Spotlight
In July, ONE offered its staff members a bit of reading for the summer. In my mind, I was hoping for something light and fluffy — you know, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” or “Charlie St. Cloud” — but of course, we got something infinitely more useful and educational. We got the choice among:
“The Plundered Planet: Why We Must—and how we can—Manage Nature for Global Prosperity” by Paul Collier. The former head of research at the World Bank discusses how can poor countries escape the cycle of environmental degradation and poverty.
“Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela” by Nelson Mandela. A revealing look into Mandela’s life and devotion to public works.
“It’s Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle-Blower” by Michela Wrong. Journalist Wrong retells the story of activist and fellow journalist John Githongo, illuminating Kenya’s troubled government and economy.
Being that I totally just finished watching “Invictus” on a flight back to Washington, I chose “Long Walk to Freedom” in a heartbeat. I was surprised by how heartfelt and conversational the book was, and I’m proud to say, I finished it this week.
Now that summer’s over, do you have any suggestions for what we should be reading this fall? Let us know in the comments below. Or if you’ve read any of the books in this list, give us your review!
Over the weekend, we saw coverage of a massive drug bust in East Africa in which more than 20,000 pounds of counterfeit medicine were seized from more than 300 sites across Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zanzibar. According to Interpol authorities, the confiscated items included anti-malaria drugs, vaccines and antibiotics.
Counterfeit medicine — defined by the WHO as any generic or brand-name product that is “deliberately and fraudulently mislabeled with respect to identity and/or source” — is a growing problem across the developing world.
For people reliant on medicines such as antiretrovirals (ARVs), anti-malarials and vaccines, counterfeiting is not just an issue of brand names and packaging — it can be a matter of life or death. Oftentimes, counterfeit drugs lack critical ingredients that make legitimate drugs function properly and effectively ward off infection.
Individuals who take such counterfeit drugs risk suffering from abnormal side effects or even prolonged illness and death. There is also a greater likelihood of fostering drug resistance, which reduces the effectiveness of legitimate drugs over time; gradually eliminates tools that are currently working well in global health; and forces new products to be developed — an important but highly expensive process.
There are many initiatives underway to both help stem the manufacture and trade of counterfeit drugs and also to flush ineffective medicines out of the markets in which they are most needed. As two diverse examples, the WHO created a task force in 2006 devoted to the fight against counterfeits; and the Center for Global Development has its own initiative focused on promoting policy solutions to combat drug resistance.
Health mechanisms have begun to come up with their own innovative programs, as well. The Global Fund — whose operations are reliant upon effective, modern medicines — acknowledge that in many markets, counterfeit or out-of-date drugs for malaria (such as chloroquine) can also be far cheaper than effective drugs, making their purchase more appealing for suppliers or consumers in need of the medicine.
To encourage the purchase of artemesinin-based combination therapy (ACTs) to treat malaria, the Global Fund established the Affordable Medicines for Malaria Facility (AMFm). Through the AMFm, the Global Fund has negotiated lower ACT prices with manufacturers and will pay a large proportion of this directly to manufacturers on behalf of buyers across the public, private for-profit and not-for-profit sectors.
Countries participating in AMFm must also implement “supporting interventions” to ensure the increased availability and safe use of ACTs, including public awareness campaigns, training and supportive supervision for ACT providers, and policy and regulatory measures. For patients who currently pay for treatment, this is expected to result in a significant ACT price reduction, from about $6-10 per treatment to about $0.20-0.50.
To support the Global Fund in this critical replenishment year, sign our petition today. And as always, stay tuned for the latest on efforts across the developing world to fight corruption and improve global health.
Last night Congress voted to keep America’s commitment to Haiti by delivering promised funding that will assist with Haiti’s reconstruction and debt relief. The bill– which thousands of ONE members called on their elected officials to support– cleared when the House passed the measure on a 308 to 114 vote.
Here are some details about what’s included in this bill (HR 4899). It includes $2.8 billion in funding to support critical relief and recovery efforts in Haiti. Specifically, the bill provides $913 million in international security funding and economic assistance for humanitarian relief, reconstruction, law enforcement and peacekeeping initiatives. The bill also includes $465 million for International Disaster Assistance to respond to humanitarian emergencies and funding to cancel existing debts owed by Haiti– which was the focus of ONE’s effort. The bill also supports U.S. Treasury Department programs to strengthen the country’s financial systems and $96.5 million for increased peacekeeping assessments for the U.N. mission in Haiti.
This was a major victory for the people of Haiti. Great job ONE TEAM!
Today is Nelson Mandela’s 92nd birthday. We wanted to send him a special gift this year, so we recently asked ONE members to submit their picture and help us build a birthday card just for him.
And what a response we got! Thanks to all of you, this week we were able to personally deliver a card to Mr. Mandela’s staff in South Africa that was signed by over 27,000 ONE members from all across the world.
To take a closer look at the card, click on the image below. And don’t forget to zoom in and get an up-close look at the thousands of ONE members who joined together to honor Nelson Mandela for an inspiring 92 years.
Happy birthday, Mr. Mandela!
Big, big news: The Cardin-Lugar Transparency amendment just passed in the Senate!
Late in May, ONE put out an urgent call to all our members to call their Senators and urge them to vote in favor of including the Cardin-Lugar Transparency amendment to the Senate Financial Regulation bill. Our members generated more than 1,000 calls to the Senate and helped secure enough support for its sponsors, Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), to be confident of winning the vote. However, due to a procedural motion in the Senate, we were denied the opportunity to have the vote. Since then, we’ve been working furiously toward the inclusion of the Cardin/Lugar amendment after the House and Senate met in June to iron out differences between their two bills and settle on a final version. Championed by Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the amendment was accepted in conference and was part of the final bill, which has since passed the House.
The transparency amendment is ONE’s biggest effort to fight corruption in poor countries to date. Through this amendment, ONE members are working to fight corruption and ensure that payments received by their governments and natural resources, go toward meeting Millennium Development Goals like health care, schools and clean water, not into the pockets of corrupt public officials. It makes it mandatory for all companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange to disclose what they pay to foreign governments for extracting oil and gas or mining gold and diamonds. In essence, we are helping to shed light on the finances of some of the most corrupt and closed regimes in the world–including Burma, Zimbabwe and Sudan– through the multinational corporations that do business with them.
ONE members’ calls to their senators made an enormous difference in our efforts to get the amendment included in the final bill. Today is a big victory not just for the people who will be positively affected by this important legislation, but for everyone who believes in transparency and accountability. Go ahead and give yourselves a pat on the back!
As ONE’s Kimberley Hunter reported from Toronto this weekend, on Friday, Canadian Prime Minister and G8 host Stephen Harper announced that the G8 would be contributing an additional $5 billion towards maternal, newborn and child health in developing countries over the next five years. Other donors – like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Norway, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Spain and Switzerland – pledged $2.3 billion, bringing the total up to $7.3 billion. While this is a welcome increase, it still falls far short of the $30 billion in additional funding that experts estimate is needed to meet the Millennium Development Goals on maternal and child health by 2015.
More details on the so-called “Muskoka Initiative” were revealed with the release of the official G8 communiqué on Saturday, which included an annex outlining the initiative. Here at ONE, we were pleased to see that the initiative embraces some critical principles for long-term sustainability and effectiveness, like support for country-led national health plans and increased coherence through coordination and harmonization. Although there is a strong focus on outcomes (with an estimate from the World Health Organization and the World Bank that pledged funds will prevent the deaths of 1.3 million children and 64,000 mothers over the next five years), it stops short of setting out clear targets to meet these goals, such as supporting the training of an additional 3.5 million health care workers by 2015, a critical input to strengthening the health care that mothers and children need, especially during pregnancy, labor and the first five years of life, and an issue that 61,000 ONE members urged the G8 to support.
Moreover, in a year when G8 accountability was high on the summit agenda, the lack of clarity around individual country pledges is extremely disappointing. Although the communiqué states that the G8 will release the methodology used to define each country’s commitment and baselines, without this info it’s not clear which countries are truly delivering additional funding and which are using creative counting and hiding behind the G8’s collective commitment. It is critical that these details be made available, not only so advocates can chart the delivery of them, but also so governments and citizens in developing countries can start planning for them and make sure that the funds promised lead to lasting results for mother and children.
I just got a press release from US Treasury announcing $224 million in grants to be distributed to 5 countries to increase food security. They are: Bangladesh, Haiti, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Togo.
Here are more details from the official announcement:
Partners in the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), a new fund to tackle global hunger and poverty, this week announced that five developing countries will receive the fund’s first grants totaling $224 million. The grants – approved for Bangladesh, Haiti, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Togo – will help each country increase food security, raise rural incomes and reduce poverty. These investments will help transform the lives of more than two million people in rural areas.
Launched in April 2010 with $880 million in commitments from the United States, Canada, South Korea, Spain, and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, GAFSP represents a global effort to aid vulnerable populations afflicted by hunger and poverty and is a key element of the Obama Administration’s initiative to enhance food security in poor countries. In the run up to the G-8 and G-20 Leaders Summit, today’s announcement demonstrates the commitment of the international community to forge a strong, swift and coordinated response against global food insecurity.
“Today we are making real progress toward our promise to fight global hunger and poverty,” said Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. “These investments will help transform rural communities by empowering them to grow more and earn more. At a time of limited resources and with more than one billion people undernourished, this fund leverages our contributions to tackle one of the most pressing challenges of our time.”
