The past month saw some grim news about COVID-19: alongside the thousands who have died, the pandemic could also push an additional 130 million people into extreme poverty by 2030, and a new report warns of the disproportionate impact on young people and women.
But there are also successes and examples of effective responses worth recognizing. Here are six stories you may have missed this month in the world of global development.
Celebrating leadership and success in Africa
Why are Africa’s coronavirus...
HIV/AIDS
There isn’t a place in the world yet to be touched by the COVID-19 pandemic. While the global health community works together to find a vaccine, we’re reminded of just how integral routine immunisations are to transforming the health of people and communities everywhere.
Right now, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is calling on world leaders and donors to help it continue its lifesaving work protecting communities from deadly diseases, like measles and polio, and fight the spread of COVID-19. When...
The 2020 Gates Letter, marking the 20th anniversary of the Gates Foundation, dropped this week. Each year, the Gates annual letter makes an argument for what, why, and how we should invest to make the most meaningful impact on the world. It paints a portrait of where the world has been, where it currently is, and where it can go with the right action.
This year, the letter takes on the theme of “swinging for the fences,” which is advice...
The fights against gender inequality and preventable diseases are often considered two separate fights. But these two issues are closely connected, affecting each other in crucial ways. The goals of achieving gender equality and universal access to health services rely on each other.
Dr. Joannie Marlene Bewa is a world-renowned doctor and activist from Benin. She is also a public health researcher at the University of South Florida College of Public Health, focused on adolescents and youth sexual and reproductive...
Twenty years ago, HIV was sweeping the globe largely unchecked and a diagnosis was usually a death sentence.
We’ve come a long way in the fight to end AIDS since then. New HIV infections are down by more than 40% since their peak in 1997. Between this year’s historic Global Fund replenishment and vital medical and technological progress, we can now envision a world without AIDS — something that would have been unthinkable a few years ago.
But the work isn’t...
The word “scary” likely brings to mind creepy creatures, spooky specters, masked murderers, or any number of iconic horror images. But “global development” likely isn’t the first scary thing that enters your mind.
While it won’t be the topic of the next big horror movie, some of the challenges facing development can be truly horrifying. From extreme poverty, to gender equality, to corruption, these issues affect millions of people worldwide. Even the most vicious, havoc-wreaking creature of the night wouldn’t...
In this series, we’re profiling real-life superheroes who are fighting to end preventable diseases. Each one has an alter-ego from our quiz, “Which Lifesaving Superhero Are You?” Take the quiz to find out which hero you are.
Meet Martha Clara Nakato, AKA Wonder Njeri! When faced with stigma and discrimination, she fights back to make sure everyone has the acceptance and care they need.
Martha Clara Nakato is an HIV/AIDS advocate and volunteer for Uganda Network of Young People Living...
We’ve been telling you about the power of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria all year. Recently, the Global Fund released a new report outlining the progress it has helped make in the fight to end AIDS, TB and malaria around the world.
Since 2002, countries where the Global Fund invests have seen:
AIDS-related deaths drop by 56%.
TB deaths drop by 22%.
malaria deaths drop by 46%.
And in 2018, countries where the Global Fund invests have...
Before she was diagnosed with HIV, Morolake Odetoyinbo, or Rolake, was living the life she’d always dreamed of. She had graduated from performing arts school, gotten married, and was running her own small bakery in northern Nigeria, where she lived with her husband on a military base. Then her husband tested positive for HIV, and five months later Rolake, 28, received the same diagnosis. Her doctor gave her between 5-12 years to live.
“At the time I was just a...
Sibulele Sibaca lost both her parents to AIDS when she was 16 years old, causing her and her brother to became a child-headed household. They felt alone, but in a sense they were not: they joined nearly 8.3 million other children who had lost a parent to AIDS across sub-Saharan Africa.
This sense of national togetherness—and their secure and loving childhood, despite the presence of HIV in their family home—would later inspire Sibulele’s work as a South African HIV/AIDS campaigner...