The Foreign Service Journal, March 2009

focus on critical initial interagency functions in response to specific crises. They may spend up to 60 percent of their time in conflict areas on deploy- ments averaging three months, and will attend up to eight weeks of training and exercises each year. See the S/CRS Web site for infor- mation on the Corps’ history and mis- sion. Office of Reconstruction and Stabilization Coordinator Ambassador John Herbst’s Feb. 18, 2008, official briefing also provides extensive back- ground ( www.crs.state.gov/index.cfm ?fuseaction=public.display&short cut=4ZM4 ). The role of the U.S. Insti- tute for Peace in the Corps’ creation is described in the institute’s newsletter, Peacewatch ( www.crs.state.gov/index .cfm?fuseaction=public.display&sho rtcut=CJRF ). A Renewed Call for Medical Diplomacy A vigorous effort to control neg- lected tropical diseases can be a vital weapon in the effort to combat terror- ism, former Health and Human Serv- ices Secretary Tommy Thompson told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Global Health Policy Center on Jan. 27 ( www. csis.org/component/option, com_csi s_events/task,view/id,1874/ ). In his capacity as global ambassador for the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, Sec. Thompson in- vited the public health and foreign pol- icy communities and the new admini- stration to embrace medical diplomacy as a critical piece of the foreign policy agenda. Thompson was joined by Sabin Vac- cine Institute President Peter Hotez, a distinguished professor of microbiol- ogy, immunology and tropical medicine at The George Washington University School of Medicine. Neglected tropical diseases, also known as NTDs, affect some 1.4 billion people living on less than $1.25 per day. They include ascariasis, trichuriasis, lymphatic filariasis, trachoma and on- chocerciasis, and not only promote pov- erty but also destabilize communities. In “Waging Peace through Neg- lected Tropical Disease Control: AU.S. Foreign Policy for the BottomBillion,” published Jan. 30 in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Dis- eases , Thompson andHotez detail their case. They define medical diplomacy as “the winning of hearts and minds of people in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and elsewhere by exporting medical care, expertise and personnel to help those who need it most” ( http://dx. plos.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000 346 ). In many nations considered diplo- matic “hot spots,” they say, up to 50 percent of the population suffers from one or more NTD. Medical diplomacy is also cost-effi- cient. “The entire at-risk populations of war-torn areas and areas of conflict in sub-Saharan Africa could be treated for one year at roughly the cost of one or two F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets,” Thompson and Hotez point out. Thompson first launched the cam- paign in 2004, following an eye-open- ing visit to Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa. As the FSJ observed in its De- cember 2004 focus on the topic, glob- alization and the breakdown of barriers to trade, commerce and mi- gration have helped make it an idea whose time has come. Darfur: Escalation or Resolution? As the crisis in Darfur smolders on, the International Criminal Court’s up- coming ruling in the case against Sudan President Omar al-Bashir, its first Site of the Month: wikiHow The next time you have a random question about how to do something, you might want to start your Web research at www.wikihow.com . A less well-known member of the “wiki” community, wikiHow was launched in 2005 by Jack Harrick, with the goal of creating a massive how-to manual with ac- curate, up-to-date instructions on every imaginable topic in multiple languages. Currently, the site contains more than 50,000 articles written by volunteers on topics that range from repairing a broken scuba mask buckle or adding a picture to a MySpace page to becoming a bounty hunter or crocheting a cat hat. The site is both fascinating and practical. “How to Take a Good Picture on Your Camera Phone,” for example, is a lucid and succinct tutorial, while “How to Get Rid of Cockroaches” gives you everything you need to know to eliminate the pests. Al- ternatively, you might enjoy learning to draw a manga dog or play all the major chords on the piano. wikiHow is free of cost and its owners are committed to its remaining so. The site is financed, in its managers’ words, by “tasteful, non-obnoxious” advertising. It is pleasant, easy to navigate and transparent. And, of course, wikiHow is also interactive: you can contribute your own ex- pertise to the collective effort. M A R C H 2 0 0 9 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 11 C Y B E R N O T E S