Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters

My guest today, Arif Husain, is the chief economist and Director of the Food Security Analysis and Trends Service at the United Nations World Food Programme. We kick things off by discussing what is meant by food insecurity, and also how he collects data around hunger before having a longer conversation about the relationship between climate change, conflict, migration, and food security.  https://twitter.com/MarkLGoldberg https://www.undispatch.com/

My guest today, Dr. Roseanne Njiru is a sociologist at the University of Nairobi in Kenya. She has conducted cutting edge field research that finds a link between healthcare and peacebuilding. Specifically, she examines the role that community health workers play in preventing conflict in marginalized communities, or urban slums, around Nairobi. Dr. Njiru found through her research that community health workers are also agents of peace and conflict prevention.

For a brief period this fall, it appeared that the crisis in Yemen was de-escalating. Fighting had reached some of its lowest levels since 2015, when Saudi Arabia led an international coalition to intervene in Yemen's civil war. But any hopes that a lull in fighting could be sustained were dashed in early 2020 with a series of high profile attacks.  Today, as I record, in February 2020 fighting in Yemen is intense -- indeed as bad as it has ever been since the civil war began -- if not worse.

There is a category of diseases that sickens, injures and kills the poorest people on the planet. These are called Neglected Tropical Diseases or NTDs You may be familiar with some of them, like leprosy, guinea worm disease or River Blindness; but you have probably never heard of most of them--I know I have not.  On the line with me today is someone who has been at the very forefront of that effort. Dr. Thoko Elphick-Pooley is the director of a collective called Uniting to Combat NTDS.

Aid work can be a dangerous business. According to the latest verified data, 131 aid workers were killed in the line of duty in 2018. Many more were injured in serious attacks.   According to my guest today, Abby Stoddard, attacks on aid workers and humanitarian relief operations are both a symptom and a weapon of modern warfare. Indeed, it is the changing nature of conflict around the world that is driving increasing levels of violence against aid workers. 

At the time of recording, the coronavirus outbreak that originated in China has infected over 4,500 people - though that number is sure to dramatically increase. Today's guest is Ambassador John E Lange. He is a retired ambassador from the United States who currently serves as a senior fellow for Global Health Diplomacy with the United Nations Foundation. Ambassador Lange also served, from 2006 to 2009 as the US Special Representative for Avian Flu and Pandemic Flu preparedness.  

In the midst of the impeachment drama unfolding in Washington, DC a rare thing happened: Republicans and Democrats came together and in an overwhelmingly bi-partisan move, supported a bill known as the Global Fragility Act. The Global Fragility Act is one of those under-the-radar policy stories that has big potential to change key aspects of US policy towards parts of the world beset by instability. Joining me today to discuss the new Global Fragility Act is Dr. Dafna Rand.

Burkina Faso is Experiencing a Surge in Violence

What Happened With Haiti Earthquake Reconstruction?

Why The Crisis in Syria is About To Get Worse

A Looming Crisis With North Korea, Again

Iran Crisis -- What Comes Next?

How to Promote Tolerance in Myanmar, a country that recently experienced a genocide

Why Do We Lie About Foreign Aid?

Longtime Leader of MSF/Doctors Without Borders Joanne Liu