A group of soldiers huddled around an unexploded hand grenade in the road near my home in Kigali, Rwanda. Given the grenade attacks of the last few weeks, I panicked. Had there been an attack in the neighborhood? No, there hadn't; one of my neighbors had placed the grenade in...

Every few months, it seems, there is a flurry of passionate and well-intentioned opinions that question the viability of tourism centered on poor villages, arguing that the benefits to be gained are outweighed by the potential for exploitation of poor people. Some of the rhetoric in this ongoing debate has...

Imagine: you live in a rich country in which the government and the people derive significant income from the oil that sits beneath your homeland's surface. Your nation's land is mostly arid desert, and no amount of irrigation programs or reclamation schemes will allow you to grow enough to feed...

The difference between life and death may sometimes come down to good lighting. It may seem strange to say so, but imagine this situation.

You become suddenly ill, with a pain in your lower abdomen. You get rushed to a hospital, and within a short time, you are medicated for...

What comes to mind when you think of senior US corporate officials taking a trip to Africa? Exploitation? A sinister grab for assets or natural resources? Cool behind-the-scenes underhanded deal-making? That's what many would expect, but here in Rwanda last week there was real celebration when members of General Electric's...

When most people think of a deadly mosquito-transmitted disease, they usually think of malaria. Those who have traveled far and wide, however, know that dengue fever is brutal and, in many Asian and Latin American countries, is one of the leading causes of hospitalization and death in children.

In recent...

Getting help into the hands of the people who need it can be extraordinarily difficult when that effort is compromised by the corruption that's too often a feature of governments in the developing world. Corruption can choke off food, medicine, and funding that's supposed to be destined for people who...

There's a fundamental irony in U.S. development policy: we give too little, and what we give, we give inefficiently. Currently, the magnitude of U.S. taxpayer dollars is not translating into corresponding levels of goodwill around the world. While President Obama plans to invest heavily in diplomacy and development to improve...

When you think about fashion, do you think about Africa? You should. Not only has the New York Times recognized that much more money gets spent in Africa on luxury goods than most people think, but focusing on fashion has become one more way for Africans to create prosperity.

Right now, American public school children are getting their H1N1 vaccines in nurse's offices all across the United States. And while swine flu is a concern here in Rwanda where I live, the impact of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) on the population's well-being and productivity is much greater and cannot...

World AIDS Day has become a time to reflect on the daunting challenges we face in the battle against this tenacious killer. Although huge strides have been made over the past two decades, we are, in many respects, continuing to lose ground as new infections outpace our ability...

Last year, a horrible disease impaired and robbed 8 million people of their vision. Right now, 84 million people are infected with this disease. The good news is that treating it is relatively easy, and curing it requires the commitment of a relatively modest amount of resources. This disease is...

Last month, Half the Sky hit bookstores all across the country. Written by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, the first married couple to jointly win a Pulitzer Prize in journalism, Half the Sky is an extraordinarily exciting book. It examines the economic potential that could be realized by relieving oppression...

There's a lot of debate among parents in the U.S. about the H1N1 vaccine. Some of the parents of small children I've spoken to over the last week are seriously debating whether to get it. Many are deciding not to give their child yet another vaccine.

However, what if H1N1...

Earlier this month the film As We Forgive, a documentary about Rwanda, was released on DVD (check out the trailer here). It does not chronicle the 1994 genocide, but what has come after: Rwanda's struggle to rebuild itself.

Rwanda's President, Paul Kagame, is following a path of reconciliation, not...

Rwanda: The first rains of the season are falling in this part of Africa. The rain is part of a weather cycle that can make or break life in this region of the world, depending on several factors. Prominent among these is health - not just people's health, but also...

While Garth Brooks may be best known for his country music, he is also a devoted philanthropist. Through the joint efforts of his Teammates For Kids Foundation and Rwanda Works, the critical message that poverty and health are directly related is about to be demonstrated in a very tangible way....

I have written and talked a great deal about the importance of health care in raising the standard of living among sub-Saharan Africans. There's a very good reason for this. While we must create development opportunities and prosperity-building programs for Africans, unless we collaborate with governments to help improve the...

It's graduation time, and young people everywhere are donning caps and gowns and eager expressions. In a small village in rural Rwanda, Claudine Mukangoga just fulfilled her lifelong dream: she became a nurse. Claudine's graduation celebrations were bittersweet, though, as just a month ago, Claudine's mother -- her greatest supporter...

As President Obama and his family head for Africa, the choice of Ghana as the first sub-Saharan African nation to play host to the first African American president has many asking -- "Why Ghana?" It's perhaps on the surface not a remarkable choice: a place far from flashpoints and, although...