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COVID-19, infection control, and cholera

Disease, Threats

COVID-19, infection control, and cholera

While the focus of healthcare research and reporting has understandably been primarily on the COVID-19 pandemic in the last year, other diseases and conditions have presented a quietly growing threat; particularly in low-income and developing nations.

Dr Osama B Hassan, of the Division of Epidemiology and Public Health in the University of Nottingham’s School of Medicine, co-authored an article in The Lancet’s EClinical Medicine journal earlier this year titled ‘Cholera during COVID-19: the forgotten threat for forcibly displaced populations’; he tells HEQ about the impact of COVID-19 on efforts to combat ongoing threat of cholera.

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Article: Cold War 2.0 isn’t about nuclear weapons

Civil War, Threats

 Cold War 2.0 isn’t about nuclear weapons

THE so-called ‘Cold War 2.0’ brewing between the United States and China/Russia bears little resemblance to the post-World War II scenario. The present scenario is different in two fundamental ways: it does not have roots in two opposing ideologies of communism and capitalism, with one trying to overwhelm the other, and it is least about establishing military superiority in terms of achieving a permanent nuclear edge over the rival bloc.

The current phase of rivalry between the US and China/Russia is more about preserving US unilateral hegemony over economy, technology and global sphere of influence than about military’s offensive and defensive capabilities. The rise of China and Russia challenges the US more in terms of the latter’s unilateral domination in essentially non-military fields, although both economy and technology have military implications as well.

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Millions Spend Easter Weekend Under COVID-19 Lockdowns

Policies, Society

Millions Spend Easter Weekend Under COVID-19 Lockdowns

India’s health ministry said Sunday that it recorded 93,249 new COVID cases in the previous 24-hour period, the highest daily tally this year in the South Asian nation.

Only two other nations have more coronavirus infections than India’s 12.4 million cases, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The U.S has 30.6 million cases, while Brazil has 12.9 million. Millions of people worldwide are under new lockdown restrictions this Easter weekend thanks to coronavirus infections that have surged despite the continued rollout of vaccination campaigns.

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Extreme poverty isn’t natural, it’s created

Poverty, Threats

Extreme poverty isn’t natural, it’s created

Over the past few years, this graph has become a sensation.  Developed by Our World In Data and promoted widely by Bill Gates and Steven Pinker, the graph gives the impression that virtually all of humanity was in “extreme poverty” as of 1820 (i.e., living on less than $1.90 per day, PPP; less than is required for basic food).

OWID has used this figure to claim that extreme poverty was the natural or baseline condition of humanity, extending far back into the past: “in the thousands of years before the beginning of the industrial era, the vast majority of the world population lived in conditions that we would call extreme poverty today.”

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Report says more than 100 million children fail basic reading skills because of COVID-19

Education, Policies

Report says more than 100 million children fail basic reading skills because of COVID-19

A UNESCO statement said in 2020, instead of 460 million children experiencing reading difficulties, that number jumped to 584 million.

A new study, released on Friday by the UN cultural agency, has revealed that more than 100 million more children, than expected, are falling behind the minimum proficiency level in reading, due to COVID-related school closures.

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The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What It Means for All of Us

Demographic, India

The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What It Means for All of Us

A compelling look at the major changes in store as America faces increasing competition from two emerging Asian giants.

In the streets of India, camels pull carts loaded with construction materials, and monkeys race across roads, dodging cars. In China, men in Mao jackets pedal bicycles along newly built highways, past skyscrapers sprouting like bamboo. Yet exotic India is as near as the voice answering an 800 number for one dollar an hour. Communist China is as close as the nearest Wal-Mart, its shelves full of goods made in Chinese factories.

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Nuclear Proliferation: Risk and Responsibility (Report to the Trilateral Commission)

Proflieration, Threats

Nuclear Proliferation: Risk and Responsibility (Report to the Trilateral Commission)

There is no greater challenge to global peace today than the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the increasing likelihood that terrorists may acquire nuclear material. The papers presented in this report from the Trilateral Commission’s 2006 annual meeting in Tokyo offer a comprehensive and insightful overview of this urgent challenge.

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Understanding Civil War: Evidence and Analysis, Vol. 2–Europe, Central Asia, and Other Regions

Civil War, Threats

Understanding Civil War: Evidence and Analysis, Vol. 2–Europe, Central Asia, and Other Regions

The two volumes of ‘Understanding Civil War’ build upon the World Bank’s prior research on conflict and violence, particularly on the work of Paul Collier and Anke Hoeffler, whose model of civil war onset has sparked much discussion on the relationship between conflict and development in what came to be known as the ‘greed’ versus ‘grievance’ debate.

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Trafficking and Prostitution Reconsidered: New Perspectives on Migration, Sex Work, and Human Rights

Threats, Transnational Crime

Trafficking and Prostitution Reconsidered: New Perspectives on Migration, Sex Work, and Human Rights

Trafficking and prostitution are widely believed to be synonymous, and to be leading international crimes. This collection argues against such sensationalism and advances carefully considered and grounded alternatives for understanding transnational migrations, forced labor, sex work, and livelihood strategies under new forms of globalization.

From their long-term engagements as anti-trafficking advocates, the authors unpack the contemporary international debate on trafficking. They maintain that rather than a new ‘white slave trade,’ we are witnessing today, more broadly, an increase in the violation of the rights of freedom of movement, decent employment, and social and economic security.

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The Art of War

State War, Threats

The Art of War

Conflict is an inevitable part of life, according to this ancient Chinese classic of strategy, but everything necessary to deal with conflict wisely, honorably, victoriously, is already present within us.

Compiled more than two thousand years ago by a mysterious warrior-philosopher, The Art of War is still perhaps the most prestigious and influential book of strategy in the world, as eagerly studied in Asia by modern politicians and executives as it has been by military leaders since ancient times.

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