China skirting African corruption in direct aid – As China’s strategic interest in East Africa grows, instead of simply giving cash as foreign aid, China prefers to pay Chinese companies to improve infrastructure, bypassing local politicians and construction crews. Just last month, Chinese workers built two towers in Kampala, in what “aid watchdogs applaud as a model to help defeat the inefficiencies and cash-pocketing corruption associated with other systems of foreign aid delivery.” This new model could help to “cut the risk of aid scandals like the one that rocked the $22.6 billion Global Fund.” (AP, Rodney Muhumuza)
World Bank: Break Down African Trade Barriers – In a new World Bank Report, De-Fragmenting Africa: Deepening Regional Integration, they say that regional trade barriers are preventing African countries from earning billions of dollars. Combining the individual country markets would “bring a lot of opportunities for people to trade across borders, but (also) to exploit the benefits of a much larger market.” The World Bank is expected to increase funding to regional trade integration projects for 2012. (VOA, Joe DeCapua)
Funding squeeze, apathy mean another half century of AIDS – UN expert – Paul De Lay, the deputy executive director of UNAIDS said that while the world could soon reduce new HIV infections to zero with enough funding, “global apathy and the financial crisis mean it might take another 50 years to stop the AIDS epidemic.” De Lay called on developing countries to take responsibility for eradicating HIV in their own countries instead of relying completely on foreign assistance, especially at a time when HIV/AIDS efforts are facing an unprecedented drop in funding. (AlertNet, Thin Lei Win)
World Bank Warns on Africa Trade – A new World Bank report shows that African countries are “sacrificing billions of dollars in potential trade each year to inefficient border crossings and discordant regulations that make it difficult to do business on the continent.” The World Bank urges these countries to streamline border protocols, invest in infrastructure, and coordinate legal and financial rules to help boost international trade. (WSJ, Patrick McGroarty)
Horn of Africa Famine Six Months Later – In a recent briefing about the famine in the Horn of Africa, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy for the Bureau of African Affairs, Bruce Wharton, explained that we need to “work with regional governments and others to establish longer-term food security assurance,” and fill the “fundamental need for stable, secure, and citizen-focused governance in Somalia.” The U.S. has been the largest humanitarian donor to the region. (VOA)
Malaria death toll falling – A recent study by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) indicates that despite the fact that malaria kills about 50% more people than previously realized, “efforts to combat the disease have however evened out reducing the totally number of global deaths.” The report also shows that malaria deaths peaked in 2004, at 1.8 million people, and have since been declining. (Digital Journal, Robin Okuthe)
Improving Governance Through Budget Transparency – The current fiscal crises in the US and Europe has led to “greater scrutiny of the efficacy of public expenditures,” which will likely have the greatest impact on “foreign aid and development assistance, as countries demand greater accountability for each dollar or euro spent.” This scrutiny has led to a recent surge in government-led initiatives that aim to increase fiscal transparency and make “aid to conflict ridden countries dependent on improved governance.” (Huffington Post, Michael Lipsky)
Is Malaria Twice as Deadly Than We Think It Is? – The news last week that malaria kills nearly twice as many people per year as we had previously thought “plunges the current multibillion-dollars anti-malaria campaign, and the push to reach a 2015 deadline for achieving the eight Millennium Development Goals, into grave doubt.” Previous statistics have underestimated the scope of the malaria problem, believing that it was a disease that primarily afflicted children. (TIME, Alex Perry)
Malaria death toll possibly twice as high as experts estimated – A new study funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation suggests that malaria may have killed as many as 1.2 million people in 2010, 90% of whom are in Africa. This figure is twice as high as the World Health Organization’s estimate of 655,000. The study also challenges the belief that children under the age of 5 and pregnant women are the most susceptible to the disease. (AP)
UN declares Somalia’s famine over, but says millions across East Africa still in crisis – The United Nations declared Friday that Somali’s famine is over, yet “2.3 million people remain in a food crisis situation in Somalia and still need assistance.” Across the Horn of African, more than 9.5 million people still need aid, and continued assistance is needed to prevent the fragile region from reverting back to famine. (AP)
Famine Crisis Warning for West African Sahel Region – Early warning systems indicate that “famine is imminent” in regions of Mali, northern Burkina Faso and parts of Senegal due to erratic rains and poor harvests. In addition, conflict in Ivory Coast has hindered trade and contributed to a 40% inflation rate for food. (Reuters)
The Future of Foreign Aid Money – In a survey of 41 aid agencies, Reuters found that respondents overwhelmingly believed that environmental disasters will be the biggest factors in increasing the need for humanitarian aid, and that disaster preparedness is critical. Aid organizations recognize that “funding for disaster risk reduction…is not very ‘sexy’ for donors,” yet it is the most cost effective way to mitigate more extreme disasters. (Huffington Post, Tom Murphy)
Why the Global Fund Matters – Paul Farmer argues that the Global Fund is facing a significant funding deficit that hit right as the end of AIDS became plausible. The Fund doesn’t just give ‘handouts;’ it makes long-term investments in health ministries and local health systems, an “approach that has had profound spillover effects on other health and development priorities.” According to Farmer, “if we allow the fund to fail, many people will die, and we will forfeit the chance at [an] AIDS-free generation.” (NYTimes Paul Farmer)
Engineering a Healthy Tomorrow for the Poorest Billion – Bill Gates, leaders of major pharmaceutical companies, and senior government officials from around the world unveiled “a joint declaration and a strategy to rid the world of ten neglected diseases that afflict the poorest of the poor in the world within a decade.” This declaration will aim to detect, diagnose, cure, and manage tropical diseases that have previously been neglected. (Huffington Post, Muhammad H. Zaman)
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
