Businessweek: On Foreign Aid, the Candidates’ Rhetoric Doesn’t Match Reality – Elections bring promises of all sorts, and with that, the question of whether those promises can actually be achieved. This campaign season, we’ve heard foreign aid plans from both candidates, but no plans to increase funds to achieve their goals. (Charles Kenny)
Bloomberg: Somali Malnutrition Levels Rising on Water Shortage, Oxfam Says – After another season of low rainfalls, Somalia teeters on the brink of crisis as food shortages threaten the population with serious malnutrition. (Sarah McGregor)
FP: Changing the Face of AIDS – It has been said that it is poverty, not HIV, that causes AIDS. Though studies have proven that assertion to be true, it’s actually more complicated than first realized. A recent study has found that while the poor in wealthier regions are still more likely to have HIV, it is actually wealthier people in poor regions who are at greater risk than their impoverished neighbors. (Joshua Keating)
NewTimes: How the bulk of aid to Africa comes from ordinary Africans – Development aid is often thought to come primarily from contributions from wealthy countries. However when you consider skills transfer, and a combination of both the formal and informal economic sectors, many estimate that Africa may be its own best friend. (Oscar Kimanuka)
VOA: Study: HIV, Food Insecurity Closely Linked – HIV and food security are both huge issues that plague the continent of Africa. But studies are showing just how thin the line between these two problems actually are. With the causes and effects interlinked, the problem is looking more and more like a vicious cycle than two separate issues. (Joe DeCapua)
