Comments on: Lancing a boil? The Lancet on the aid industry

By: Good Intentions Are Not Enough » Blog Archive » Coordination after a disaster

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:47:47 +0000

[...] bloggers have already written on issues affecting coordination including Michael Kaizer in A Humourless Lot and Alanna Shaikh in her UN Dispatch post. Both were in response to criticisms made in an editorial [...]

By: Good Intentions Are Not Enough » Blog Archive » Interesting articles and posts – late January

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:47:24 +0000

[...] Lancing the boil? The Lancet on the aid industry – A Humourless Lot… – A response to the Lancet’s criticism of international aid [...]

By: Michael Keizer

Michael Keizer — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:28:02 +0000

@Dr. Alden Kurtz Thanks, for that comment, Dr. Kurtz. Could I use this opportunity to congratulate you with the sterling work of HRI? As far as I am concerned, your organisation is a shining light for us all, right up there with INEPD. I am honoured that you have taken the effort to comment in my post.

By: Dr. Alden Kurtz

Dr. Alden Kurtz — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:08:23 +0000

bastards – they just try to pick on us forgetting that we’re putting our lives in danger and so on and should be above scrutiny if you ask me.

“It seems increasingly obvious that many aid agencies sometimes act according to their own best interests rather than in the interests of individuals whom they claim to help.”, they say. Lies!

On behalf of HRI, can i please deny that? i propose we’ll then get angry, just before offering the Lancet a bargain.

By: Haiti Earthquake Issues- A Reader « WanderLust

Haiti Earthquake Issues- A Reader « WanderLust — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 01:28:25 +0000

[...] written good responses to an article in the Lancet criticising the aid industry, which you can read here and here, while AidWatch, a site dedicated to holding humanitarians accountable to best aid [...]

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 16:19:12 +0000

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by Michael_Keizer: New post: Lancing a boil? The Lancet on the aid industry http://bit.ly/5mRcOS...

By: Tweets that mention A Humourless Lot» Lancing a boil? The Lancet on the aid industry – Logistics for global health and aid: A Humourless Lot -- Topsy.com

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 11:05:12 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Robbo and Michael Keizer, Michael Keizer. Michael Keizer said: New post: Lancing a boil? The Lancet on the aid industry http://bit.ly/5mRcOS [...]

By: Cynan

Cynan — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 10:59:16 +0000

I just find this really quite odd.
The genuine global image, brand and basis of the Lancet is one of scientific rigour. But this editorial screed is playing on that reputation to slag off a strawman of the aid industry and unnamed corporate-ish aid agencies, sans supporting evidence or particulars of any kind.

I agree there are genuine questions, and tsunami-like problems of an NGO scrum in Haiti emerging. There are some NGOs who should be taking a f..king hard look at whether they should be there. Unfortunately I can see a least one DEC member agency in this category.

But this level of unsupported generalization would not be tolerated in one of the Lancet’s articles, and shouldn’t be happning on their editorial page either.

I’m also trying to be very restrained in what might seem an ad hominem attack, querying what particular expertise the editor of a science journal brigs to humanitarian practice anyway.