What We’re Reading: Counterfeit drugs threaten malaria control efforts

Jan 17th, 2012 12:35 PM UTC
By Emily Walker

Nigerian President Relents on Gas Subsidies – President Goodluck Johnson has restored the $8 billion in fuel subsidies in Nigeria, following a week of protests and violence. In Nigeria, “subsidized gas is one of the few benefits trickling down from an infamously corrupt government” for the three-quarters of the population that lives on less than a dollar a day. The protesters see the removal of the fuel subsidy – “abrupt and unaccompanied by any palliative measures – [as] one more act of insensitivity by a government . . . criticized for favoring the wealthy.” (NYTimes, Adam Nossiter)

Counterfeit drugs threaten malaria control efforts – According to a study funded by the UK’s Wellcome Trust, counterfeit drugs are “threatening to sabotage breakthroughs in controlling malaria.” The effectiveness of the malaria drug artemisinin is being undermined by poor-quality anti-malarial drugs originating from China and being distributed in Africa and Southeast Asia. (ABC News, Mary Ann Jolley)

Financial Crisis May Kill in Congo as Global Health Aid Stalls – Because of recent shortfalls in foreign aid, 28,000 people living with HIV in Congo may be forced to go without life-saving drugs. The economic crisis in Europe and the U.S. has forced governments to eliminate or slow “their contributions to the World Health Organization and disease-fighting funds that prop up health services in the world’s poorest countries.” (Bloomberg Businessweek, Simeon Bennett)

Liberia’s President Stresses Reconciliation in Second Inaugural Speech – President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf inaugurated a second six-year term on Monday, calling for “political reconciliation after a runoff election that was tarnished b y an opposition boycott and street clashed between protesters and the police.” Sirleaf acknowledged that there is still a divide between her presidency and her opponents, led by Winston Tubman, and that “the cleavages that led to decades of war still run deep.” (NYTimes, Steven Lee Myers)

Tuareg Rebels Attack Towns in North Mali – A new Tuareg rebel group that includes former pro-Gadhafi fighters, has launched attacks in several towns in northern Mali. Moussa Ag Acharatoumane, one of the leaders of the National Movement of the Liberation of the Azawad, explained that their goal is to liberate the towns in north Mali. (AP)

TAGS: ONE, What We're Reading