President Bush and South African President Thabo Mbeki "defended their positions on AIDS" yesterday when they met to discuss the epidemic and other issues pertinent to Africa, the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Mbeki said that he "supported a comprehensive approach to South Africa's problems" -- a strategy that tackles "not just AIDS, but malaria, tuberculosis and various social problems deepened by poverty".
Equity in Health
bush announcement maintains industry monopoly
"Let us not be mistaken that the resounding announcement by G.W. Bush, of a 10 billion dollars commitment to the fight against AIDS, serves essentially one objective: to renege on commitments made in November 2001, at the WTO conference in Doha, to allow access to generic drugs," says a statement from lobby group Act Up.
Further details: /newsletter/id/29597
Bush Extends Global Gag Rule to AIDS Funds
Women's rights advocates are condemning President George W. Bush for using his promised AIDS relief package to expand the so-called global gag rule. Calling the move the latest battle in the administration's war against women, many groups are mounting a campaign to draw attention to what they say are the Bush administration's plans to further restrict abortion rights.
Bush's Aids plan slammed by activists
The Bush Administration's Global AIDS strategy is based on selective and misleading use of science, evidence and rhetoric in support of an ideological approach to AIDS prevention and treatment that fails to address the needs of women and girls, who now represent the majority of those infected with HIV worldwide, asserts the Centre for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), a U.S.-based organisation focused on the effects of U.S. international policies on women's rights and health worldwide. "This plan is all smoke and mirrors when it comes to responding to the spread of HIV among women and girls," asserted Jodi Jacobson, Executive Director of CHANGE. "On one hand, the strategy correctly cites critical factors, such as violence and sexual coercion, that put women and girls at high risk of infection," notes Jacobson. "Yet the plan fails to offer any concrete strategies for addressing these concerns." This posting also includes information from the latest issue of the Africa Focus Bulletin on the Aids plan, which was released in late February.
Further details: /newsletter/id/30266
BUSH'S LOOK TO BIG PHARMA FOR AIDS CZAR EVOKES CONCERN
U.S. President George W. Bush's surprise pick of a former top executive of a major U.S. pharmaceutical company and major Republican contributor as his global AIDS co-ordinator has drawn expressions of concern and even outrage among Africa and AIDS activists.
Campaigners seek urgent steps to save 11 million African women
Afrique en ligne: 27 July 2010
Civil society campaigners attending the African Union Summit, held from 19 to 27 July 2010 in Kampala, Uganda, have called for an investment of US$32 billion to help improve the health status of African women. The campaigners said that, in the next five years, eleven million African women and children could be saved by creating near-universal availability of key life-saving interventions. The group, which includes the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health that is campaigning for the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), are seeking new investments in stopping the deaths of women and children, which is the main issue slated for discussion by the African leaders. They have called for interventions in antenatal care, emergency care at the time of birth, post-natal care, treatment of childhood illnesses, and immunisation. These investments, they said, will cost an additional US$32 billion, or about US $8 per person per year over the next five years. This would allow 95% population coverage and bring most African countries in line with MDGs 4 and 5, which call for reducing the number of deaths among children under 5 by two thirds, and reducing maternal deaths by three-quarters by 2015.
Can social inclusion policies reduce health inequalities in sub-Saharan Africa? A rapid policy appraisal
Rispel LC, de Sousa CA and Molomo BG: Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition 27(4): 492-504, August 2009
In this paper, three categories of social inclusion policies are reviewed – cash-transfers, free social services and specific institutional arrangements for programme integration – in six selected countries, including Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The authors highlight the impact of these policies on health inequities. They identify crosscutting benefits, such as poverty alleviation, notably among vulnerable children and youths, improved economic opportunities for disadvantaged households, reduction in access barriers to social services, and improved nutrition intake. However, they caution that the impact of these benefits, and hence the policies, on health status can only be inferred. A major weakness of most policies was the lack of a monitoring and evaluation system. The authors call on governments of sub-Saharan African countries to conduct research to measure health inequities and design social policies that address the constraints identified in the research. They also call for support for a strong movement by civil society to address health inequities and to hold governments accountable for improving health and reducing inequities.
Can the Millennium Development Goals database be used to measure the effects of globalisation on women’s health in sub-Saharan Africa? A critical analysis
Wamala S, Breman A, Richardson MX and Loewenson R: Scandinavian Journal of Public Health 38(4):18–28, April 2010
This study used the Millennium Development Goals’ (MDG) database from 2000 to 2006 to investigate the association between globalisation and women’s health in sub-Saharan Africa based on various determinants of heath. Results suggest that developing countries are becoming more integrated with world markets through some lowering of trade barriers. At the same time, women’s occupational roles are changing, which could affect their health status. However, it is difficult to measure the impact of globalisation on women’s health from the MDG database. First, data on trade liberalisation is aggregated at the regional level and does not hold any information on individual countries. Second, too few indicators in the MDG database are disaggregated by sex, making it difficult to separate the effects on women from those on men. The paper concludes that the MDG database is not adequate to assess the effects of globalisation on women’s health in Sub-Saharan Africa. It recommends that researchers aim to address this research question to find other data sources or turn to case studies. Further research on globalisation and health, using reliable sources, is urgently needed.
Can we achieve health information for all by 2015?
This Lancet article calls on the WHO to take the lead in championing the goal of “Universal access to essential health-care information by 2015” or “Health Information for All”. Published to coincide with the launch of the Global Review of Access to Health Information in Developing Countries, the paper argues that access to information is key to meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). While many initiatives have improved access over the past ten years, there is still much to be done.
Can world’s worst case of inequality be fixed with Pikettian posturing?
Bond P: Pambuzuka News, Issue 745, October 2015
Among the hot ideological wars South Africans wage, the author suggests that none is as violent to the truth as the rejigging of the Gini Coefficient measuring income inequality. (This number is zero if everyone shares income perfectly equally, and one if only a sole person gets it all.) The author suggests that if you measure income prior to state redistribution, South Africa’s Gini – as measured in November 2014 by the World Bank – is 0.77, the highest of any major country. The World Bank’s Pretoria office is reported to claim that the Gini is reduced from 0.77 to 0.59 once all manner of state social spending (social grants, education and health) is included in the calculation. The author projects, however, that the National Development Plan (NDP) will reduce the Gini only from 0.69 (in 2012 measured slightly differently from the Bank) to 0.60, i.e., with the income share earned by the poorest 40 percent rising from 6 to just 10 percent. This, it is noted, will make South Africa's levels of inequality higher than any other major country in the world. Bond indicates that a policy of growth-through-redistribution is needed for the country but that advancing this depends on the balance of political forces more than ideological debates.