How Bangladesh Made Abortion Safer

In rural areas in India, lack of physicians is a big barrier to safe abortions, leading women to undergo deadly procedures. A proposed law by the Indian government would allow midwives and mid-level providers to perform abortions.

Since 2003, the Dublin Protocol has stopped migrants from traveling through Europe to auspicious countries before claiming asylum. However, many migrants travel by sea—which is more perilous and has led to high rates of death. Germany is the first country European country to break from the Dublin Protocol by letting in Syrian refugees.

Due to patrilineality, sons are highly favored over daughters in many countries, with serious consequence. South Korea, the only country to have returned to normal sex ratios after having a highly abnormal ratio of boys:girls, has lessons for other countries.

Israel experienced extreme drought a few years ago and its water supply was very low. National campaigns to install desalination plants have helped Israel turnaround its inadequate water supply into a surplus. The water scientists who have helped make this surplus see an opportunity for water diplomacy and the de-politicization of water in the Middle East so that more of it can be shared with other geographies.

Africa has the highest TB death rate per head of population and though antibiotics can cure Tb many patients are never diagnosed because the diagnostic tests have a 40% error rate. A group of scientists in Tanzania have trained rats to diagnose TB with a 30% error rate, inspired by rats trained to search for land mines and dogs trained to smell cancer.

In Brazil, more than 2,000 babies have been born with microcephaly, abnormally small heads and brain damage caused by the Zika virus. Colombia is the second hardest hit country by Zika but abortions lowered the microcephaly rate because of looser abortion laws and better informed mothers.

In Uruguay, illegality and stigma surrounding abortions resulted in problems with maternal mortality rates. Utilizing a unique solution, a medical protocol was created to provide initial information and followup care to women seeking abortions.

Due to the inaccessibility of inactive munitions to provide hands-on de-activation experience to security experts, training individuals is difficult. Inactive munitions cannot be shipped to other countries, thus other methods have been explored. A military disposal technician, Allen Tan, created a 3D printing technology that can now create replicas of multiple bomb models. Plans can now be transmitted online and printed in 3D anywhere in the world for study.

Oscar López Rivera was a political prisoner for 35 years, 12 of which were in solitary confinement, for his political activism wanting Puerto Rico to be independent of the USA.An international campaign successfully lobbied Obama to commute the sentence, a campaign which included the support of Desmond Tutu, Oscar's brother- Jose, the Puerto Rican community etc.

A Buffalo, New York clinic provides a space for both abortions and natural births. In looking at the experiences as a continuum, rather than as juxtiposing sides, the hope is to change how people think about the birth experiences.