Fortnightly links: worms (again!), bombs, South Sudan, human rights, and more

The worm wars continue! A new meta-analysis (from one of deworming’s main advocates) disputes the findings of the Cochrane analysis (which you’ve no doubt read by now) and contends that deworming is not just effective but cost-effective. You be the judge.

A smart new paper makes use of the way the United States bombed in Vietnam to leap the hurdle of reverse causality and come up with a good estimate of the impact of aerial bombing on insurgent activity. Main finding: it increased it.

The ‘golden era’ of global health financing is well and truly over, write Robert Hecht and J. Stephen Morrison for CSIS; going forward, middle income countries in particular will have find new ways of funding disease control. Hepatitis C treatment provides an instructive example. On a related note, in an interview with Scientific American Bill Gates talks about the important role that data plays in his philanthropy.

Violence has flared up again in Africa’s youngest country, South Sudan. Foreign Policy offers a frontline report from what has been described as “one of the most horrendous human rights situations in the world”, while Sinophiles will want to read this analysis of how China is grappling with its role as both an arms dealer and peacekeeper in the region. And the ICRC has this sobering story of life and loss in a public hospital 400 kilometres from the capital, Juba.

On the Lowy Interpreter, Elaine Pearson sets out a five-point human rights agenda for Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and newly appointed DFAT Secretary Frances Adamson to consider.

One from the archives — but given the state of current affairs over the last two weeks, now seems a good time to remind ourselves that overall things really are getting better (according to statistics compiled by Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker).

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Camilla Burkot

Camilla Burkot was a Research Officer at the Development Policy Centre, and Editor of the Devpolicy Blog, from 2015 to 2017. She has a background in social anthropology and holds a Master of Public Health from Columbia University, and has field experience in Eastern and Southern Africa, and PNG. She now works for the Burnet Institute.

Terence Wood

Terence Wood is a research fellow at the Development Policy Centre. His research focuses on political governance in Western Melanesia, and Australian and New Zealand aid.

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