Floyd Whaley

Writer, editor and content development specialist in Asia and the Pacific for three decades, with a focus on translating complex institutional material into compelling, search-engine-optimized narratives for broad audiences.

floydwhaley@gmail.com

+63 917 130 4245

I turn technical jargon into meaningful stories for some of the world’s top organizations.

The New York Times •

Manila Hospital, No Stranger to Stork, Awaits Reproductive Health Bill’s Fate

By Floyd Whaley
MANILA — In the main ward at Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital, 171 women and nearly as many newborns share fewer than 100 beds. Dozens more expectant mothers line the street outside, some sleeping on the sidewalk while waiting to get in.The women, most of whom cannot afford to give birth at a private hospital, move through a type of controlled chaos from the street, to the labor room, to the delivery room, to the maternity ward and back out the door, usually in less than 48 hours.
South China Morning Post •

Fighting malaria requires the same forces that brought about prosperity

When the powerful antimicrobial medicine quinine came to Europe in the 1600s, it changed history. Religious leaders, royalty and the fortunate few who could obtain it often recovered from the mysterious bone-shaking chills and fever of the little-understood affliction called malaria.

The bitter powder was later mixed with sweet water to form tonic and topped off with gin. The quinine-laced gin and tonic cocktail was seen by some as a miracle cure for malaria.

Though quinine has been used succe...
Miami Herald •

In Philippines, World War II’s lesser-known sex slaves speak out

By Floyd Whaley
The 89-year-old woman stood in the broiling sun this week outside the Philippine presidential palace hoping to make a point.

Inside, the emperor of Japan was being welcomed by local dignitaries, and the woman, Hilaria Bustamante, wanted him to know her story.

She was walking along a provincial road in 1943, during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, she said, when she was abducted by three Japanese soldiers who threw her into a truck and beat her. She was 16.
Asian Development Bank •

Cracking the Secret Code of International Development Work | Asian Development Blog

The over-use of acronyms turns the joy of reading into a tedious process of decoding. It also muddles the message of development communications.
Acronyms – or a series of letters that represent a longer phrase – are common in many professions and organizations but they are also a good way to FYRTCD your writing.

Odds are you don’t know what FYRTCD means (particularly since I just made it up). It stands for “force your reader to constantly decode”.

Securing our region's health : Asia Pacific strategy for emerging diseases

Protecting the health and lives of people against the threat of infectious diseases is an ongoing challenge. In 2005, two regions of the World Health Organization, the South-East Asia Region and the Western Pacific Region, joined forces in a new initiative to confront these challenges. The resulting Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases (APSED) has guided countries and areas in strengthening their capacity to prevent,
detect and respond to infectious diseases, and in ensuring they are well prepared in the event of a newly emerging threat.
Devex •

Is corporate social responsibility profitable for companies?

This article is produced and published by Devex Impact, a global initiative of Devex and USAID, that focuses on the intersection of business and global development and connects companies, organizations and professionals to the practical information they need to make an impact.In 2011, Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter – the king of business gurus – put forward a radical proposition to global corporations.“Businesses must reconnect company success with social progress,” he wrote in...
Devex •

Hard questions for microfinance

Note from editor: This feature on microfinance is produced and published by Devex Impact: a global initiative by Devex and USAID that focuses on the intersection of business and global development and connects companies, organizations and professionals to the practical information they need to make an impact.It is safe to say that few development practices in history have been elevated to the celebrity status enjoyed by microfinance.Generally, a small community of development practitioners and g...
The New York Times •

Opinion | A Different Kind of Aid: Hand Out Money

In central Vietnam, the aid organization Oxfam Great Britain did something unusual in the world of international development: it gave poor people money. From mid-2006, Oxfam GB handed one-time cash grants to 550 poor households in An Loc commune, a rice-growing community in Ha Tinh Province on the central coast of Vietnam. The money came with no conditions other than that it couldn’t be used for alcohol, drugs or gambling, and that the family had to agree to report over a three-year period how i...
Washington Post •

Washington Post Opinion | Help Needed for the 'Unbanked'

A foreign worker in New York needs to send $200 to relatives in his home country. Instead of visiting a bank, he goes to a small office and makes his request to a man sitting at a simple desk with a fax machine and a note pad. Hours later the money is in the hands of his family on the other side of the world.The worker used what financial regulators call an alternative remittance system. These informal money transfer operations are known by different names around the world: hawala in much of the...