The InterDependent

MONROVIA--Malaria is by far the biggest killer in Liberia. The entire country-from the capital's city center to the border regions-is considered endemic in the parasitic disease. Prevention and treatment of malaria are understandably among the country's most pressing public health challenges.

Over the past few weeks, South Sudan has faced the biggest test yet since it declared independence from the north last summer. Just months after this oil-rich, ethnically diverse nation celebrated its secession from an often-oppressive Khartoum government, large-scale violence has broken out between rival ethnic groups.

A decade ago, countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America leapfrogged over the West in telecommunications. After years of struggling to install the elaborate infrastructure for landline telephones and cable Internet, the global south is now home to the world's most enthusiastic cellular phone users. Today, many countries in these regions far outstrip the West in mobile technology.

BUJUMBURA—A decade and a half ago, the world looked on—unwilling and unable to help—as genocide swept through the villages and towns of Burundi and Rwanda. In 1993 in Burundi, as many as 25,000 were massacred—an even which ignited a brutal seven-year war. A year later in Rwanda, 80,000 perished. The international community watched and did little.