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As initially posted on the Heartfile blog. Heartfile is a non-profit NGO think tank with a focus on policy analysis and innovative solutions for improving health systems in Pakistan. It is a great privilege to contribute to Heartfile’s blog, particularly on a day when the only possible first words must honour the Pakistani aid workers brutally shot and killed only a few hours ago. They were leaving a community center with a primary school and medical clinic that press reports note took part in the polio vaccination campaign. (more…)

(As first published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review on October 23, 2012) The dangers of the Lance Armstrong doping scandal reach far beyond performance-enhancing drugs. When the news of Lance Armstrong’s doping allegations hit what we thought was the media and judicial nadir this summer, a friend of mine’s upstanding, informed, college-bound son irritably commented that he didn’t see the point of “all of this.” If everyone does it—and everyone does, according to him—why not legalize it? What he was saying, as many others have, is that taking performance-enhancing drugs has become normalized within our ethics framework—even though it...

Donors at a Distance A recent flurry of press reports criticizes Greg Mortenson’s book Three Cups of Tea and the non-profit organization he co-founded supporting girls’ education in Afghanistan called the Central Asian Institute (“CAI”). The criticisms fall into two categories: the veracity of the book’s account and the management of CAI’s funds. Then a flurry of critical articles critiqued the criticisms. The point of this blog is neither to assess the claims nor to repeat the myriad criticisms of Mr. Mortenson, CAI, or their critics. Rather, the aim is to distil from this debate a key evolving issue with...