Matt Damon: ‘I Would Kiss George W. Bush on the Mouth’ For His AIDS Work – In an interview with The Atlantic, Matt Damon, the co-founder of Water.org, a NGO “fighting for radical new ways to increase access to clean water and eliminate water-borne diseases, discussed the small part of the foreign aid budget that goes towards water, an “enormous problem that literally underpins . . . disease, poverty, [and] women’s rights.” Damon went on to explain that “Bono’s group (the One Campaign) has done a lot of work trying to figure out how to message these issues, and what people respond to is things that work.” (The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg)
Guinea-Bissau: Lenders Apply Pressure –The World Bank and the African Development Bank suspended millions of dollars of aid to Guinea-Bissau on Thursday in an effort to “press leaders of a military coup to return power to civilians” and quickly resolve the crisis. The World Bank had more than a dozen projects in Guinea-Bissau worth approximately $54 million, while the African Development Bank has five economic and social development programs in the country. (Reuters)
Former Ghana President to Lead Global Fight Against Tropical Diseases – Former Ghanian President John Kufuor has accepted a position as a special envoy for the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases. Neglected tropical diseases are widely associated with poverty and affect more than a billion people worldwide. The Global Network plans to connect with African governments “to help them make fighting debilitating diseases a part of their national health strategies.” (VOA, Vidushi Sinha)
Africa uses more fertilizers to cut food imports – Demand for fertilizers in Africa is on the rise, but there is still much progress to be made “before crop yields rise to levels that can significantly cut reliance on food imports.” As the continent’s population is expected to reach 2 billion in the next four decades, reliance on staples like rice and cereals will increase. Because fertilizers are expensive and few countries in Africa manufacture them, “rice producers in Burkina Faso have grouped to ensure better supply of fertilizers and at more competitive terms.” (Reuters, Souhail Karam)
