International Study Finds Additional Links between Mother’s Poor Health and Young Children’s Death

A recent study published in PLOS Medicine by researchers from Washington, Oxford, and Witwatersand Universities found that in poorer countries, young children risk of dying begins to rise in the months prior to their mother’s death when she is seriously ill. According to the paper, these results add to the existing body of evidence which indicates that … Read more

Cancer and the Right to Health

By Fiona Lander, MBBS(hons)/LLB(hons) At first glance, many health practitioners and members of the public would not think that diseases such as cancer have a great deal to do with human rights, or even the law more generally. After all, aren’t human rights about things like freedom of speech, torture and imprisonment? And how can … Read more

Small Loans Cut Deep in Bangladesh

By Uduak Thomas, M.A. A medical anthropologist from Michigan State University has found that villagers in Bangladesh are increasingly being exploited by human organ traffickers and pressured to sell their kidneys or portions of their liver on the black market in order to repay collateral-free microcredit loans — about $50 on average — which they’ve … Read more

Using Computers to Prevent Human Rights Violations

By Uduak Thomas, M.A. I write about software quite a bit, so challenges like this one are very dear to my heart. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Humanity United, and TopCoder are challenging computer scientists to develop statistical solutions and algorithms that can predict which areas are at greater risk for genocide, mass … Read more