What We’re Reading 8/31/09

Aug 31st, 2009 11:18 AM UTC
By Chandler Smith

TIME: Next Step for Microfinance: Taking Deposits
Some 30 years ago, the field of microfinance was born from a radical concept: poor people, when lent small amounts of money, will pay it back in a timely manner. Now another radical concept is starting to take hold: that the thing people really need, more than business loans, is a safe place to save their money. A number of traditional microfinance institutions, many of which have evolved into formal banks, are also assigning renewed importance to gathering deposits.

Wall Street Journal: Steinbrueck Says G-20 Should Seek Coordinated Stimulus
German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck wants the Group of 20 leading industrialized and developing countries to discuss a fair distribution of burdens that have arisen from the financial crisis, and he called for internationally coordinated exit strategies from fiscal stimulus measures that have pushed up deficits.

New York Times: The Latest Fight Over the Foreskin
American health officials said last week that they have been mulling over whether they should offer circumcision as a voluntary option for infants and even adult men who are at risk for HIV. Though they have yet to issue any formal recommendations, controversy is already brewing. On one side are public health experts who argue the benefits of what they call an inexpensive and relatively risk-free operation, and say they have the backing of the World Health Organization. On the other side are critics with deep moral and fundamental objections to operating on a baby. The debate is laden with cultural, religious and historic overtones and wrapped up in issues of identity and sexuality.

The Independent: Millions facing famine in Ethiopia as rains fail
Famine has returned to the Horn of Africa nearly a quarter of a century after the world’s pop stars gathered to banish it at Live Aid, raising £150m for relief efforts in 1985. Millions of impoverished Ethiopians face the threat of malnutrition and possibly starvation this winter in what is shaping up to be the country’s worst food crisis for decades.

New York Times: Editorial: Hope in South Africa
For years, South Africa was an international laughing stock for its tragically absurd approach to the deadly AIDS epidemic. Now, that national nightmare may be ending. According to the Times, the new government of President Jacob Zuma seems to have a clearer-eyed view of the problem, its remedies and the need to improve the overall health care system than its predecessor did.

-Chandler Smith

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