Writing and Content Creation Posts
Food Safety in Africa’s ‘Wet’ Markets
If you’ve been to any part of sub-Saharan Africa, you know that the large majority of food consumed (about 85 to 95 percent) passes through informal channels: vegetable, milk and meat stalls and outdoor markets cater to customers across urban centers and rural landscapes alike. And while the food sold there is often safe, sometimes it’s not. And when it’s not, people get sick. Some people die.
The State of Rights and Resources
In 2014, we saw a number of studies showing that when Indigenous Peoples and local communities have control of their land and the natural resources the land contains, they do the best job of keeping those resources—including tropical forests and fresh water supplies, for example—intact. But often times, governments claim control of the land and the disposition of its resources.
When the White House Calls…
Last week, President Obama announced the launch of UpSkill America—a coalition of business, education, and workforce training organizations leading a movement to expand economic opportunity for American workers. As the economy continues to improve, many employers are struggling to find skilled workers to fill the jobs they have available.
Ebola Insights
The 63rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH, a Burness Client), featured informative, gripping, tragic, and inspirational testimony from people working on the front lines of the Ebola epidemic and now racing to develop, test, and approve life-saving drugs and vaccines.
“Viral” Op-Eds
Duke University has more than great basketball. It has the nation’s best op-ed writer I’ve ever known. David Jarmul, associate vice president for news and communications at Duke University, is the developer of what I’d call “viral op-eds,”—op-eds that are … Continue reading “Viral” Op-Eds
Conversations in Development: A World Free of Malaria
While deaths from malaria have dropped by more than 25% globally since 2000, new tools are needed to fight emerging drug and insecticide resistance and ensure goals of elimination and eradication can be met.
Looking in Switzerland for the Answers to Financial Risk in Economic Development
When you look at mining, logging, and large-scale agriculture in the developing world, an unfortunate set of numbers leap out. Because these industries need land that is mostly inhabited, contested ownership of rural, forest, and dryland areas directly affects the livelihoods of more than two billion people.
How Healthy Is Northern Virginia?
A new report from the Northern Virginia Health Foundation (a Burness client) tells us that residents of Northern Virginia may not be as healthy as you think.
Dialing Back on the Drivers of Global Disease Outbreaks: A Look Inside the ‘Black Box’
These ‘causes of causes‘ of zoonotic disease outbreaks and their spread are pinpointed in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Scientists argue in this paper that we’ll only become capable of preventing or stopping the next pandemic when we better understand the drivers of disease emergence.
Changing the Way Doctors Are Paid
According to a report from the National Commission on Physician Payment Reform, a Burness client, changing the way doctors get paid is the first step to fixing our health care system. The report details 12 sweeping recommendations aimed at reining in health spending and improving quality of care.
