Africa Topic News
Novartis has reduced the price of its malaria drug by a fifth (4/24/2008): Drug company Novartis has announced a 20 per cent average reduction in the price of its malaria drug Coartem to help access to treatment in the world's poorest regions.
World Food Program warns of 'silent tsunami' of hunger (4/24/2008): The skyrocketing cost of food staples, stoked by rising fuel prices, unpredictable weather and demand from India and China, has already sparked sometimes violent protests across the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.
Neglected diseases (4/24/2008): Nearly one out of every six people worldwide is affected by a preventable and treatable disease such as malaria, cholera, tuberculosis, river blindness, dengue fever, or human African trypanosomoiasis (sleeping sickness).
Bush authorizes $200m in food aid (4/16/2008): Mr. Bush directed the agriculture secretary to draw down on the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust, a food reserve for emergency needs in the developing world.
Higher Prices Could Undo Africa Growth (4/16/2008): Higher food and fuel costs, together with poor infrastructure and falling aid levels, threaten to undo several years of strong growth in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Food aid groups push 'green revolution' to fix hunger crisis (4/16/2008): Leading food aid groups are calling for a "green revolution" that would help impoverished regions develop their own agriculture economies rather than relying on U.S.-grown food.
African Development: Promise and Peril (4/14/2008): Being entrepreneurial, is the way that Africa will move forward in the 21st century.
African Super-Fund suggested by World Bank (4/14/2008): A "fund of funds" is one way to achieve the World Bank's aim of encouraging state-owned wealth pools to invest in African businesses.
World Bank Leader Urges Action on Food (4/14/2008): The president of the World Bank has called for immediate action to deal with mounting food prices that have caused deadly violence in several countries.
Quick test could hamper resistant TB (4/14/2008): A public-sector laboratory demonstrated it can routinely diagnose drug-resistant tuberculosis within hours instead of weeks.
IMF slashes world growth forecast (4/14/2008): The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that the world economy will grow much more slowly in the next two years as a result of the credit crunch.
Africa lags far behind UN goal of slashing child mortality (4/11/2008): Less than a quarter of "priority countries" are on track to reach UN goals for reducing high rates of infant and maternal mortality by 2015.
Climate Change: A Challenge for Public Health (4/11/2008): Human activities, not fossil fuel emissions, carried the exotic species of mosquito across the Pacific Ocean and increased malaria.
Malaria and the politics of disease (4/11/2008): Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, is likely to propose a multi-billion dollar effort to reduce the number of malaria deaths to close to zero within five years or so.
US Leadership Approval Highest in Sub-Saharan Africa (4/8/2008): Gallup Polls in 139 countries reveal approval of U.S. leadership in sub-Saharan Africa is about twice as high as it is in other areas of the world.
G8 to double aid to Africa by 2010 (4/8/2008): G8 rich nations vowed to step up cooperation with emerging donors such as China and India and said they remained committed to a goal to double their own aid to Africa by 2010.
India pledges Africa investment (4/8/2008): India would provide more than $500m for projects in Africa.
ABC Strategy Not Enough in HIV Fight (4/8/2008): Poverty, gender imbalances, sexual violence and negative cultural practices deny some people a choice to control their sexual behaviours.
More HIV-positive pregnant women getting antiretrovirals (4/8/2008): In 2006, just over a third of a million pregnant women with HIV received antiretroviral therapy to prevent HIV transmission to their baby, a 60% increase over 2005.
Health damage from climate change has already started (4/7/2008): From mosquito-borne diseases to a heat wave that killed thousands of elderly Europeans, to malaria.
Climate Change Will Erode Foundations Of Health (4/7/2008): The warming of the planet will be gradual, but the effects of extreme weather events -- more storms, floods, droughts and heat waves -- will be abrupt and acutely felt.
Africa road deaths to rise 80% by 2020 (4/7/2008): The number of fatalities on Africa's roads is predicted to rise by over 80 percent between 2000 and 2020, second only to South Asia at 144 per cent.
HIV Prevention Studies Yield Mixed Results (4/4/2008): Scientists agree that with no prospect of an effective vaccine to curb the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the foreseeable future, expanding prevention tools is all the more important.
Africa must make health spending a priority (4/4/2008): Africa must make higher health spending a priority if it is to stop rich nations poaching medical staff and cut deaths from the continent's five biggest killers.
Africa's Population Set to Double by 2036 (4/4/2008): The sub-Saharan population is growing at the rate of 2.5 percent per year as compared to 1.2 percent in Latin America and Asia.
The Global Poverty Act: The Wrong Track for US Aid Policy (4/4/2008): The Global Poverty Act of 2007, currently before Congress, is superfluous, misguided, and dangerous.
Justice for the Poorest (4/4/2008): Across the developing world, poor women receive little justice when it comes to property issues, sexual slavery, domestic abuse or sexual violence.
Mugabe privately admits defeat (4/3/2008): Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has admitted to his family and advisers that he has lost the most important election of his 28-year rule.
Reducing US Foreign Aid Will Help Africa (4/3/2008): The foreign aid resources that Africa needs can be found within Africa itself.
House votes to increase PEPFAR (4/3/2008): A bipartisan coalition in the House voted yesterday to significantly expand PEPFAR by authorizing $50 billion over five years.
Poor Progress In Financing Africa's Development (4/3/2008): Strong economic growth rates in Africa have failed to translate adequately into more jobs and less poverty.
Why Philanthropy Alone Won't Solve Africa's Problems (4/3/2008): What makes the real difference is policy changes at the highest levels of government, coupled with charitable efforts that attract publicity to those changes.
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.