What We’re Reading 12/21/2009

Dec 21st, 2009 1:43 PM UTC
By Virginia Simmons

AllAfrica.com: Zambia: 2009 in Review – Anti-Malaria Drive Pays Off
With dramatic increases in funding and intense momentum towards reducing the malaria burden in recent years, Zambia is almost at the verge of being declared malaria free.

Seattle Business Journal – Gates Foundation gives nearly $10M to combat malaria:
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is giving $9.85 million to the Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology in an effort to combat malaria. The award to the Newark, Del., nonprofit research organization will fund clinical development of a transmission-blocking vaccine to fight malaria, according to the Seattle foundation.

New Zimbabwe – Zim to copy SA plan on HIV+ troops:
Zimbabwe’s military top brass is studying a South African programme to put HIV positive troops back in full service. The South African government has published operational guidance for deploying HIV positive soldiers which it says “removes discrimination”.

Reuters – UN climate talks end with bare minimum agreement:
U.N. climate talks ended with a bare-minimum agreement on Saturday when delegates “noted” an accord struck by the United States, China and other emerging powers that falls far short of the conference’s original goals. “Finally we sealed a deal,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. “The ‘Copenhagen Accord’ may not be everything everyone had hoped for, but this … is an important beginning.”

AllAfrica.com – Economist’s Self-Flagellating Aid Tract Does Continent No Favours (op-ed):
“In the recently published Dead Aid, author Dambisa Moyo, a Harvard- and Oxford-educated Zambian economist and former World Bank employee, controversially called for an end to development aid in Africa in five years. Moyo has produced one of the most dangerously influential books in recent times, offering simplistic, sweeping recipes for resolving Africa’s economic crisis. The book is lacking in substance and subtlety, and often borders on sophistry.”

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