Today on my blog, I discuss how mobile money stands to reduce poverty by making financial services more inclusive and accessible–as well as the obstacles to fulfilling this possibility. As I write: Read more »

CFR Senior Fellow Laurie Garrett offers her perspective on this week’s International AIDS Conference and the fight against AIDS in a CFR.org interview and on her blog. She analyzes the state of efforts to combat the epidemic and the question of whether “the end of AIDS is attainable.” As she says on the blog: Read more »

This is the third Question of the Week post about Chinese involvement in Africa. Last week, we focused on the debate of whether Africa or China itself benefits more from Chinese aid. The week before that, we discussed the challenges of measuring China’s aid to Africa and the country’s South-South aid philosophy. This week, we look at the benefits and drawbacks of Chinese health aid to Africa.  

Read more »

Emerging Voices features regular contributions from scholars and practitioners highlighting new research, thinking, and approaches to development challenges. This article is from Stefanos Zenios, who is the Charles A. Holloway Professor of Operations, Information, and Technology and Professor of Health Care Management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Lyn Denend, Director of the Program in Healthcare Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. They discuss two attempts to bring cost-effective health technologies to developing countries and the role of diverse stakeholders in facilitating—or hindering—their implementation.

Read more »

This week on my blog, I featured a two-part series on mobile technology in the developing world. On Tuesday, I wrote about how mobile phones are enabling people in the developing world to access banking services and obtain life insurance. On Thursday, I discussed how mobile technology helps NGOs extend resources and aid to those in need—and how it helps evaluate the impact of these projects. As I write in Tuesday’s post: Read more »

In a post yesterday on his blog, CFR Senior Fellow John Campbell wrote about South Africa’s history of combating HIV/AIDS. He focuses on Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who was just appointed chairperson of the African Union Commission after serving as South Africa’s health and then foreign minister under administrations that took questionable approaches to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. As Campbell writes:

Read more »

Over the past decade a new conventional wisdom has emerged that security and development are mutually reinforcing, and that long-term security is not possible without reducing poverty and promoting economic development.  This implies that economic development in unstable regions that pose potential threats to U.S. security should be a key pillar of U.S. foreign policy, a viewpoint embraced by top officials in the Obama Administration. Read more »

Is Chinese aid and investment a positive force for development in Africa?

This is the second Question of the Week post about Chinese involvement in Africa. Last week, we focused on China’s South-South philosophy and issues involved in measuring its aid and investment. This week, we examine the contentious debate on whether China’s aid benefits Africa and its people—or simply China itself.

Read more »

Last week on my blog, Democracy in Development, I discussed how two major financial players, Visa and Citi, are becoming involved with mobile banking in developing countries. Their participation could play a crucial role in extending financial services to the world’s “unbanked” population. As I conclude: Read more »

In a recent post on her blog, Laurie Garrett, CFR senior fellow for global health, discussed historical and ongoing changes in the U.S. government’s global health bureaucracy, focusing on the impending closure of the State Department’s Global Health Initiative office. As Garrett writes: Read more »