Most Recent Ten Issues http://www.africafocus.org/ http://www.africafocus.org/images/aflogo.gif http://www.africafocus.org en-us http://www.africafocus.org/docs12/gf1205.php 9, May 012 May 9, 2012 - "We write as global health groups, communities affected by HIV, TB, and Malaria, and researchers from around the world to urge you not to undermine the founding principle of a demand-driven Global Fund. We are united against proposals to set 'envelopes' or 'allocations' for each country, which would result in limited ambition, scaled back or skewed plans, and ultimately a failure to get ahead of death and new infections. Limiting ambition now will only cost more in the future - in lives and money." - civil society letter to Global Fund Board http://www.africafocus.org/docs12/wb1204b.php 11 Apr 2012 Apr 11, 2012 - AfricaFocus Bulletin
Apr 11, 2012 (120411)
(Reposted from sources cited below) http://www.africafocus.org/docs12/wb1204a.php 11 Apr 2012 Apr 11, 2012 - Despite the tilted voting structure and the likely victory of the candidate nominated by U.S. President Obama, the contest for the new World Bank president, who will be chosen next week by the World Bank board, has been the subject of unprecedented open debate. Any of the three candidates would, in different ways, break the mold of selection of a white male American economist or foreign policy veteran. But, of equal importance, and much less discussed, any of the candidates would also head up an institution with a contradictory mix of old practices and new ideas, despite the demise of the market-fundamentalist "Washington consensus." http://www.africafocus.org/docs12/brics1204.php 4, Apr 012 Apr 4, 2012 - When the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries met for their fourth summit in New Delhi last month, the event attracted little attention from the Western press. The New York Times headlined its report "BRICS Leaders Fail to Create Rival to World Bank," noting that the summit only created a working group to consider such a new development bank next year. But the common tendency to dismiss the group because of its internal diversity risks ignoring the steady emergence of greater influence for its members beyond their obvious growing economic weight. http://www.africafocus.org/docs12/hiv1202.php 1, Mar 012 Mar 1, 2012 - In the last 15 years, AIDS activists and medical professionals, in Africa and around the world, have won the recognition that the fight against AIDS, which disproportionately affects the African continent, is a shared global responsibility. http://www.africafocus.org/docs12/bd1202a.php 10 Feb 2012 Feb 10, 2012 - According to a study published in the British Medical Journal in November 2011, nine sub-Saharan countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe) invested some $2 billion in costs of educating doctors who subsequently emigrated to the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, or Canada. The receiving countries gained an estimated $4.55 billion from these investments, in savings from medical education that they did not have to finance. The familiar phenomenon of "brain drain," it is clear, should also be seen as a subsidy from developing to developed countries. http://www.africafocus.org/docs12/hf1202.php 3, Feb 012 Feb 3, 2012 - "Simply put, if we allow the fund to fail, many people will die, and we will forfeit the chance at the "AIDS-free generation" that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for in November. This is no time to step back." - Paul Farmer http://www.africafocus.org/docs11/mal1110.php 20 Oct 2011 Oct 20, 2011 - "Over the past decade, scaling up the delivery of existing interventions [against malaria] is estimated to have saved more than one million lives in Africa alone, with the majority of these deaths averted since 2007. That was the year when the big push to improve coverage really hit the ground." - Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General, World Health Organization http://www.africafocus.org/docs11/hiv1107.php 5, Jul 011 Jul 5, 2011 - South Africa's 5th AIDS conference, held from June 7-10 this year, marked a remarkable turnaround in the country's efforts against the AIDS pandemic. Achievements noted included bringing 400,000 additional AIDS patients into antiretroviral treatment within the last year, raising the total to 1.4 million; cutting the cost of antiretroviral therapy in half over six months; and extending treatment using trained nurses to more than 1,600 health facilities. Most important of all has been a strong spirit of collaboration among the government, medical specialists, and activists. http://www.africafocus.org/docs11/wod1106.php 14 Jun 2011 Jun 14, 2011 - "Vast expenditures on criminalization and repressive measures directed at producers, traffickers and consumers of illegal drugs have clearly failed to effectively curtail supply or consumption. [at the same time] the implementation of the war on drugs has generated widespread negative consequences for societies in producer, transit and consumer countries, [including] the growth of a 'huge criminal black market', financed by the risk-escalated profits of supplying international demand for illicit drugs." - Global Commission on Drug Policy