Sometimes ‘connecting the dots’ between different ideas in the development discourse can be a challenge. But as Hans Rosling has highlighted through his famous Gapminder presentations at TED, a picture is really worth a thousand blog posts when it can be used to draw connections and emphasize trends that may not otherwise become apparent.
This is a joint post with Rachel Nugent.
A new report from the US Census Bureau offers the surprising fact that in the next 30 years, the human population over 65 will double. In ten years, there will be more over-65s than under-fives. Old news, you say? Yes, in Italy, Japan, and Russia this is old news. In developing countries, it is new – and somewhat alarming. In 2008, 62 percent of all those aged 65 and over (313 million people) lived in the developing countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Oceania. The elderly population in developing countries is growing twice as fast as in developed countries (on a not very small base in India and China, as it turns out. Those two countries account for 1/3 of the world’s aged population and 37% of the total global population.)
On April 3rd, The Committee of Cosponsoring Organizations(CCO), a forum for the 10 cosponsoring UN agencies who work on HIV/AIDS, met for the first time since Michel Sidibé took up his post as the next Executive Director at UNAIDS. The meeting, one of two held by the CCO ever year, was the first opportunity for the group to meet with Mr. Sidibé.
Not quite. Although officially falling on May 10, CARE and White Ribbon Alliance declared today that it should be Mothers Day Every Day with a new campaign calling for greater U.S. leadership to accelerate progress toward safe and healthy pregnancy and childbirth globally.
In any organization, the transition from the founding leader to his or her successor can be tricky. It's a moment for reflection on the core form and function, and on the nature of leadership itself.
In his first speech since Election Day, President-elect Obama warned yesterday that purse strings would be tight at the start of his term for the nation and its people.
But before Obama begins, Inauguration Day celebrations are causing those in DC to consider whether last year's purse strings are suitable attire for the upcoming balls and celebrations.
In The Fate of Young Democracies, CGD Visiting Fellow Ethan Kapstein and co-author Nathan Converse attempt to explain why many newly democratized countries experience political reversals. They call these reversals "Major Democratic Transitions"-- a phrase that makes our demographic ears perk up.
The next ED for UNAIDS has been named: it is to be Michel Sidibe, the current Deputy Executive Director of the organization.
Congratulations to the Aravind Eye Care System for winning the Gates 2008 Global Health Award, a $1 million prize that is the largest of its kind given for international health. Presented at the Global Health Council's 35th Annual International Conference last night, the award honors exceptional efforts to improve health in developing countries.
