The Freedom to Create Prize celebrates the power of art to fight oppression, break down stereotypes and build trust in societies where the social fabric has been ripped apart by conflict, violence and misunderstanding. History shows that prosperous societies are founded upon creativity. Societies that encourage artistic expression build strong foundations for economic, political and cultural development. They will lead tomorrow’s world.

I bet that doesn’t seem strange to you. I bet you think, as I have in the past, “Oh, well, science and health—those things really matter. They really help people. Art is just for fun.”

But I no longer agree. I think we over-invest in science, and we under-invest in art.

In the UK there’s an old saying,”an Apple a day keeps the Doctor away”, this has been adopted here in Cambodia for the children of the PIO school, but using eggs and a daily multivitamin suppliment tablet.

”much has been achieved in recent years. Prior to 1995, there were no doctors in Cambodia that had any training in the treatment of eye disorders and diseases; so if you were blind, you remained so. Since then, the government has set up the National Sub Committee for Prevention of Blindness (now known as the National Eye Health Program), supported by a number of local and international non-government organisations”

All is not lost when people such as these give their time and resources so readily to help children that are most at need. Two agencies. and individuals, that fit together admirably to try to meet some of the needs of children of less than fortunate circumstance are People Improvement Organization (PIO) and Kids International Dental Services.(KIDS)

” We provide dental care to children in orphanages where they come after being abandoned by parents, family members. They are forgotten children of sex slavery, dead parents of AIDS, gang violence, street accidents. We have seen and treated over 1000 children during our stay in Cambodia”.

In Djenne we met with Amadou, a local man who has taken action to solve the town’s orphan problem. Amadou and other community members recently started an organization to help place the orphans with nearby families that can afford to take in an extra child. The organization wants to take one step further and build an orphanage for their community.

The sport-for-good community isn’t using cameras to display celebrity lives and high-profile action shots; this community is much more interested in documenting how we can use sports as an agent for social change. Young people, photographers, athletes, and activists are coming together to show how they “sport for good.”

Cholera is a disease most people in the developed world think about very little. It is a bacterial infection that is caused most often by contaminated water supplies. Most of the developed world can take clean drinking water for granted, but that unfortunately is not the case worldwide. Once a person is infected, the chief symptom is extreme diarrhea which can cause dehydration and death within hour if left untreated. For most people, treatment does not require expensive drugs or advanced medical intervention; a simple rehydration therapy that balances fluids and necessary minerals will get most people through an infection. A smaller number of people may need IV fluids, and an even smaller number may benefit from antibiotics. As the World Health Organization says, “Cholera is an easily treatable disease.”

A recent photo essay on the new burn magazine website creatively portrays the life of a girl diagnosed with diabetes.

December 1st is World AIDS Day, and today and every day 4,000 people will die of AIDS in Africa. Important medical advances are not reaching Africa, but you can help.