February 2009 Archives

Last week I went to Jakarta with the harm reduction program director for Open Society Institute and met with a half dozen grassroots groups of injection drug users (IDU). In Indonesia, where AIDS is ravaging the country due to the rapidly-escalating use of drugs, young people have responded by starting small nonprofit groups to reach out to drug users on the street. They hand out clean needles, give advice on AIDS prevention, help people get medical care when they need it, and advocate with the local police. And they're doing some innovative things on the human rights front, too.

A little on the lighter side this week: The most excellent blog China Beat asked a group of scholars, journalists and the like for the four or five books they thought President Obama should read to inform himself on China. This snippet was Meg's contribution.