What We’re Reading 2/16/10

Feb 16th, 2010 10:10 AM UTC
By Robyn Mitchell

Afrique En Ligne: Tanzania declares all-out war against malaria
African newspaper, Afrique En Ligne, reports that Tanzania’s health ministry and private health partners Monday swung into action to bring malaria under control, after Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete declared an all-out war against the disease. Launching the nationwide anti-malaria campaign, under the buzzword ‘Zinduka’ (meaning ‘wake up’ in Kiswahili), Kikwete stated that every Tanzanian must be involved in this effort. The campaign aims to promote the people’s awareness about the disease and the danger it poses to the nation, the president said, noting that 290 people die of malaria daily in Tanzania. ‘Failure is not acceptable. This is a war we must all fight vigorously and win,” Kikwete said, urging sponsors of the campaign to make sure the message reaches every nook and cranny of the country.

Today (The Gambia): HIV Issues Should be Part of Country’s Development Plans
Participants of an advocacy meeting in The Gambia argued that it is necessary that HIV and its revolving issues be factored into the nation’s development plan so that a definite roadmap could be charted for the amelioration of the scourge in the African country. Speaking at the forum, Mr. Alieu Jammeh, director general of the National AIDS Secretariat noted that the impact of HIV/AIDS is unique because AIDS kills adults in the prime of their lives, thus depriving families, communities, and entire nations of their young and most productive population. Jammeh further noted that mainstreaming HIV-related priorities into poverty reduction strategies helps create an ‘enabling policy and resource environment’ for an effective response to the epidemic, thus achieving synergy between diverse interventions across many sectors, and ensuring adequate financing for HIV/AIDS.

The Huffington Post: Kenyan Farmers Persevere Despite Cultivation Challenges
Danielle Nierenberg, a senior researcher with the Worldwatch Institute in Washington, D.C, highlights the extreme poverty of one of Africa’s largest slums, where despite the challenges people face, “they are thriving and living.” Nierenberg describes a “self-help” group of female farmers in the slum who are growing food for their families and selling the surplus to their neighbors. According to the researcher, such groups are present all over Kenya, giving youth, women and vulnerable people the opportunity to organize, share information and skills and ultimately improve their well-being while giving them a voice that otherwise would not be heard. Writes Nierenberg, “The future for these farmers continues to be uncertain. Their land could be taken away, the drought could further jeopardize their crops, and the loss of wastewater for fertilizer could reduce production. But they continue to persevere despite these challenges.”

The New York Times: Girls’ Health: Kits to Aid in Menstrual Health May Cut School Absenteeism in Kenya
The New York Times reports that a new American-backed charity in Kenya has begun giving away kits containing washable sanitary pads, underwear and soap after a new study at Oxford University found that lack of access to expensive disposable sanitary pads keeps schoolgirls at home up to five days each month when they have their period. Huru International, in partnership with the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Johnson & Johnson and other backers, developed soft terry-cloth pads that can be washed and reused. The kits also contain information about safe sex and avoiding AIDS. According to the paper, the charities involved hope other African women will use microfinance loans to buy the machines needed to make the pads and sell them.

The Huffington Post: Haiti and the rules of generosity (Editorial)
Princeton University Professor, Peter Singer, explores the outpouring of donations worldwide in the wake of the earthquake in Haiti, which leads him to ask the question: Why do people give generously to earthquake victims, but not to prevent the much larger number of deaths brought about by extreme poverty, insufficient food, unsafe water, lack of sanitation, and the absence of even the most basic healthcare? Singer argues that while the earthquake took an astronomical number of lives, “it is fewer than the number of children who, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), die every ten days from avoidable, poverty-related causes.” Singer also highlights the arguments of aid advocate, Elie Hassenfeld, who says that “there are good grounds for thinking that disaster relief is less cost-effective than aid aimed at saving the lives of those who are at risk from extreme poverty.”

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