coaching for clarity and courage
There’s a lot of technical language around influenza, which is a shame because it’s an interesting topic – complicated enough to be fun to learn about, and relevant to everyone who has every eaten poultry or been a person. The […]
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AMR: Antimicrobial resistance – the process by which bacteria develop immunity to antibiotics and other things that are supposed to kill them Antibacterial: Anything that kills bacteria. Includes things like isopropyl alcohol and triclosan, as well as antibiotics. MCR-1: plasmid […]
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I’ve spent the last two weeks as part of a multinational health sector assessment effort, and we’ve worked through interpreters the whole time. I’ve obviously worked with translators before, but never every day all day for two weeks. It’s really […]
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You can go two ways on this (at least) and it depends on your basic skills and aptitude. The first option is acquiring some hard skills. Engineering, nursing, IT, and teaching or training are good examples. An appropriate terminal degree, […]
Read More »IDPs: Internally Displaced Persons. Like refugees, except they have left their homes but remained in their country of citizenship. NFIs: Non-food items, usually provided in a package to refugees or displaced people – things like pots and pans, clothing, soap, […]
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This is a reprint, with edits, from Blood and Milk, but I’ve always been proud of it. Done right, site visits are a useful tool. They are not as good as living and working in-country, but they’re a lot better than […]
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When the WHO stopped calling it a public health emergency, that was actually a bad sign. They meant it was no longer a temporary thing – Zika is with us for the long haul and has to be budgeted that […]
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If you’re stuck in a fear spiral and you can’t find a way to take action for what you believe in (and you don’t want free coaching), some research can be a good way to unlock your own power. Here […]
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This was written for a project which will never happen, but I thought it might be of use to people who work internationally but not in global health. Infectious diseases are caused by microorganisms, usually bacteria or viruses, and they […]
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This is the best use of big data ever; it does something that has never been tried before using the kind of computing power we’ve never had before, to solve huge, complex problems. Duck of Minerva provides an thoughtful and […]
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The start of my very first overseas trip as an aid worker, in 2007. I’d done plenty of development work at that point, but this was my first foray into humanitarian response. This is an excerpt from my journal at […]