Vaccine organization says Cameroon, Niger cooperating to recover misused funds – The Geneva-based GAVI Alliance reported Thursday that the health ministries of Niger and Cameroon are cooperating fully in their efforts to recover up to $6.7 million in misused funds. GAVI, an organization funded by a handful of developed nations and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said the health ministries of both countries “have cooperated fully and confirmed their commitment to take all necessary measures, including the reimbursement of misused funds.” (AP)
A Boost for the World’s Poorest Schools – By eliminating school fees, building schools in remote areas, and providing food incentives, New York Times columnist, Tina Rosenberg, highlights that there has been an influx of new students in many school systems in developing countries that are now overwhelmed. Save the Children has created the Literacy Boost program in 12 countries to train and support the teachers and communities on the path towards universal education by 2015. (NYTimes, Tina Rosenberg)
Sudan faces potential famine, U.S. envoy warns – Half a million people will face an emergency bordering on famine by March if humanitarian organizations are not allowed into areas of Sudan that are mired in conflict, US envoy to Sudan Princeton Lyman warned. Groups like UNICEF must be able to work in the border areas of South Kordofan and Blue Nile, he said, though the government in Khartoum argues that these areas are too dangerous for NGOs to operate in. Lyman also urged South Africa to show leadership on the issue. (CNN)
IMF chief calls for job creation in Africa – Africa’s growing economies should put jobs creation at the heart of their development policies, according to Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, who maintains that youth unemployment is one of the biggest challenges facing Africa’s countries. Highlighting the changing power dynamics between the developed and developing world economies, Lagarde calls on African leaders to rebuild the buffers that had been used during the financial crisis. (CNN)
Aid agencies: Donors’ slow response to East African hunger crisis ‘cost thousands of lives’ –Thousands of people, more than half of them children, “died needlessly and millions of dollars were wasted because the international community did not respond to early warnings of an impending food crisis in East Africa,” according to a new report by Oxfam and Save the Children. According to the report, “a food shortage was predicted as early as August 2010, but most donors did not respond until famine was declared in parts of Somalia in July 2011.” (AP)
Clinton takes democratic push to unlikely corner of W. Africa – Secretary Clinton’s whirlwind trip to West Africa, which wound up Tuesday, highlighted what US officials say “has been a resurgence of democracy in West Africa, long seen as lagging other parts of the continent.” The trip also indicates a determination by the US to “step up its engagement with the region, hoping to counter growing Chinese influence across Africa, shore up ties with important oil suppliers and build tighter security ties with governments.” (Andrew Quinn, Reuters)
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)
South Sudan Massacres Follow Independence – Six months after gaining independence, South Sudan is racked with violence and ethnic tensions, despite attempts by the government to broker peace talks. The US and other Western nations have “invested billions of dollars in South Sudan, hoping it will overcome its deeply etched history of poverty, violence and ethnic fault lines to emerge a stable, Western-friendly nation.” (NYTimes, Jeffrey Gettleman)
AIDS Study Called 2011 ‘Breakthrough’ – The journal, Science, elected an AIDS study as the 2011 ‘Breakthrough of the Year.’ The results of the study, which found that antiretroviral drugs can significantly lower the risk of spreading HIV, have impacted government policies, and encouraged the treatment of HIV-infected people while their immune systems are still relatively healthy.. (VOA, Faith Lapidus)
Somalia Islamists force ICRC food aids suspension – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has suspended food distribution to 1.1 million people in central and southern Somalia after al Shabaab militants blocked their food deliveries. The ICRC was one of the few agencies still providing aid supplies in this region of Somalia, despite logistical and security difficulties. Patrick Vial, head of the ICRC delegation in Somalia, said that the “suspension will continue until we receive assurances from authorities controlling these areas that distributions can take place unimpeded.” (Reuters)
Africa Rising: Jeffrey Sachs say Ghana’a future looks bright – Following a recent visit to Ghana, Jeffrey Sachs reported that Ghana is “proving to be one of the strongest performers on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Africa” and will likely meet their goals by the 2015 deadline. Ghana’s success can be attributed in part to its long-term investments in health, education, and gender equality. Sachs highlights that Ghana’s biggest challenge will be to ensure that their development is spread evenly across the country, especially in the north. (CSMonitor, Clair MacDougall)
Fatal Stampede in South Africa Points Up University Crisis – A stampede among youth waiting in line for a chance to gain admission to one of South Africa’s public universities, illustrates a broader crisis in the country’s education system, as it “struggles to extend opportunities once reserved for whites to all South Africans.” The stampede, which left one woman dead and countless others injured, occurred as students and parents waited for one of several last-chance spots at the University of Johannesburg. (NYTimes, Lydia Polgreen)
Killings Roil Nigeria as Strike Intensifies – A nationwide strike and increasing religious tension led to the killing of eight people in northern Nigeria by the extremist group Boko Haram Muslim, and a mob killing of six others in a mosque and Quranic school in the south. The strike, due to “spiraling gasoline prices drew tens of thousands into the streets Tuesday to denounce government corruption in Nigeria.” Wole Soyinka, the Nobel Prize winner for literature, “warned the country was heading toward civil war.” (WSJ)
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.
