
AidWatch’s Bill Easterly today pointed out some interesting interactive maps that he says show pockets of the “Third World” in America. Here’s a screen grab of one map showing varying health indicators across the U.S. (darker is better on this map)
American Human Development Index
Health index
The actual interactive maps can be found, and explored, at the American Human Development Index site.
Easterly’s characterization of the data (not to mention using the somewhat dated and arguably imprecise phrase “Third World”) has, as usual, provoked some angry denunciations. You can read them on his comments page, which is always entertaining and often enlightening.
For those interested in visual data and the overall indicators of our health/well-being, take a closer look at the rest of the interactive maps provided by the American Human Development Project. They also map out data regarding political participation, environmental impact and other demographics.
