Two recent studies reveal that getting bitten by a snake is a far greater problem than people have been led to believe.

Official World Health Organization statistics are that snakebites result in 100,000 deaths each year around the world and 300,000 cases of permanent disability.

But a recent study found that 46,000 people die every year from snakebites in India alone -- a far cry from the mere 2,000 such deaths officially reported. Another study in Bangladesh found 6,000 deaths due to snakebites every year and a whopping 700,000 snakebites overall -- totals that also far exceed that country’s official estimates.

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Traditional crop insurance relies on farm visits, a proposition which doesn’t add up for small farmers. Kilimo Salama uses creative, low-cost methods, such as weather stations and mobile money transfers, to remotely determine whether weather conditions justify a payout for farmers. 

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What better way to honor our veterans than to help them live comfortably and independently into their golden years? For Veteran’s Day, we wanted to highlight The Green House ® Project—a grantee of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Burness client focused on reinventing the nursing home experience for older Americans—which is taking steps to improve the lives of those who have served our country.

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The right to family planning can mean the difference between life and death. 

A recent Aspen Institute event on global reproductive health focused on this relationship between family planning and poverty. Every year, approximately 350,000 women—most of them in Sub-Saharan Africa—die from pregnancy-related causes. Women with access to family planning have fewer children, and the children they do have are healthier and better-educated. Additionally, investments in reproductive health reduce pressure on food security. 

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