Blood and Milk

If Tom Murphy can invent his own blog awards, so can I. I therefore present to you the first annual Blood and Milk blog awards – the BAMBAs:

Best Writing

Owen Barder. No matter how complex the topic is, if Owen’s writing it, I can follow. He also seems like the blogger most commonly cited by entry-level folks on AidSource. Some of them don’t even realize he’s a senior-level professional working for CGD. They just think he’s brilliant.

Best Blogs by Academics

Chris Blattman pretty much owns academic blogging on international development, and for good reason.

Ed Carr Ed’s blog is tough, plainspoken, and willing to tell you the truth in a much firmer way than you might expect.

Marc Bellemare Marc focuses on food and agriculture, with a bit of everything else thrown in. He knows what he’s talking about.

Best all-around keeping up with the everything blogs

Humanosphere Everyone should read this blog. It’s an entertaining overview of everything that’s going on in international development. It’s written by a professional journalist, and it shows.

A View from the Cave Tom Murphy isn’t afraid to offer criticism when he thinks it’s called for, and he covers a huge range of development topics.

Best Global Health Blog that almost never updates any more

Karen Grepin makes complex global health topics understandable, and, as far as I can tell, she is omniscient.

Best Global Health Blog that does update

Sarah Bosely writes a global health blog as part of the Guardian’s excellent coverage of global health and development. This blog can occasionally feel corporate, but it’s full of great content and gets props for being the first mainstream media source to talk about the end of antibiotics.

Best TB Blog

Science Speaks is one of those blogs where you find yourself wanting to share every single post they write.

Best Malaria Blog

Malaria Matters I have a strong bias for blogs that have a voice, not a corporate identity. Bill Brieger’s Malaria Matters blog is a great one.

Best Malaria Blog that never updates, dammit

Topnaman Naman Shah hardly ever updates, but when he does it’s worth reading.

Best Antibiotics Blogs

Maryn McKenna at Wired talks about every new developed in drug-resistant bacteria. Including fecal transplants. Not exactly a beginner’s blog, but you can always google the things you don’t understand.

Antibiotics – the perfect storm is a very wonky, industry-focused blog on the development (or lack thereof) of new antibiotics.

Part two…coming up tomorrow!