Ideas to Action:

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CGD's weekly Global Prosperity Wonkcast, event videos, whiteboard talks, slides, and more.

Combating Drug Resistance: Rachel Nugent

4/4/11

Rachel Nugent

Drug resistance, a neglected but increasingly urgent problem, receives some much-needed attention this week as the focus of this year’s World Health Day, also dubbed Antimicrobial Resistance Day, on Thursday, April 7. I invited Rachel Nugent, lead author of The Race Against Drug Resistance
, a CGD working group report, for a progress report on efforts to address this problem since the report was released last June.

We begin with some scary stuff—the continued emergence of “superbugs” that doctors don’t like to talk about, such as hospital-bred pathogens that have become immune to antibiotics, drug resistant malaria, and my favorite nightmare, drug resistant TB, which the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates could infect two million people around the globe by 2015.

What's on the Agenda? Assessing the UN Summit on Non-communicable Diseases (Event Video)

11/8/10

On Monday, November 1, 2010 the Center for Global Development was pleased to host, along with the Institute of Medicine, What’s on the Agenda? Assessing the UN Summit on Non-communicable Diseases, featuring presentations by Rachel Nugent, Deputy Director of Global Health, CGD and Derek Yach, Senior Vice President of Global Health Policy, PepsiCo. Ambassador Richard Bernal, Alternate Executive Director, Inter-American Development Bank provided the opening remarks and served as moderator. Discussants included James Hospedales, Senior Advisor, Prevention & Control of Chronic Diseases, Pan-American Health Organization, Julian Schweitzer, Principal, Results for Development Institute and Peter Lamptey, President of Public Health Programs, Family Health International.

Non-Communicable Diseases a Huge Problem in Developing World (Interview with Rachel Nugent)

11/1/10

Rachel NugentHeart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and cancers are usually considered diseases of the rich world, the result of too much food and too little exercise. But these serious diseases are already a huge problem in the developing world, accounting for about half of the burden of disease. Yet new research from the Center for Global Development has found that barely 3% of foreign aid and philanthropic spending for developing world health addresses these often overlooked diseases.

My guest this week is the lead author of that research, Rachel Nugent, CGD deputy director of global health. In a forthcoming working paper co-authored with Andrea Feigl – Scarce Donor Funding for Non-Communicable Diseases: Will it Contribute to a Health Crisis? – Rachel examines the impact of non-communicable diseases in the developing world and assesses the response of international donors. In the Wonkcast, we discuss her findings and recommendations for addressing this challenge.

The Race Against Drug Resistance

10/8/10

A short film tells the story of Khalifa, a nurse in Ghana who contracted typhoid. She takes one drug and then another—each more expensive than the last—but still she isn’t well. The film uses expert interviews and animation to explain why drug resistance threatens us all—and what we can do about it.

The Race Against Drug Resistance (event video and audio)

6/16/10

The world is rapidly losing the ability to fight disease because of an invisible adversary: drug resistance. Resistance is inevitable but human actions are hastening it. Without a global effort to ensure lasting effectiveness of treatment, drug resistance is poised to get worse fast, raising costs, claiming more lives, and making future generations vulnerable to diseases that are easily cured today. After two years of study and analysis, CGD’s expert Drug Resistance Working Group urges four crucial steps to combat the problem in a pivotal new report, The Race Against Drug Resistance. On Tuesday, June 15, 2010 the Center for Global Development hosted the launch event of The Race Against Drug Resistance at the National Press Club.

Population, Poverty, and Economic Growth

2/2/10

Rachel NugentMy guest this week is Rachel Nugent, deputy director for global health here at the Center for Global Development. Rachel directs the Center's work looking at the links between population, poverty, and economic growth and serves as the coordinator of the Population and Poverty Research Network, which held its fourth annual conference recently in Cape Town, South Africa.

Many of us are familiar with how development influences population growth: as incomes rise, fertility rates and average family size tend to fall; populations grow more slowly. Rachel explains that while this relationship is important there are many important unanswered questions about how population policies affect development outcomes. For example: if a poor country slows population growth by actively encouraging family planning, will the families involved and the nation reap economic benefits? Under what circumstances?

Beyond Population (Event)

9/29/08

In this video, Dr. Joel E. Cohen, renowned demographer and a student of global demographic trends for nearly 40 years, launched CGD population series with an overview of global demographic trends.

Beyond Population w/ Dr. Joel Cohen (Event Podcast)

9/24/08

Beginning in September 2008, the Center for Global Development is sponsoring a new look at "Demographics and Development in the 21st Century."

In this podcast, CGD deputy director, global health program Rachel Nugent describes the new discussion series and why demographic studies is important for developing countries

Demographics and Development in the 21st Century (Interview)

9/24/08

Beginning in September 2008, the Center for Global Development is sponsoring a new look at "Demographics and Development in the 21st Century." The role of demographics promises to be fundamental in shaping the coming world. In this series, leading scholars explore how demographic changes may affect prospects for global development.

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