Extreme poverty has been cut in half, and other good news
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This week, the Gates published their annual letter. Reading the letter was a bright note in an odd political week — it reminded me to be thankful for having ready access to clean water, nutritious food, and contraception.
Here are five stories that caught our attention this week:
Dear Warren: Our 2017 Annual Letter
By Bill and Melinda Gates in Gates Notes
This letter is worth reading in full, particularly because of its scribbled margin notes to Warren Buffet throughout. (Editor’s note: We are funded by the Gates Foundation, but remain editorially independent.)
“Optimism is a huge asset. We can always use more of it. But optimism isn’t a belief that things will automatically get better; it’s a conviction that we can make things better. We see this in you, Warren. Your success didn’t create your optimism; your optimism led to your success.”
The Mentally Ill Should Be Allowed to End Their Lives
By Kelly Burch in The Development Set
We love to talk about mental health as part of global health, partly in hopes of reducing the stigma around it. Here’s one complicated ethical question that plagues those who have been mentally ill for a long time: should they be allowed to commit assisted suicide?
A Short History Of Humans And Germs: Humans Get A Clue
By NPR
This simple animated video explains how English doctor Edward Jenner started using a “folk remedy” to help prevent smallpox. Definitely worth a watch.
Australia responds to the global gag rule
By Lisa Cornish in Devex
In response to the United States reinstating (and expanding) the Mexico City Policy, Australia announced US$7.3 million in funding for the International Planned Parenthood Foundation — speaking to the importance of an “aid program that supports women and girls.”
Stop Labeling Do-Gooders As White Saviors
By Leila Janah in The Development Set
Another controversial piece in The Development Set this week:
“I have spent much of the last 17 years living and working between the U.S., sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia, first as a volunteer and NGO worker and later as an entrepreneur. And in that time, I’ve met dozens of idealistic young people. By and large, they seem to be looking for meaning, which they may not be finding in the communities in which they were raised. These kids don’t go off to Africa because it seems more glamorous to help “Other People” than the “unexotic underclass” in their own backyards, as Courtney Martin wrote last year. They go to places where the need seems greatest, and where they might have the ability to help.”
