International Business Times: Cholera threatens millions in drought-hit East Africa as famine looms “Fears of a cholera outbreak in drought-ravaged East Africa are increasing. The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) in the U.K. warned of an ‘alarming surge’ of waterborne diseases in the area, where millions have gone hungry due to…

Al Jazeera: Somalia faces major cholera outbreak “The United Nations has raised alarm over a major outbreak of cholera in southern Somalia. Aid groups are already scrambling to help people suffering from severe drought and mass malnutrition. The U.N. is urging immediate action and aid to avert the crisis. Al…

IRIN: Famine in Somalia: Twice in six years? Daniel Maxwell, Henry J. Leir professor in food security at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and acting director of the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University, and colleagues “…Humanitarian budgets have grown in recent years, but have not kept…

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights is key to achieving the SDGs Mette Knudsen, Denmark’s ambassador to Kenya, and Siddharth Chatterjee, United Nations resident coordinator to Kenya “…[To] maintain [the momentum of progress toward a decline of the maternal mortality and childhood death ratios in Kenya, the…

The Guardian: Feed the starving? Guns are the true cause of hunger and famine Simon O’Connell, executive director of Mercy Corps’ European entity and senior vice president for global partnerships “…In South Sudan, as in Somalia, Nigeria, and Yemen, it is not a lack of food that creates famine. Crises…

Science: Hunger amplifies infectious diseases for millions fleeing the violence of Boko Haram “…[Nigerians uprooted by Boko Haram] are crammed into squalid camps and towns already too destitute to deal with the influx. Food, water, and sanitation are scarce or nonexistent, leaving few options other than open defecation. The camps…

New York Times: Volcanic Minerals, Not Worms, Caused Disease Outbreak in Uganda “Medical detectives in western Uganda recently discovered that the wrong culprit had been blamed for an outbreak of crippling elephantiasis — legs so swollen that they resemble those of an elephant. As it turned out, one rare, neglected…

Devex: Q&A: CEO of Last Mile Health on becoming a systems entrepreneur “…Together with his co-founders, [Raj] Panjabi started Last Mile Health to bring primary health care to remote areas in Liberia by partnering with governments to help them design, scale, and sustain networks of community health professionals. He was…

New York Times: Stop Treating Liberia’s President Like a Hero. She’s a Human. Dayo Olopade, author “One of the saddest stories of this year has been the death of Salome Karwah, a Liberian health worker who was featured on the cover of Time magazine as a fighter in the 2014…

Reuters: German Merck aims to roll out child formula for schistosomiasis drug “Merck KGaA said it is developing a children’s formula of its drug to treat schistosomiasis, a parasitic worm disease that infects millions of poor people in Africa and Asia. … The company said it has donated 500 million…