Transforming the lives of children living in
urban poverty through better health and education

Monthly Archive:
February 2012

Deworming Delhi: A low-cost, high-impact approach to public health

boyswithwater
February 23, 2012
by Urvashi Prasad
On February 21, the government of Delhi kicked off a massive, school-based deworming effort to treat an estimated 3.5 million children. Our hope is that this effort serves as the catalyst for a more comprehensive school-based health program in Delhi, and that it becomes a model for other Indian cities seeking to embark on public health programs with the potential to help millions of children get healthier and stay in school. Read more

What ails microfinance? Bad journalism, for one

Overstating the dangers of microfinance is just as dangerous as overstating its benefits.
February 21, 2012
by Rahil Rangwala
Forbes India recently published a piece on what ails microfinance. The article, which reviews David Roodman and Jonathan Morduch's research on the industry, starts provocatively by challenging the assumption that microfinance is a force for good. But it seems to deliberately misrepresent – or at least wildly oversimplify – Roodman and Morduch’s findings. Read more

How valuable is “Big Data”?

datausage
February 15, 2012
by Editor
In a recent story on “big data” in the New York Times, one true believer in its transformative power compares the way the microscope revolutionized the way people looked at the world in the 16th century. The microscope, says Erik Brynjolfsson, an economist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management, Read more