Congressional Quarterly: Reorganization of USAID is Focus of Senate Bill
CQ reports that a bipartisan group of leaders on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee offered a significant addition to the debate on overhauling U.S. foreign aid Tuesday with legislation aimed at rebuilding the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The bill is designed to restore USAID as a center of technical expertise and development practice, a preliminary step to a broader revamp of aid programs. The story prominently quotes representatives from MFAN, a reform coalition composed of international development and foreign policy practitioners, policy advocates and experts, concerned citizens and private sector organizations in which ONE takes part.

New York Times: New Effort to Fight TB in South Africa
Celia Dugger reports that multidrug-resistant TB \ in South Africa is posing a grave threat to millions of HIV-positive South Africans whose immune systems are weakened. Under the country’s current treatment policy, patients are taken to isolated hospitals for a grueling regimen of toxic, hard-to-tolerate pills and injections. Some of the hospitals essentially imprison their patients: they are surrounded with barbed wire fences and issue court orders for people who leave. But a new program run by Doctors Without Borders is attempting to treat patients in impoverished communities without removing them, even while they are still infectious.

Reuters: Emerging Nations Need up to $900 billion Reserves: IMF
The International Monetary Fund yesterday estimated that reserve needs of emerging countries (excluding China and oil producers) could reach between $400 billion and $900 billion over the next five years as countries rebuild from the global financial crisis. It said international reserves had been substantially drained as governments have tried to protect their economies. The IMF board has approved a staff proposal to allocate $250 billion in special drawing rights to the Fund’s member countries.

Guardian Editorial: International aid: Feeding Africa
The Guardian writes that the World Bank has finally come to recognize the urgency of investment in global agricultural productivity and, after two decades of neglect, the importance of governments in delivering it. It says that the question now, as world recession eats into aid budgets, is how to get the most out of the money that is available. The editorial concludes that growing more food is only part of the answer but, as a billion people feel the effect of high prices and climate change, it is the part that matters most.

AP: South Africa Launches New AIDS Research
South Africa launched a new initiative Tuesday aimed at stimulating scientific studies into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of HIV/AIDS. The government has pledged $5.8 million over the next three years for the project. South Africa launched an AIDS vaccine created by its own researchers last week but the proud moment was marred when it emerged that state funding for the trial had been halted. Research into an AIDS vaccine has run into so many problems that some experts have questioned sinking funds into it, saying the money might be better spent on prevention and education.

-Grace Lamb-Atkinson