Posts
-
MCI’s MDG Heroes Series: Kumasi Metropolitan Health Director Reduces Maternal Mortality
In the Millennium City of Kumasi, Ghana, the Maternal Mortality Ratio was on the rise until 2009. But a sustained and dedicated effort on the part of the Kumasi Metropolitan Health Directorate and its director, Dr. Kwasi Yeboah-Awudzi, has resulted in dramatically reduced maternal deaths over the last 18 months. Dr. Yeboah-Awudzi’s direction included upgrading…
-
MDG Summit Media Rundown #1
Here’s a list of some of the media that’s been mustered up for MDG week at the UN. I’ll update as the week goes on. International Herald Tribune: By Jeffrey D Sachs Millennium Goals, Five Years to Go. New York Times–Sept 19, 2010 UN Poverty Goals Face Accountability Questions BBC Radio and TV–Sept 15, 2010…
-
Millennium Goals, Five Years to Go
As 140 heads of state and government gather Monday at the United Nations for the Millennium Development Goals summit, they and the public will ask what has come out of this decade-long effort. The answer will surprise them …
-
Not Enough New Scientists and Engineers Entering the Energy Industry
With the current emphasis of countries around the world on improving internal infrastructure by Smartening the Electric Grid, replacing hydrocarbons with Alternative Energy sources, repairing aging roads and bridges, and better securing our water systems, I’ve been thinking a lot about Rick Smalley of Rice University. He discovered the “Buckyball”, or Carbon Fullerene, and won…
-
Climate News Roundup – Week of 9/13
Germany Extends Nuclear Plants’ Life, NY Times, Sept. 13 Germany has signaled its intent to extend the life span of the country’s 17 nuclear power plants. The decision, which stands in contrast to the country’s historic resistance to nuclear power, comes as Merkel’s government pushes for more renewable energy sources in Germany’s energy mix. US…
-
Promises, Promises: The Clock is Ticking in Africa’s Cities
Back in the flush days of 2005, a confident, wealthy G8 promised sub-Saharan Africa $25 billion more per year to help the region achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the target date of 2015, then 10 years hence.
-
Cyprus: A Case Study in Water Challenges
One tends to think of islands as wet places (surrounded as they are by water) but the island of Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean sea belies that characterization. Among many childhood memories I have of that place, some of the most vivid are of the wide-open, piercing blue of cloudless skies and the sun-scorched, dusty…
-
Drylands of Africa Pose Unique Challenge to Acheiving MDGs
Dryland regions make up roughly 43% of the earth’s surface. In Africa alone, it’s over 60%, but despite this, decision-makers have generally neglected development of these regions. One of the main reasons is that drylands are assumed to be wastelands, with little potential, and in need of constant supplies of food aid. Contrary to this…
-
Reaching the Millennium Development Goals in the Millennium Villages and Beyond
There are just five years left until the deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, eight ambitious objectives to tackle extreme poverty and its many dimensions and reach a more equitable and sustainable world by 2015. World leaders are gathering this month at the United Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals to see that…
