A Decade of Progress: Addressing Humanity’s Shared Challenges.

When Richard Marlink arrived in Botswana 27 years ago, confronting cancer wasn’t on his agenda. As the executive director of the Botswana-Harvard Partnership, Marlink was focused on reducing the African nation’s high rate of HIV/AIDS infections. But in 2016, when Marlink moved to New Jersey to create the Rutgers Global Health Institute, Botswana’s AIDS epidemic was largely under control. Cancer, however, was a different story. “An estimated 80 percent of children diagnosed with cancer in Africa die from the disease, while in the United States, 80 percent of kids with cancer live,” Marlink said. “Why the disparity? It’s because of the inequity around cancer care.”