While the Republican and Democratic National Conventions painted different challenges for the next administration, speakers at both recognized the threats posed by weak and fragile states to America’s safety and prosperity. President Obama and others recently made a strong case for why the next administration must continue to invest in global development at this year’s Global Development Summit. The recently released Fragile States Index provides a useful snapshot of where we should invest.

The global health threat posed by Zika was made starkly clear when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently issued a warning that pregnant women should not travel to a Miami neighborhood where the virus has spiked. Yet, around the same time, Colombia remarkably declared an end to its Zika epidemic. Colombia was one of the hardest-hit countries, with the second-highest number of infections after Brazil. But unlike Brazil, Colombia had a robust Zika monitoring system in place when the first infections were confirmed due in part to international support from U.S. health officials.

At last week’s White House Summit on Global Development, held at the U.S. Agency for International Development, civil society leaders, development experts, and private sector partners gathered to recognize progress we made in global development. Check out these 10 quotes that capture the richness of the discussions.

If the 65 million displaced people in the world today were a country, they would be the 21^st largest country in the world. Fueling this mass displacement are numerous conflicts around the world, including four “Level 3” emergencies – the most severe classification – in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and South Sudan. The crisis in Syria alone has forced over 11 million people from their homes. While most agree that the solution to these conflicts is ultimately a political one, there remains a pressing need for the United States to respond to the humanitarian disaster and provide life-saving assistance to those in need.

It’s conventional wisdom that Congress doesn’t get much done in an election year. But under the radar, Congress has been remarkably productive at moving bipartisan legislation on foreign assistance. At a time when political polarization can seem stronger than ever, members of Congress have found common ground in ensuring the sustained effectiveness of development and diplomacy.

Over the past two decades, there has been a dramatic transformation in developing countries: the number of people living in extreme poverty has been more than cut in half and, as a result, there are one billion fewer people living in extreme poverty today. But if we are going to achieve the United Nation’s sustainable development goal and eradicate extreme poverty by 2030, we must first understand how the landscape of poverty has changed.

Wearing a red nose is a bold fashion choice. It’s silly. It makes you laugh. But that’s the point of Red Nose Day, a charity event on May 26 committed to raising awareness for ending child poverty. “Sharing a laugh brings people together,” explains the Red Nose Day website. “Wearing a Red Nose is a way to create moments of special human connection. Red Nose Day is all about bringing people together to care for each other.” Here’s how some of Red Nose Day’s charity partners—and USGLC members—are working to help end child poverty.

Last week the Pew Research Center released an update of its study, “America’s Place in the World,” and I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising that an American public about to nominate Hillary Clinton on the one hand and Donald Trump on the other has conflicting ideas. The report is worth a deep read (at over 100 pages), but my take-away is that Americans continue to want our country to stay engaged in the world, that the isolationism seen a few years back is receding, but that Americans are ambivalent – which creates opportunities for campaigns on both sides of the aisle. This is especially true when it comes to the global economy and the polls shows significant differences in the Republican Party, with Trump voters more hesitant on global engagement.

The 2016 baseball season is in full swing, and fans of the game have seen a remarkable change in recent years. Teams now track and measure an incredible amount of data from every game, from walks to batting average and earned run average to strikeouts. But a new focus on data and transparency hasn’t just shaped how baseball is played — the “big data” revolution is also helping make U.S. foreign assistance more efficient, effective, and accountable.

We are on the cusp of achieving what, for decades, was considered to be unlikely: an effective vaccine against a human parasite. The parasite in question — malaria — has stayed several steps ahead of the human immune system for millennia. While we’ve made great progress shrinking the global malaria map, no single tool will rid the planet of this pernicious parasite, which is why PATH is working on multiple approaches and solutions, including vaccines.