State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Millennium Development Goals6

  • Reusable, Homemade Feminine Pads: A Simple Intervention to Help Keep Girls in School

    Reusable, Homemade Feminine Pads: A Simple Intervention to Help Keep Girls in School

    In many areas of sub-Saharan Africa, gender parity tends to decline at higher levels of schooling. While girls’ enrollment and completion rates for primary school are typically high, these rates decrease with secondary and tertiary education. Girls may discontinue their studies to devote more time to household chores, to earn extra income by engaging in…

  • Notes from a Gender Needs Assessment: Kisumu’s Greatest Resource

    Notes from a Gender Needs Assessment: Kisumu’s Greatest Resource

    The following is a guest blog, authored by Sarah Jaffe, an MCI researcher who is carrying out a Gender Needs Assessment for Kisumu, Kenya.   My mobile buzzed in my pocket, and I shifted the crate of Fanta my seatmate had rested on my lap to one side. It was my colleague, Ben: “Madame Grace is…

  • Preventing Malaria in the Millennium Villages

    Preventing Malaria in the Millennium Villages

    I work at the Malaria Program of the Earth Institute’s Center for Global Health and Economic Development. The bulk of our work takes place at the Center for National Health Development in Ethiopia, which supports national malaria control programs in ten African countries and contributes to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in Ethiopia.…

  • Fostering 21st Century Learning in sub-Saharan Africa

    The following is a guest blog, authored by Jim Teicher, Executive Director, CyberSmart! Africa. Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author in this blog do not represent the opinion of the Millennium Cities Initiative, the Earth Institute at Columbia University or any of its professional consultants. How can every school in Africa deliver a 21st-century…

  • Saving Lives One Birth at a Time: Ghanaian Pediatricians Become Master Trainers in the AAP’s Helping Babies Breathe Curriculum

    Every year, 10 million babies require help to breathe immediately after birth. Stimulating breathing by drying and rubbing the newborn and suctioning the baby’s mouth may be all that is needed to save a life. Although such life-saving care is readily available in the United States, in many poorer countries, it may be a distant reality…

  • Columbia Planning Seminar on Accra, Ghana, Sparks Ideas to Further the City’s Development

    Accra, Ghana, MCI’s newest Millennium City, presents a unique set of challenges in its quest to attain the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. With a population of well over three million, Accra has had to deal with public sector challenges typical of many urban areas in sub-Saharan Africa, including finding solutions to the many pressing…

  • Improving Access to Safe Water and Sanitation in Kisumu, Kenya

    Many families in developing countries, and particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, do not have access to clean, safe drinking water. Proper sanitation facilities are also rare, particularly in informal settlements and peri-urban areas. Despite the valiant efforts by local and national governments, international NGOs, foundations and corporations to bring clean water and sanitation facilities to sub-Saharan…

  • CGHED Director Promotes the Millennium Development Goals

    Joanna Rubinstein, Director of the Earth Institute’s Center for Global Health and Economic Development (CGHED), was a recent guest of The Kojo Nmadi Radio Show on WAMU 88.5, an NPR affiliate. The program was broadcast from the InterAction 2010 Forum, a dialogue for international relief and development advocacy, in Washington, DC, where Rubinstein was in…

  • Changing Lives One Surgery at a Time: A Team of Urologists Makes an Impact in Kisumu, Kenya

    Imagine living out in Western Kenya, suffering from a urological disorder, without access to an affordable specialist. That may be difficult for many of us to picture; unfortunately, that is the reality for hundreds of people living in Kisumu, Kenya, and the surrounding province. With only one urologist in the entire catchment area of five…

Columbia campus skyline with text Columbia Climate School Class Day 2024 - Congratulations Graduates

Congratulations to our Columbia Climate School MA in Climate & Society Class of 2024! Learn about our May 10 Class Day celebration. #ColumbiaClimate2024

  • Reusable, Homemade Feminine Pads: A Simple Intervention to Help Keep Girls in School

    Reusable, Homemade Feminine Pads: A Simple Intervention to Help Keep Girls in School

    In many areas of sub-Saharan Africa, gender parity tends to decline at higher levels of schooling. While girls’ enrollment and completion rates for primary school are typically high, these rates decrease with secondary and tertiary education. Girls may discontinue their studies to devote more time to household chores, to earn extra income by engaging in…

  • Notes from a Gender Needs Assessment: Kisumu’s Greatest Resource

    Notes from a Gender Needs Assessment: Kisumu’s Greatest Resource

    The following is a guest blog, authored by Sarah Jaffe, an MCI researcher who is carrying out a Gender Needs Assessment for Kisumu, Kenya.   My mobile buzzed in my pocket, and I shifted the crate of Fanta my seatmate had rested on my lap to one side. It was my colleague, Ben: “Madame Grace is…

  • Preventing Malaria in the Millennium Villages

    Preventing Malaria in the Millennium Villages

    I work at the Malaria Program of the Earth Institute’s Center for Global Health and Economic Development. The bulk of our work takes place at the Center for National Health Development in Ethiopia, which supports national malaria control programs in ten African countries and contributes to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in Ethiopia.…

  • Fostering 21st Century Learning in sub-Saharan Africa

    The following is a guest blog, authored by Jim Teicher, Executive Director, CyberSmart! Africa. Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author in this blog do not represent the opinion of the Millennium Cities Initiative, the Earth Institute at Columbia University or any of its professional consultants. How can every school in Africa deliver a 21st-century…

  • Saving Lives One Birth at a Time: Ghanaian Pediatricians Become Master Trainers in the AAP’s Helping Babies Breathe Curriculum

    Every year, 10 million babies require help to breathe immediately after birth. Stimulating breathing by drying and rubbing the newborn and suctioning the baby’s mouth may be all that is needed to save a life. Although such life-saving care is readily available in the United States, in many poorer countries, it may be a distant reality…

  • Columbia Planning Seminar on Accra, Ghana, Sparks Ideas to Further the City’s Development

    Accra, Ghana, MCI’s newest Millennium City, presents a unique set of challenges in its quest to attain the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. With a population of well over three million, Accra has had to deal with public sector challenges typical of many urban areas in sub-Saharan Africa, including finding solutions to the many pressing…

  • Improving Access to Safe Water and Sanitation in Kisumu, Kenya

    Many families in developing countries, and particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, do not have access to clean, safe drinking water. Proper sanitation facilities are also rare, particularly in informal settlements and peri-urban areas. Despite the valiant efforts by local and national governments, international NGOs, foundations and corporations to bring clean water and sanitation facilities to sub-Saharan…

  • CGHED Director Promotes the Millennium Development Goals

    Joanna Rubinstein, Director of the Earth Institute’s Center for Global Health and Economic Development (CGHED), was a recent guest of The Kojo Nmadi Radio Show on WAMU 88.5, an NPR affiliate. The program was broadcast from the InterAction 2010 Forum, a dialogue for international relief and development advocacy, in Washington, DC, where Rubinstein was in…

  • Changing Lives One Surgery at a Time: A Team of Urologists Makes an Impact in Kisumu, Kenya

    Imagine living out in Western Kenya, suffering from a urological disorder, without access to an affordable specialist. That may be difficult for many of us to picture; unfortunately, that is the reality for hundreds of people living in Kisumu, Kenya, and the surrounding province. With only one urologist in the entire catchment area of five…