Truth About Trafigura's Toxic Disaster in Ivory Coast Emerges

by Mike Smith

Published September 17, 2009 @ 12:37PM PT

Toxic spills seem to hit the developing world more often, and so much harder. Justice is rarely done, and cover-ups are frequent. But occasionally, the truth comes out. The Guardian is reporting on how UK oil company Trafigura tried to cover-up a toxic disaster; Trafigura had made payouts to 31,000 victims of toxic dumping two years ago. Internal emails show how the company tried to cover up the spill, and claim the waste was "absolutely not dangerous." Trafigura have sought legal action against those disputing their take on things in the past.

The BBC is also reporting the story, saying that whilst Trafigura always denied wrong doing, "in 2007 they paid £100m to the Ivorian government to 'compensate the victims' amongst other things." Some justice has been done, but injuries remain.

[Photo credit: Diego Cupolo]

Khat Isn't Very Harmful, But It's Still Damaging Yemen

by Mike Smith

Published September 16, 2009 @ 12:45PM PT

Yemen is running out of water, and paying handsomely for the privilege. Time are reporting on Yemen's widespread use of khat, a shrub whose leaves give an amphetamine like high. 90% of men and 25% of women use the drug — the "alcohol for Muslims." It's an expensive $5 a day habit considering that 45% live below the poverty line, making it a valueable crop to grow. It's drying up the country's agriculture too, leading to drought and threatening population displacement in the fragile county just across the Gulf from Somalia. Illegal in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, the drug is unlikely to be given up anytime soon but the consequences of the drug's widespread usage may cause a much more harmful impact than the drug's direct effects; Khat (or Qat) can produce a mild to moderate psychological dependence, and has been linked to liver damage and some withdrawal symptoms

[Photo credit: Ferdinand Reus]

Why Are Qualified Hispanic Doctors Being Forced to Worked in Taxis?

by Mike Smith

Published September 15, 2009 @ 10:43AM PT

We've got great qualified doctors working in taxis when they could be helping people. But good news: Miller-McCune is reporting on the International Medical Graduate Program which is targeting thousands of Hispanic doctors who trained in Latin America, but are living legally in the U.S. and unable to practice. Well trained doctors are unable to help even though a quarter of Hispanics lack a usual healthcare provider. The program will help the doctors through licensing exams, which are usually very costly.

The programe is helping fix the program of a severe lack of Hispanic docs — Hispanics account for 1/3rd of California's population, but only 5% of its physicians. The intention is that this'll help increase quality of care and help doctors better understand patients when taking histories. It's a shame the international movement of doctors is so impeded, but it's encouraging that California recognizes the importance of increasing the number Hispanics doctors in the U.S.

Comprehensive healthcare reform is expected to help minority communities most — Hispanics are the largest group proportionally without insurance.

[Photo credit: colros]

Man Who Planted Landmines Works Unpaid to Clear Them

by Mike Smith

Published September 14, 2009 @ 08:03AM PT

Atonement. Noun. Reparation for a wrong of injury. Usage: "He wanted to make atonement for planting landmines, so he decided to help clear them for free."

This remarkable video is about Aki Ra's work to clear landmines in Cambodia, after he was a child soldier who planted them for the Khmer Rouge. He uses a stick and a penknife to clear the mines, and watching him do it is incredible.

Meanwhile, in Senegal, landmine clearance is helping local communities reclaim farmland: "Patrick Hirard, head of operations for Handicap’s demining programme, said the removal of one mine has an immense impact. 'It is just one mine, but that frees up thousands of square metres of land for entire communities.' " Funding gaps threaten demining, with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines demanding the African Union do more, with Egypt, Morocco, Libya, and Somalia still not signed up to the ban. But every country, it is suggested, needs to do more to destroy stockpiles and assist mine survivors.

Ten Thousand Fewer Children Are Dying Every Day

by Mike Smith

Published September 13, 2009 @ 07:57AM PT

Child mortality has reached a record low, with the number of children dying before their fifth birthday down to under nine million. Distribution of things like measles vaccines and anti-malaria mosquito nets are due much praise for bringing the rate down, as is a rise in breast-feeding. Efforts continue to reduce the number further — targeting pneumonia and diarrhea would help reduce child mortality drastically.

UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman wasn't celebrating: “While progress is being made, it is unacceptable that each year 8.8 million children die before their fifth birthday. She further explained that "40 per cent of the world’s under-five deaths occurring in just three countries: India, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of Congo." Resources are likely to focus on these countries in order to meet the Millennium Development Goal of reducing child deaths by two-thirds.

[Photo credit: hdptcar]

Panic Half as Much: Swine Flu Vaccine May be Doubly Effective

by Mara Gordon

Published September 11, 2009 @ 11:57AM PT

Swine flu may expose the “global health apartheid,” as blogger Mike Smith argued this week — but we may have more resources to fight it than we think. According to new research published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine, a one-dose vaccine for H1N1 influenza may work much more effectively than researchers initially imagined.

This means that resources currently available for the flu vaccine will go much further than imagined. Twice as far, to be precise. Most experts had predicted that patients would require two doses of an H1N1 vaccine to be protected from the virus, which is now pandemic in 168 countries. It has infected approximately 100 million people in the United States since its arrival in spring of this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, told the New York Times that research currently underway in the United States “corroborates and confirms the exciting data” that protection against H1N1 may require only one vaccine dose, not two.

[Photo credit: Diego Cupolo]

Swine Flu Exposes Global Health Apartheid

by Mike Smith

Published September 10, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT

Swine Flu is likely to hit developing nations hardest, and at the same time expose more general global health inequalities. This "healthcare apartheid" sees rich countries afforded protection, whilst the poor nations are not. World Health Org chief Magaret Chan said "I believe [swine flu] will reveal in a measurable and tragic way the consequences of decades of failure to invest adequately in basic health systems and infrastructure."

The question of ethics is an interesting one here too, with Raw Story pondering our principles, and presenting the facts: "Each day, around 11,500 people are killed from the long-running, entrenched pandemics of AIDS, malaria and TB. Swine flu has killed 816 people since the disease was notified in April." The facts speak for themselves.

[Photo credit: Beijing-China]