By Peter D. Bell Following on the heels of the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti, the editorial in The Lancet of January 23 is headlined “Growth of aid and the decline of humanitarianism”.  It acknowledges that aid agencies and humanitarian organizations “do exceptional work in difficult circumstances”.  But the editorial also asserts that the aid sector, [...]

The effort to provide relief to survivors of the Myanmar cyclone and the Chinese earthquake resurfaces questions of how to effectively mobilize and deploy charitable contributions in an international emergency. People across the U.S. interested in making contributions want to know that their gifts, large or small, are being put to good use. And as [...]