Climate Change Will Exacerbate Gap Between Rich and Poor

by Mike Smith

Published November 20, 2009 @ 11:18AM PT

Climate change won't just hit the poorest the hardest, with those in developing countries bearing the brunt of climate change — losing access to crucial water supplies, and feeling the effect of rising sea levels. Climate change will additionally exacerbate gaps between the rich and poor. The effects of climate change is likely to reverse many of the hard earned and costly developments gains of the Millennium Development Goals. Specific setbacks will include increased water scarcity, and changes in the availability of food. Quite simply, climate change is the perfect storm. And oh yeah, climate change is already producing more ferocious natural disasters.

The increased necessity of migration due to the failure of crops and rising sea levels will further impact health from both a perspective of the stress and strain of mass migration, and also due to increased potential for civil strife.

Altering family planning, reproductive health care and improve the rights of women could reduce population stress and in turn reduce greenhouse emissions. But in the short term, there is nothing better than rapidly cutting emissions. The long term strategy will continue to be a challenge as the richer get richer and consume more, and the poor get poorer and continue to be hit even harder.

Photo: Suburbanbloke

Spread the Word about Good Hygiene: World Toilet Day

by Mike Smith

Published November 19, 2009 @ 04:24PM PT

World Toilet Day isn't the easiest day of the activist's year to promote. But ensuring good public hygiene is a very effective method of slowing the spread of disease and illness. The problem is that toilets and adequate sanitation just isn't cool, and it isn't much of an aspirational campaign.

The people behind World Toilet Day are trying to change that. They explain to Reuters that "It is a sensitive issue, but a serious one that has to be a shared responsibility of the government, companies and people."

One method is to keep toilets clean on trains, in return for advertising space, thus spreading the message that good sanitation is the norm, and that public defecation is damaging to society. The World Trade Organization, reports the Hindustan Times, is attempting to mainstream a culture of cleanliness. In the run up to the Commonwealth Games, being held in India, they want to eliminate the stigma around sanitation. Another method, as we recently reported, involves the 'No Toilet, No Bride' campaign. Rather than provide toilets, they are working to change society and make people desire toilets, then using the private sector to provide toilets. It's not the easiest campaign to sell, but that doesn't make it any less important.

Photo: runran

Gates Foundation: Celebrating Success and the Importance of Storytelling

by Mike Smith

Published November 18, 2009 @ 09:12AM PT

This is a guest post by Joe Cerrell, director, global health policy and advocacy, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Too often in global health, we zero in on the obstacles and neglect to celebrate the successes. While the health challenges facing the developing world are very real, many poor countries are making real progress against diseases like HIV and malaria, often with support from the American government.

That’s the message that Bill and Melinda Gates recently brought to Washington, D.C. In a presentation titled, “Living Proof: Why We Are Impatient Optimists,” they showed lawmakers and foreign policy experts something that rarely makes the global health news: success. I encourage you to watch the presentation—it’s both moving and inspirational.

Bill and Melinda’s speech is part of The Living Proof Project: U.S. Investments in Global Health Are Working, a campaign to share success stories from the field and put a human face on the millions of lives that have been saved and transformed through U.S. government investments in global health.

Take the story of Grace Ngoto, who delivered her baby girl two months early in Malawi. Thanks to the Kangaroo Mother Care program supported by USAID, Grace’s child was able to thrive despite being born premature in one of the world’s least developed countries. Grace now teaches other mothers about Kangaroo Mother Care and protecting newborns from hypothermia and infection. Grace and her daughter are Living Proof that investments in global health are changing the world.

I know that when Americans hear about Grace’s little girl and the millions of other lives saved by U.S. government investments in global health, they’ll be eager to do more. I hope that you’ll help us get the word out. Visit the Living Proof website to see more personal stories and data from the field, and then share what you’ve learned with someone else in your community, whether it’s your elected representative, your next-door neighbor, or your Twitter followers.

Spread the word: U.S. investments in global health are working.

UN Photo/Evan Schneider

What Next as Parasites Become Resistant to Best Malaria Treatment?

by Mike Smith

Published November 15, 2009 @ 02:29PM PT

Mosquitoes are becoming resistant to artemisinin, "the only remaining effective drug in the world's arsenal against malaria's most deadly strain"? On the Thai-Cambodia border this is happening due to a rouge strain of malaria. The race is on to eliminate malaria before its too late — before more resistances are established around the world.

Artemisinin hasn't been around for long as a purified treatment for malaria, but it has been used to fight the disease in China for thousands of years, and it has been taken across Southeast Asia for 30 years, allowing parasites longer to adapt. So how can this problem be solved? The Global Fund hope that undercutting sales of alternative and counterfeit treatments with genuine effective treatments will help make access to anti-malarials. Compared to HIV and tuberculosis prevention (the top one and three most deadly diseases, with malaria between them), subsidizing malaria treatments, alongside other efforts, could eliminate the disease entirely. The longer we wait, the more time parasites have to build up resistance to our best weapons.

Photo: UN Photo/Martine Perret

Afghan Gov Fears Swine Flu: Not Enough Antivirals, Not Enough Graves

by Mike Smith

Published November 13, 2009 @ 09:00AM PT

The Afghan government has launched a swine-flu education campaign and declared an emergency after 11 people died of H1N1. You may think the government have more important things to worry about, but in Afghanistan there may not be enough graves to contain all the causalities, (due to the harsh winters, graves must be dug before the coldest weather sets in) and officials fear the effect the virus will have on their armed forces. Although only 11 people have so far died, the toll could rise considerably.

The Health Ministry fears that over 6 million people would contract the virus, with 5 per cent likely to develop severe symptoms that would put severe strain on the limited healthcare system, reports the LA Times. Supplies of antiviral medicine will not be sufficient to treat all the severe cases. Some government critics wonder whether this crisis has come at a good time for President Hamid Karzai, allowing him to close universities, the site of much political activism, following a disputed election.

Despite the shortage of vaccine, Taliban detainees will be receiving the vaccine. The US military also fears its soldiers and Afghan soldiers will contract the disease — one Afghan soldier has already died. The spread of the disease is not being helped by rumors that you won't contract the disease if you don't eat pork. Just like Egypt's ridiculous slaughter of all of its pigs, this rumor is only likely to compound problems.

Photo credit: UN Photo/Fardin Waez

President Obama Finally Appoints USAID Administrator

by Mike Smith

Published November 11, 2009 @ 10:27AM PT

After hundreds of days of waiting, President Obama has finally nominated an administrator for USAID (United States Agency for International Development). Dr. Rajiv Shah currently works as Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics and Chief Scientist at the Department of Agriculture, so be sure that hunger and malnutrition will be paid close attention, as will to agricultural development. Prior to working for the government, Dr. Shah was Director for Agricultural Development at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Of the nomination, President Obama explained "The mission of USAID is to advance America’s interests by strengthening our relationships abroad. Rajiv brings fresh ideas and the dedication and impressive background necessary to help guide USAID as it works to achieve this important goal." Mr Obama made specific recognition of the work that the acting-administrator and the whole agency had done to jump-start the $20 billion initiative for agricultural development in developing countries.

Writing to collegues, Dr. Shah explained that he would be sad to leave US DoA: "While this is an amazing opportunity to contribute to the Obama Administration’s priorities, today has been a bit bittersweet as well." In order to really amplify his role ModernizeAid suggests giving him a seat at the National Security Council and entirely revitalizing USAID in order to strengthen development and foreign assistance.

Photo credit: Simminch

US Fears Feeding Terrorists, Delays Emergency Food Aid for Somalia

by Mike Smith

Published November 09, 2009 @ 04:27PM PT

The U.S. recently delayed emergency food aid to Somalia out of concerns that it would end up in the hands of terrorists. Now, the impact of the interruption is becoming clear and causing huge problems, with rations to starving people being cut. The decision in October to suspend millions of dollars worth of aid came due to fears that food and money was going to an Islamic insurgent group, with the U.S. assuring the UN that the delay would be brief.

But now the World Food Program has suggested “The food supply line to Somalia is effectively broken.” Food is stuck in Kenya until bureaucrats can decide better regulations — regulation that makes demands that the UN fear are unrealistic in such a chaotic environment like Somalia. The US donates almost $1 billion in aid to Somalia, but the distribution of this aid is only loosely monitored. The UN has communicated the urgency of the situation to USAID, but as I wrote yesterday, with USAID still lacking an administrator, the call may go unanswered. New mechanisms for distributions and monitoring must be constantly considered and reworked, but surely that can happen whilst aid is being delivered. This operation needn't shutdown completely to reboot with new regulations: millions of people rely on the US keeping the aid coming.

Photo credit: UN Photo/M Grant