Global Health

HELENA, Mont. — An investigative report has concluded that "Three Cups of Tea" author Greg Mortenson mismanaged the charity he co-founded to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Montana Attorney General's office report released Thursday found Mortenson spent Central Asia Institute money on personal items, family vacations and charter flights.

By Lisa Stiffler, Humanosphere correspondent

Many Americans just don’t get it – Global health is a domestic issue.

That was the main message last night at Seattle’s Broadway Performance Hall from Dr. Nils Daulaire, director of the Office of Global Affairs for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

At the “Diseases without Borders” forum Daulaire said that the question he’s most frequently asked is this: “Why does (Health and Human Services), a domestic institution, even have an Office of Global Affairs?”

Read more on Humanosphere.

Guest post by Kentaro Toyama

For a couple of weeks, Kony 2012 stole the spotlight in international development. It dominated conversation, with some applauding its success as an awareness-raising campaign (e.g., Nicholas Kristof); some criticizing it for its oversimplified, condescending, self-gratifying portrayal of the issues (e.g., Teju Cole); and many grumbling along the lines of, “Who are these punks who managed to get so much attention and funding?”

These are all important questions, but they miss the real issue that Kony 2012 raises — namely, how we as a society prioritize important issues in the age of Internet social media.

Read more on Humanosphere.

The film company Lionsgate, which produced the blockbuster movie based on books about a post-apocalyptic, oppressive and divided America where the poor are starving, abused and also enlisted for gladiator-like sport, threatened to sue Oxfam for riffing off the popular movie to launch its campaign “Hunger is Not a Game.”

Read more on Humanosphere.

By Lisa Stiffler, Humanosphere correspondent

Can Dean Chahim save the world?

Not alone, he can’t. But if he can inspire and educate enough people in “critical consciousness” – an awareness of the policies and practices that create injustices and an understanding of how we can change them for the better – that might just do it.

Read more on Humanosphere.

By Claudia Rowe, Humanosphere correspondent

In a lesson showing just how far one unlikely idea can travel, 18 upper affluent kids from suburban Seattle are this weekend en route to Cambodia, where they will teach science, art and English to some of the poorest children on Earth.

Foreign aid is a messy business, often stymied by inefficiency and corruption. But students from the Overlake School in Redmond wave off such concerns – not to mention parental worries about residual landmines and mandatory inoculations.

They believe their two-week trip to the village of Pailin will benefit them as much as their young pupils.

Read more on Humanosphere.

As an example of how cancer is no longer viewed solely as a health care issue of the rich world, a physician from Seattle plans to launch a pilot project studying the use of portable ultrasound for breast cancer diagnosis in Uganda.

Dr. Constance Lehman, a radiologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, wants to see if using the device in selected communities can improve detection and treatment success rates of this common cancer and killer.

Read more on Humanosphere.

Steve Davis has been selected by PATH’s board to take the position of president and CEO.

In one sense, Davis' new job leading PATH represents a return to where he started — as a refugee settlement coordinator on the Thai-Laos border in the 1980s and later, as a young attorney, working on human rights issues in China, for gay and lesbian rights here in the U.S. and as a passionate advocate for the disenfranchised in general.

Read more on Humanosphere.

“Changemakers” is a new series on Humanosphere exploring how young people, connected and globally aware, are working to change the world.

By Lisa Stiffler, special correspondent

Katie Leach-Kemon arrived in Niger as a newly minted college grad, eager to help in her role as a community health agent with the Peace Corps. She teamed up with health workers who were identifying acutely malnourished children, and then assisting their mothers to better feed their kids. It was culturally sensitive stuff.

“I was straight out of college,” she said, “and I had a lot to learn.”

Read more on Humanosphere.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – The 85-cent ATM fee that JPMorgan Chase charges Washington welfare clients could soon be a thing of the past. The state hopes to have a deal by the end of the month with JPMorgan on a new, lower cost contract for electronic benefits.

We first reported on the 85-cent fee because JPMorgan Chase wasn’t disclosing it at ATM machines. Now the fee is disclosed. But critics say it amounts to a tax on the poor.

By Lisa Stiffler, special correspondent

Global health and development is by definition bound to be overpowering. So Noah Derman has a strategy for not feeling crushed by the enormous scope of the field’s challenges – he mentally breaks them into smaller chunks.

“If you look at smaller battles that you win,” said Derman, “you won’t get so overwhelmed.”

For Derman, development director for Development in Gardening, or DIG, those battles are won one vegetable patch at a time.

Read more on Humanosphere.