In the previous episode of this miniseries, I explored the exponential growth of the HIV pandemic, which has infected 75 million people and led to the deaths of 32 million people. In the second part of this miniseries, I want to explore the decline of HIV over the last 15 years. Although the prevalence of … Continue reading "The Ghost of Pandemics Present: How Botswana, Thailand and Senegal Are Defeating HIV"

On April 25th, 2020 Wuhan, once the global epicenter of the Coronavirus pandemic, was officially declared Coronavirus free. The experience of Wuhan is emblematic of China’s dramatic success in combating, with the number of active cases coming down from a peak of 58,016 on February 17th, to 648 active cases as of April 28th. In … Continue reading "Is China the Real Sick Man of Asia?"

The last global pandemic to terrify society was HIV/AIDS, a virus that has infected 75 million people and killed 32 million. HIV was a disease that in its early stages was easy to ignore because it was most often found in stigmatized groups of people such as sex workers, men who have sex with men, … Continue reading "The Ghost of Pandemics Past: HIV in South Africa, Russia, and Uganda"

The city-state of Singapore gained international praise early on in the management of the Coronavirus pandemic. It was expected that Singapore, alongside other nations with close economic and cultural ties to China would be the hardest hit by the Coronavirus pandemic. It implemented its first measures against Covid 19 on January 2nd, checking temperatures on … Continue reading "Dog Bites Man: The Utterly Predictable Spread of Covid 19 in Singapore’s Migrant Dormitories"

Since the first cases of the global pandemic of COVID-19 emerged in Wuhan in December of 2019, the world has watched with horror as the virus has spread from country to country, and cost over 100,000 lives. The developed world has not seen a pandemic of this scale since the 1918 flu pandemic. However, the … Continue reading "This Ain’t Our First Rodeo: What Can We Learn From Past Epidemics?"

The global COVID-19 pandemic has caused the greatest economic contraction since the Great Depression, with global GDP expected to contract by 3% in 2019. A part of this economic contraction has been a near total collapse in international trade, with global trade volumes to come down by anywhere from 13% to 32%. Unfortunately, just as … Continue reading "Beggar Thy Neighbor, Literally: The Global Trade Collapse and Increasing Hunger in the Developing World"

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the President of Turkey and Jair Bolsonaro, the President of Brazil have long worried international observers because of their authoritarian actions that undermine democracy. Turkey and Brazil are now again in the headlines, as they have emerged as two epicenters of the global Coronavirus pandemic. Turkey has currently seen 908 deaths from … Continue reading "Democracy Is The Baby, Not the Bathwater: How Authoritarian Leadership Has Hindered Brazil and Turkey’s Fight Against COVID-19"

Since the first case of COVID-19 emerged in Wuhan, over 20,000 people have lost their lives from a spreading pandemic. If allowed to spread unchecked, the Coronavirus could cost the lives of millions. In comparison, every year, 1.6 million lose their lives to Tuberculosis, 405,000 to Malaria, 1.1 million children die under 5 die of … Continue reading "Why Public Health Systems Don’t Fail:State Capacity, Democratic Accountability, and Civic Participation"

Although India is currently not a Coronavirus hotspot, the nightmare scenario for the rapidly expanding Covid-19 pandemic is for it to spread into the slums and villages of India. India is woefully underprepared for the pandemic. India has approximately .55 hospital beds per 1,000 people and 3.2 critical care beds per 100,000 people, compared to … Continue reading "Emptying the Ocean With a Spoon: India’s Fight Against COVID-19"

On December 9th 1948, United Nations unanimously adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, promising that never again would the world allow any community to be destroyed in whole or in part because of their race, religion, or ethnic group. It is a promise the world has failed to … Continue reading "Never Again, Again: The Rohingya Genocide in Myanmar"