MEDIA Schiff

ABC News:”The George W. Bush Presidential Library...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:59:07 -0400

ABC News:”The George W. Bush Presidential Library dedication brought together five living presidents who have been at odds about much of the 43^rd president’s foreign policy legacy, particularly the Iraq war. But they all agreed on, and offered effusive praise for, Bush’s work on Africa.”

doctorswithoutborders: Test Me, Treat Me: A Drug-Resistant TB...

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 18:35:14 -0400

doctorswithoutborders:

Test Me, Treat Me: A Drug-Resistant TB Manifesto

We, the people infected with drug-resistant TB (DR-TB), live in every part of the world. Most of us were exposed and became infected with DR-TB because of the poor conditions in which we live. Undiagnosed, this disease spreads among us. Untreated, this disease kills. But in the countries in which we live, fast and accurate diagnosis is rarely available, and only about one in five of us actually get effective DR-TB treatment.

Those of us “lucky” enough to receive treatment have to go through an excruciating two-year journey where we must swallow up to 20 pills a day and receive a painful injection every day for the first 8 months, making it hard to sit or even lie down. For many of us, the treatment makes us feel sicker than the disease itself, as it causes nausea, body aches, and rashes. The drugs make many of us go deaf permanently, and some of us develop psychosis.

While Haiti attracted a lot of media attention in 2010 after a...

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 12:44:31 -0400

While Haiti attracted a lot of media attention in 2010 after a massive earthquake devastated the country, most journalists left in the days and weeks following the immediate destruction.

About two years later — when few outlets had much interest in Haiti — Tate Watkins (@tatewatkins) arrived in the country determined to uncover interesting stories about U.S. aid to Haiti and home-grown technology and innovation.

"The one thing I’m proud of is the Nigerian family. No matter how old you are or how far you..."

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 12:02:25 -0400

“The one thing I’m proud of is the Nigerian family. No matter how old you are or how far you go, your family’s got your back. You can always find your way home. When I was much younger my dad or my friend’s dad used to sit us around their feet and tell us folk tales. We also used to sit under the moonlight and just dream. Of course that kind of thing is rare now, what with X-box and PS3 and Facebook and Twitter, but the memories are still with me.”

- from a Reddit IAMA with a self-identified 25 year old Nigerian doctor

Why Tuberculosis is Having the Worst Week Ever

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 15:19:13 -0500

For an often neglected topic, there’s been lots of news about TB lately. And it’s not the good kind.

Today in the New York Times, the American Enterprise Institute scholar Roger Bate highlighted the pervasiveness of fake TB drugs. Bate references findings from a new study published in the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. The Washington Post got in on the story too.

The Lancet also published a TB study this week showing that an experimental vaccine did not offer more protection than the current TB vaccine used on babies. Just a few of the headlines on this:

So yeah, not a very good week to be in the TB control business.

theglobalconversation: At the World Economic Forum yesterday...

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 00:39:13 -0500

theglobalconversation:

At the World Economic Forum yesterday in Davos:Mark Suzman, Managing Director for International Policy and Programs, outlines the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s approach to transparency in response to a question from Austin, Texas:

In the new age of our world and its increased desire for transparency is full online transparency needed?

- Ruben Cantu

nprglobalhealth: Where will the next big disease outbreak...

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 18:24:24 -0500

nprglobalhealth:

Where will the next big disease outbreak occur?

Most pandemics — SARS, HIV and swine flu — originated in animals, like bats, monkeys and pigs. This map, from The Lancet’s recent series on zoonotic diseases, shows the world’s hotspots for emerging infectious diseases.

Regions with high densities of people, wildlife diversity and developmental changes are where viruses are most likely to jump from animals to people.

Map from Morse et al. (2012).

Ooh, my new global affairs podcast is on iTunes.

Sat, 08 Sep 2012 15:26:00 -0400

Ooh, my new global affairs podcast is on iTunes.

publicradiointernational: Bill Gates’ charitable organization,...

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 07:30:00 -0400

publicradiointernational:

Bill Gates’ charitable organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is investing $370 million in the development of toilets that can improve sanitation around the world.

Gates attended the Reinvent the Toilet fair in Seattle, where he looked at designs that included a toilet that used microwave energy to turn poo into electricity, another that turned excrement into charcoal, and a third that used urine for flushing.

A total of 28 designs were shown off at the fair. A $100,000 prize was awarded to a team from the California Institute of Technology. Their design: A solar-powered toilet that generated hydrogen gas and electricity. More.

(Photo: Bill Gates with a researcher from the University of Toronto at the Reinvent the Toilet Fair in Seattle on August 14, 2012. By the Gates Foundation/Flickr.)

Uganda’s national #Ebola isolation centre. No wonder our...

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 15:37:19 -0400

Uganda’s national #Ebola isolation centre. No wonder our president wished us luck twitpic.com/adttrv
— Grace Natabaalo (@Natabaalo) July 31, 2012

TED Speakers Discuss Future of Africa on NPR Show

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 19:13:00 -0400

I’ve been catching up on episodes of NPR’s fantastic TED Radio Hour show, which includes snippets of TED talks along with interviews and insights from the speakers and other guests.

The most recent episode features thinkers who have given talks under TED’s theme, “Africa: The Next Chapter.” In three segments, host Alison Stewart probes some brilliant African thinkers on their views.

You’ll dig this. Listen to it.

What changes to the Obama administration's Global Health Initiative mean

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 10:45:29 -0400

What changes to the Obama administration's Global Health Initiative mean:

My Storify was picked up by GlobalPost.

Azango writes about the emotional toll of her hard-hitting story...

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 15:34:19 -0400

Azango writes about the emotional toll of her hard-hitting story and the challenge of protecting her 9 year old daughter after the piece was published.

Romney’s foreign policy plan is called “An American...

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 20:25:00 -0400

Romney’s foreign policy plan is called “An American Century.” It’s certainly an evocative phrase, but its placement on his campaign website is a little unfortunate. Africa: An American Century. China & East Asia: An American Century. Are we getting ready to invade?

Why a School of Tropical Medicine is Opening in the USA

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 09:50:33 -0400

Why a School of Tropical Medicine is Opening in the USA:

My latest for UN Dispatch highlights the launch of the Houston-based National School of Tropical Medicine’s first diploma course:

It’s a significant development because until now, the U.S. really hasn’t had a whole school devoted to understanding these kinds of medical issues (though some institutions do offer coursework on the topic). For the most part, doctors and public health professionals had to head to Europe to develop medical expertise in this area.

But perhaps the bigger issue has to do with physician training in this country. Hotez pioneered research, which found that thousands of people in the U.S. — and not only immigrants — suffer from these conditions. Often neglected tropical diseases affect the poorest members of society. But doctors aren’t trained to detect or treat these diseases. Patients either go undiagnosed or receive incorrect treatment.

Foreign Policy's Male-Heavy Twitterati List

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 07:12:00 -0400

Foreign Policy released its annual Twitterati list yesterday.

Many people have noticed the very low number of women on the list. By my count, there are 14. Here are the women who appeared on this year’s list:

Eman Al Nafjan (@Saudiwoman)

Liz Sly (@LizSly)

Lydia Polgreen (@lpolgreen)

Jean Lee (@newsjean)

C. Christine Fair (@CChristineFair)

Hiroko Tabuchi (@HirokoTabuchi)

Anne-Marie Slaughter (@SlaughterAM)

Rebecca MacKinnon (@rmack) -

Christina Larson (@larsonchristina)

P.J. Aroon (@pjaroonFP)

Susan Rice (@AmbassadorRice)

Megan Greene (@economistmeg)

Matina Stevis (@MatinaStevis)

Golnaz Esfandiari (@GEsfandiari)

Now a group of tweeps are crowdsourcing a list with the missing women.

UPDATE 7:29AM EST: @aliisiningo identified another women on FP’s list — @techsoc. So make that 15.

The Pakistani Afridi Who Wasn't Involved in the CIA Bin Laden Hunt

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 08:47:00 -0400

The Pakistani Afridi Who Wasn't Involved in the CIA Bin Laden Hunt:

Their last names are the same and their first names are similar. Their work both has a polio connection. Don’t let those similarities confuse you.

pubhealth: Promotional video from the Cluj School of Public...

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 08:34:00 -0400

pubhealth:

Promotional video from the Cluj School of Public Health (Cluj-Napoca, Romania)

Harvard's Nieman Foundation Dims its Global Health Light

Thu, 24 May 2012 07:41:00 -0400

When Harvard University’s Nieman Foundation for Journalism released the names of the 24 fellows for the 2012-2013 academic year with nary a mention of its Global Health Reporting Fellowship, one was left to wonder whether the program had been cut all together.

Thankfully — for those who appreciate thorough reporting on global health issues — this is not the case.

Stefanie Friedhoff, special projects manager at the Nieman Foundation, says Harvard has no plans to end the fellowship.

But this will be the first time since the Global Health Reporting Fellowship started in 2007 that Nieman will not host a single fellow in global health.

In 2010, the global health program — which traditionally selects at least one U.S.-based journalist and one non-U.S. journalist — did not include a U.S. participant.

“This happens every once in awhile with some of the specialized fellowships. It has to do with the applicant pool in any given year, and how it all shakes out,” according to Friedhoff.

Although there is no global health fellow this coming year, Friedhoff points out that health and science journalist Jeneen Interlandi was selected to study the history of pharmaceuticals. Another fellowship winner, Jane Spencer, international editor at large for Newsweek and The Daily Beast, will examine how to improve news coverage of global women’s issues — but the focus will be on using new technologies for digital storytelling rather than field reporting.

The current class has two global health fellows: Samuel Loewenberg, a freelance journalist who specializes in global health, and Rema Nagarajan, an assistant editor at The Times of India.

It’s also worth noting that this is the first class of fellows to be selected under the oversight of Ann Marie Lipinski, a former Chicago Tribune editor, who became the foundation’s curator in April 2011.

Is this the start of a shift in priorities at Nieman under Lipinski’s leadership? Only time will tell of course, but the selection committee did interview Global Health Reporting Fellowship candidates and had adequate funding for the year.

It just decided not to award any fellowships this year.

"It’s just like the Olympics, only easier to get."

Thu, 17 May 2012 10:37:11 -0400

““It’s just like the Olympics, only easier to get.””

- - Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on the NATO and G8 summits.

Too bad that didn’t work out quite as planned.