Topic News
Addressing Nigeria's brain drain (3/31/2008): Many of the brightest and best African scientists have already been lured to the West by the promise of better pay and - more importantly - the chance to carry out more effective research.
Rwanda, Where Aid Debate And Theory Meet (3/31/2008): Rwanda's government has turned what was once Africa's poorest and smallest countries on the continent into a business-friendly location.
Africa needs stronger parliaments to monitor aid (3/31/2008): A recent report by the Africa All Party Parliamentary Group states that donors were partly responsible for Africa's weak parliaments.
Only poor people can break the cycle of poverty (3/31/2008): Only the self-reliant efforts of poor people and poor societies themselves can end poverty.
In food aid crunch, US reluctant to tap crop trust (3/31/2008): The Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust was set up as a fund of last resort when hunger emergencies erupt in the world's most vulnerable corners.
Discovery about fertilization points way to possible malaria vaccine (3/27/2008): Stopping malaria cells from reproducing might be the missing link in developing a malaria vaccine.
Study confirms cost-effectiveness of STI management in HIV control (3/27/2008): In sub-Saharan Africa, the management of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) remains a cost-effective strategy for controlling HIV in a number of different scenarios.
Cost of Treating TB Up (3/26/08): Failure to diagnose or treat the disease in time is causing the rapid spread of the strain.
Eritrea urges east Africa to wean itself off aid (3/26/08): Eritrea's national development minister urged other east African nations Tuesday to reduce their dependence on foreign aid by pursuing policies of self-reliance.
Aid Agencies Warn About Somalia (3/26/08): Forty local and international aid agencies warned Tuesday of an impending humanitarian catastrophe in war-ravaged Somalia.
6 In 10 Africans Remain Without Access To Proper Toilet (3/26/08): Some 2.6 billion people around the world live without access to even a toilet at home and thus are vulnerable to a range of health risks.
AIDS Vaccine Testing at Crossroads (3/26/08): Researchers believe that more of the federal AIDS budget needs to be spent on basic lab research and less on testing the current crop of vaccines.
Can wealth affect health? (3/25/2008): Sheldon Cohen and a mountain of studies show socioeconomic status can have a profound influence on health.
Proper sanitation Nearly two-thirds of Africans lack access (3/25/2008): Over 60 per cent of Africans lack access to a proper toilet.
African trials aim for effective TB vaccine (3/25/2008): There has been an upsurge of interest from drug companies to develop a new TB vaccine by 2015, driven by evidence that TB and AIDS feed off each other.
Somalia declared free of polio (3/25/2008): No Somali child has been paralysed by polio in the past year as a result of a huge campaign to repeatedly vaccinate 1.8 million children in the Horn of Africa nation.
TB Drug Treatment Can Lead to Severe Pneumonia (3/25/2008): A drug used to treat children with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis can lead to the development of drug-resistant invasive pneumonia and meningitis.
Africa: Rising Incomes to Grow Private Health Sector (3/19/2008): The private healthcare industry is projected to grow steadily in the next eight years, driven by rising incomes and demand for services.
Global water crisis looming, UN says (3/19/2008): By 2025, a third of the planet's growing population could find itself scavenging for safe drinking water.
Poor Reproductive Health Hurts Growth (3/19/2008): Unless women are able to achieve full control of their reproduction, it will be nearly impossible to meet millennium development goals.
Country Has Worst TB Prevalence in the World (3/19/2008): South Africa has by far the worst TB prevalence rate in the world.
Progress in Fighting TB Slows (3/18/2008): Between 2005 and 2006, the rate of new cases fell by less than 1 percent, far less than the annual decrease of 5 to 7 percent sought by health officials.
Poor Roads and the Broken Path to Development (3/18/2008): According to the World Bank, Sub-Saharan Africa has 0.08 kilometres of road for every square kilometre of land, compared to 0.58 kilometres of road in developed countries like France and England.
World sanitation goals slip; nature can help (3/17/2008): Part of the solution for cutting water-borne diseases may lie in plants or soil bacteria that feed on waste.
Child mortality: Rage of a silent emergency (3/17/2008): While child mortality rates in sub-Saharan Africa have generally decreased by 14 percent since 1990, Nigeria still has one of the highest child mortality rates.
Heart disease plagues urban Africa (3/17/2008): African women living in urban areas are at greater risk than men of contracting heart disease.
Economics and the rule of law (3/17/2008): The more economists find out about the rule of law, the more desirable it seems-and the more problematic as a universal economic guide.
Freer World Trade has Huge Benefits (3/13/2008): Freer trade could bring benefits worth up to $120 billion a year to the world economy, including $17 billion for the poorest countries in Africa and Asia.
Inhaled tuberculosis vaccine more effective than traditional shot (3/13/2008): A novel aerosol version of the most common tuberculosis (TB) vaccine offers significantly better protection against the disease in experimental animals.
Scientists warn of wheat disease (3/13/2008): Scientists are testing a wide variety of native wheats from Asia and Africa to see if they can find natural resistance to the disease and breed new varieties from them.
Tuberculosis in Africa - Combating an HIV-Driven Crisis (3/13/2008): Africa is facing the worst tuberculosis epidemic since the advent of the antibiotic era.
Hope for Those Most Vulnerable to Malaria (3/12/2008): Clinical trials in Mozambique have shown that a malaria vaccine is safe and effective for infants.
PEPFAR "Compromise" Abandons Successful Approaches (3/12/2008): The new PEPFAR bill tries to deal with numerous social ills of the developing world, instead of focusing on AIDS treatment.
DDT Indoor Spraying Should Start Quickly (3/12/2008): The threat from malaria and the poverty associated with it are far worse than the harmful effects from using DDT.
Teach us how to fish - don't just give us fish (3/12/2008): Africa does not need aid; we need to participate in a fairer trading system.
Infertility from Mali's cotton cooking oil (3/12/2008): Home-grown cooking oil has sparked a health scare because many of the country's oil factories lack the refining equipment to remove the toxin gossypol from cotton seed.
Deadly Disease Eliminated In Uganda (3/11/2008): Hib meningitis has been virtually eliminated in young children in Uganda just five years.
What it takes to open a door for the poor (3/11/2008): The real work of lifting the last billion out of poverty happens country by country and village by village, not through a deluge of development aid.
Can Foreign Aid Save Africa? (3/11/2008): Forcibly taking money from the United States and sending it overseas is unconstitutional and immoral.
A first step for the global poor - shatter six myths (3/11/2008): Rich nations should devote disproportionate financial and technical resources to the very worst-off - to build a floor for their survival, and to deliver the basis for self-sustaining growth and wealth of their own creation.
Patient Monitoring Would Improve HIV Treatment (3/11/2008): HIV treatment in Africa could lengthen and save many more lives if programs monitored infected individuals more closely and identified those needing treatment earlier.
$30 Million Research Program Into Malaria During Pregnancy (3/11/2008): The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine has received a $30 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to improve the control and treatment of malaria in pregnancy in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Africa Needs World Trade Deal, Says WTO Chief (3/10/2008): There is a better chance than ever before that a deal can be done which will help Africa and other developing countries break through into new markets in industrialized countries.
More Drugs for More Developing World Diseases (3/10/2008): For its part, the research-based pharmaceutical industry can support long-term, sustainable access by focusing on what it does best--continued innovation and development of profitable drugs.
Scientists 'step closer to TB cure' (3/6/2008): U.K. scientists have identified two proteins in the TB bacterium they believe allow the disease to thrive in white blood cells.
Learn from Failed Development Aid in Africa (3/6/2008): The record of 50 years of development aid is disastrous. Billions have been poured into recipient countries without lasting progress.
PEPFAR Bill Fails to Promote Proven Strategies (3/6/2008): The U.S. government's overemphasis on abstinence training is pushing other reproductive health strategies to the sidelines.
Implementing Change (3/6/2008): Public health interventions designed to improve conditions in the developing world rarely incorporate specific follow-up studies into their plans.
Health, Africa's struggle (3/5/2008): Foreign aid is flowing in large amounts, but it's not reaching the people.
Business is ticket out of poverty (3/5/2008): Developing an entrepreneurial culture is crucial to lifting Africa from poverty, Ugandan Vice President Gilbert Bukenya has said.
African Health crisis: Activists blame African leaders (3/5/2008): In their annual meetings, African leaders never held G8 leaders accountable for the health problems in Africa.
A new more effective tuberculosis screening test for HIV victims (3/5/2008): New methods testing immune system cells now provide a means of getting round the drawbacks of the old method of skin testing.
African countries should invest in health training (3/5/2008): Health training and education has been identified as one of the critical investments that countries could use to mitigate brain drain.
Eradicate Malaria? Doubters Fuel Debate (3/4/2008): Dr. Arata Kochi, the W.H.O. malaria chief, went further than other skeptics, arguing that 90% of cases could be eliminated but the last 10% would be difficult given current technologies.
Farmers Rake Millions From Malaria Drug (3/4/2008): Africans made prosperous by planting Artemesia, a crop used in anti-malaria drugs, have spurred even more farmers into considering replacing traditional food crops with the drug-crop.
Million maternal deaths avoidable (3/4/2008): The millennium development goal of cutting the number of maternal deaths by 75% by 2015 very likely will not be met.
Africa worst affected by shortage of health workers (3/4/2008): An African conference aims to produce a 10-year global action plan to deal with the problem, which would require US$3.3 billion per year to train 1.8 million health workers in Africa for the next eight years.
HIV Mortality In Poor-Resource Countries Reduced By ARVs (3/4/2008): The Lancet reports that in poor countries, mortality and orphanhood associated with HIV can be reduced through a home-based antiretroviral treatment (ART) program.
More babies in a starving world (3/3/2008): Over the past few years, medical bodies - including the World Health Organisation - have called for greater aid directed toward infertility treatment in Africa.
WHO's Fooling Who? The World Health Organization's Problematic Ranking of Health Care Systems (3/3/2008): The WHO rankings use a number of underlying assumptions- some logically incoherent, some characterized by substantial uncertainty, and some rooted in ideological beliefs and values that not everyone shares.
Tragedy of Africa (2/29/2008): Despite the situation, the worst thing the West can do to Africa is to give more foreign aid.
Home-based HIV care in Uganda has excellent results (2/29/2008): Mortality fell significantly in patients receiving home-based anti-HIV treatment and care.
Free Market Health Care in Africa Promoted (2/29/2008): It has been demonstrated by various health departments in Africa that most of the funds granted for disease prevention or control are largely misused.
Life saver? South African children test a potential new TB vaccine (2/29/2008): Trials in children of a new TB vaccine are underway in South Africa.
Deal reached on funding AIDS program (2/28/2008): The bill authorizes $50 billion over five years for PEPFAR.
US Recession To Impact African Growth (2/28/2008): Lower growth rates in the US and in Europe translates into less trade and therefore lower exports for other countries.
Health Care Workers Needed in Africa's Rural Areas (2/28/2008): Ethiopia has trained and deployed more than 27,000 female health workers in remote areas to provide basic curative and preventative services.
Scientists advance 'drought crop' (2/28/2008): Scientists say they have made a key breakthrough in understanding the genes of plants that could lead to crops that can survive in a drought.
Obama, Bush Offer a US Kiss of Death to Africa (2/27/2008): Foreign aid can be the kiss of death for poor regions.
AIDS in Africa: Coping with Crisis (2/27/2008): In spite of the tragic AIDS pandemic, African governments seem remarkably secure.
New Map for Malaria (2/27/2008): Today, researchers released a detailed map of global malaria risk, and it shows that some at-risk countries are getting less investment per capita than others.
WHO says frontal assault needed as drug-resistant TB cases rise (2/27/2008): The WHO suggested that if aggressive action isn't taken, drug resistant strains could become...a nightmare situation.
90% of ‘aid' ends up in the pockets of US companies (2/27/2008): Almost 90% of all Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) aid goes to ten US-based recipient firms.
Only Africans Can Solve Africa's Problems (2/26/2008): Most of what Africa needs, the West cannot give: rule of law, private property rights, fewer economic restrictions, independent judiciary and limited government.
WHO Says Drug-Resistant TB Spreads Fast (2/26/2008): The rate of TB patients infected with the drug-resistant strain topped 20 percent in some countries, the highest ever recorded.
Recruitment Of Health Workers Damages Sub-Saharan Africa (2/26/2008): The recruitment practices could have a significant impact on the fight against HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.
UN considers rationing food aid (2/25/2008): The director of the UN's World Food Programme has said it is considering plans to ration food aid because of rising prices and a shortage of funds.
Global Challenges: Recruitment of Health Workers in Sub-Saharan Africa (2/25/2008): The practice of recruiting trained health personnel from sub-Saharan Africa to work in developed nations is weakening health infrastructures and undermining efforts to fight HIV/AIDS in the region.
A new approach to an old disease (2/25/2008): An anti-malarial drug, which will sell for less than $1 a pill and won't be hugely profitable, is the result of a public-private partnership model that makes new medicines accessible to the poor.
Married to HIV (2/25/2008): What's killing African women by the millions is unprotected sex with their husbands.
Herpes treatment in Africa: time for a rethink? (2/21/2008): Giving people with genital herpes an advance supply of anti-herpes medication and instructions on how to recognise the early signs of a herpes attack may be the most effective way of limiting the spread of HIV in Africa through herpes lesions.
HIV treatment becoming profitable (2/21/2008): As treatment of HIV patients in the U.S. and abroad continues to improve, it has turned into a growing profit center for the drug industry.
Persons With Disabilities Need HIV Policies (2/21/2008): National HIV/AIDs programs are not designed to adequately cater to persons with disabilities.
The Pepfar 'Record' - Bush's Out of Tune Aids Plan (2/21/2008): Bush's Africa AIDS plan is a painful clash of inconsistent and inefficient policy tunes
Obama's Trillion-Dollar Global Tax to stop World Poverty? (2/21/2008): The Global Poverty Act would commit the United States to spend 0.7 percent a year of GDP on foreign aid. Over the next decade or so, that would work out to around $850 billion.
Glaxo Cuts Price of HIV Drugs for World's Poorest Countries (2/20/2008): The average discount across its 14 not-for-profit HIV drugs was 21%, the company said.
Bush reassures Africa no plans for new US bases (2/20/2008): Bush said the United States and China could both pursue opportunities in Africa without stoking rivalry.
Southern Africa: African Nations Endorse Plan to Merge Trade Blocs (2/20/2008): Trade ministers from the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) have passed a resolution setting the stage for the establishment of what would be Africa's largest common market.
Anti-AIDS Gel Fails (2/19/2008): A new gel that was supposed to prevent AIDS in women failed in its initial testing in South Africa which involved over 6,000 women and was paid for by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID.
NCPA: Saving Africans from Limousine Liberals (2/19/2008): It turns out that most of the hoopla in the West and most of the actual AIDS dollars are focused on AIDS treatment, whereas there is a much better return to be had on AIDS prevention.
State revenues outstrip aid in sub-Saharan Africa - OECD (2/19/2008): Government revenue in sub-Saharan economies increased more quickly than development aid from 2001 to 2006, according to a report by the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Africa's price for US aid (2/19/2008): As part of an agreement with the Millenium Challenge Corporation, Tanzania will receive $700 million from the U.S. to build roads, bring electricity to people and to provide safe drinking water.
US Popular in Africa thanks to Bush (2/18/2008): Tanzanian leader Jakaya Kikwete said of Bush, "But we in Tanzania, if we are to speak for ourselves and for Africa, we know for sure that you, Mr. President, and your administration, have been good friends of our country and have been good friends of Africa."
Aid Not Solution to Poverty in Africa (2/18/2008): Rather than depend on aid, Africa should increase productivity and competitiveness of its products, agro-processing, enlarge markets, have zero tolerance to corruption, good governance and implement poverty eradication frameworks.
Wealth 'may not lead to health' (2/18/2008): Economic growth does not necessarily translate into improvements in child mortality, major new research suggests.
8.2m Children Orphaned in Nigeria By 2010 due to AIDS (2/18/2008): The World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated that over 8.2 million children would be orphaned children by year 2010 in Nigeria as a result of the scourge HIV AIDS, and may kill their parents.
Vaccine against HIV 'no nearer' (2/15/2008): Scientists are no further forward in developing a vaccine against HIV after more than 20 years of research.
Bush Says Paternalism Over in US Aid (2/15/2008): "Too many nations continue to follow either the paternalistic notion that treats African countries as charity cases, or a model of exploitation that seeks only to buy up their resources. America rejects both approaches," Bush commented.
Kenyans At Highest Risk of Taking Fake Drugs (2/15/2008): Many African governments lack the necessary mechanisms to curb the sale of counterfeit medicines.
USAID Awards $70 Million for Labor Complications (2/15/2008): The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced a $70 million, five-year program to prevent and treat obstetric fistula in developing countries, of particular concern in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Global Fund to help pay Zimbabwe doctors (2/15/2008): It will do so in bid to stem a massive brain-drain that has seen the best qualified health professionals leave the country.
Huge food price rises for Africa (2/15/2008): Africa as a whole is expected to see an estimated 49% increase this year.
Our failing approach to African healthcare (2/14/2008): A major factor behind the failure of foreign aid to improve healthcare in Africa is the fact that nearly all of it first passes through health ministries before it can reach patients.
US foreign aid policy with Africa may be in Jeopardy (2/14/2008): President Bush's trip to Africa is motivated in part by fears inside his administration that PEPFAR and the MCAs will not be continued by the next president.
Right Heart (2/14/2008): Kenyan think-tank leader James Shikwati has urged Western leaders to stop sending aid to Africa. "Development aid is one of the reasons for Africa's problems."
Africa bright spot in Bush foreign policy legacy (2/14/2008): A Pew Global Attitudes Project report released last July, found that the "U.S. image is much stronger in Africa than in other regions of the world."
Hearts of Darkness (2/14/2008): If the prosperous nations really want to help Africa, they need to promote wealth-generating entrepreneurial efforts.
Agricultural Biotechnology Continues to Increase Crop Yield (2/14/2008): The benefits of biotech food include a reduction in the environmental impacts of agriculture, increased production on the same amount of acreage, improved food quality, and increased farmer incomes.
Europeans provide micro health insurance for Africans (2/13/2008): Based in the local community they are able to offer basic insurance services for low premiums which are affordable to the poor.
Hunger-fighting strategies and trends (2/13/2008): Many options exist for fighting hunger, from removing land mines to microfinance.
Unplanned pregnancy frequent among women after starting ARVs (2/13/2008): Antiretroviral therapy is known to restore fertility in HIV-positive women, but little is known about its effect on the desire to bear children.
Removing the N from Neglected Tropical Diseases (2/12/2008): Several partners launched a campaign to treat one million children for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) at a cost of about 50 cents per treatment; it costs 300 to 1,200 dollars per year to treat and care for an H.I.V./AIDS patient.
Aid makes our hearts tingle, but is it good? (2/12/2008): While foreign aid has a place in humanitarian efforts, trade is a much better alternative.
China writes off mature debts of 49 countries (2/12/2008): China has waived 374 mature debts due from 49 countries across the Asian, African, South Pacific and Caribbean regions.
Battle Against Counterfeit Drugs (2/12/2008): Previous studies have estimated that between a third and a half of the artesunate tablets (anti-malarial drugs) in mainland Southeast Asia are counterfeit.
ARV provision in Africa could cut HIV transmission by 90 per cent (2/11/2008): The provision of antiretrovirals (ARVs), along with comprehensive sexual risk behaviour and ARV adherence support programmes, cut the risk of HIV transmission by 91% over a three year period in a study from eastern Uganda.
New Battle Brewing Over HIV Prevention (2/11/2008): There is some money now to treat AIDS in parts of Africa, but no money for basic health care or for reproductive health services.
A unified effort on AIDS, global health crises (2/11/2008): Opportunities must be seized to expand in-country workforces of health professionals.
TB is a 'Human Disgrace' (2/11/2008): Africa will not achieve the United Nations-set sixth Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halting and reversing the incidence of tuberculosis (TB) by 2015.
Millennium Development Goals' Yardstick Too Generic (2/8/2008): Benchmarks used by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are misrepresentative of the progress made by African countries and contribute to an international stereotype of "African failure."
The AIDS Industry in Africa (2/8/2008): The development of effective antiretrovirals has transformed AIDS into two diseases-one for the rich and quite a different one for the poor.
US likely to appeal WTO cotton ruling (2/8/2008): The WTO verdict in December was a major victory for Brazil's cotton industry and for West African countries that have claimed to have been harmed by the American payments to growers.
Africa Policy Outlook 2008 (2/8/2008): The Bush Administration's fixation on security and the "war on terror" is already escalating the militarization of U.S. policy in Africa in 2008.
Subsidies for drug firms may not improve access (2/7/2008): In Africa, poor-quality locally-produced anti-malarial drugs harm patients every hour: the WHO says 200,000 deaths could be avoided annually with better medicines.
Developed Countries' Leverage in Africa (2/7/2008): Africa's enormous agricultural potential is vastly untapped, even as its vast mineral wealth and strategic significance have encouraged foreign powers to intervene in the continent's affairs.
Dry Season Brings On Measles In Sub-Saharan Africa (2/7/2008): Measles epidemics in Niger fluctuate wildly from one season to another but the timing of the outbreaks always coincides with the end of the annual rainy season.
A Crime Against All Africans (2/5/2008): Kenyans had made an effort to move toward a functioning democracy, a more open economy and a stable institutional environment. Kibaki's decision to wreck all of that is truly a crime against all Africans.
African Continent is an Accident Waiting to Happen (2/5/2008): Elections are still violently contentious and in most cases stolen.
Prioritize investment in girls, says report (2/5/2008): Developing and underdeveloped countries that do not address the significant disparities against women, risk perpetuating a "cycle of poverty" within their populations.
Why Foreign Aid Isn't Working (2/4/2008): While it is no great revelation to say that foreign aid to Africa isn't working - the numbers don't lie; Africa has received some $600bn in aid since 1960, yet it has actually become poorer since then.
US Global Leadership in fight against AIDS (2/4/2008): A more proactive public-private partnership approach is needed to contain the HIV/AIDS spread directly in developing countries.
WHO Supports Spraying DDT (2/4/2008): The WHO position on indoor-residual spraying is that countries have the right to choose the products to use.
Fight Looms Over Global Aids Program (2/4/2008): President Bush wants to double and House Democrats want to triple spending on PEPFAR.
Public Health Strategy Makes Sharp Inroads Against Malaria (2/1/2008): Widespread distribution of mosquito nets and a new medicine sharply reduced malaria deaths in several African countries, and could reduce "the disease burden 80 to 85 percent in most African countries within five years."
American foreign assistance still valued abroad (2/1/2008): USAID has played a highly useful role in contributing to international development and peace.
IMF conditionality high, effectiveness low (2/1/2008): A report by the IMF's evaluation arm faulted the Fund's overuse of structural conditionality and partially blamed donors for the problem.
Will water become more valuable than oil? (2/1/2008): Humanity can survive and it can adapt to the depleting oil source. It can not do so when it comes to water.
Cocoa farming Fair enough? (2/1/2008): The "Cadbury Cocoa Partnership" aims to show African cocoa farmers how to increase yields using fertilizers and by working with each other.