The quiet advance of trade and investment agreements between rich and poor countries threatens to deny developing countries a favourable foothold in the global economy. Driven by the USA and the European Union, these agreements impose far-reaching rules that place severe restrictions on the very policies developing countries need in order to fight poverty.
Health equity in economic and trade policies
Signing away the future: How trade and investment agreements between rich and poor countries undermine development
Oxfam Briefing Paper 101, 20 March 2007
Sipopo Declaration from the Seventh Summit for ACP Heads of State and Government and the 96th ACP Council of Ministers
Participants at the ACP Summit: December 2012
Senior delegates from 63 of the 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, including some 15 Heads of State, attended the ACP Summit in December 2012. This summit declaration highlights members’ determination to “stay united as a Group” and retain relevance by “enhancing the ACP-European Union (EU) relationship as a unique North-South development cooperation model, while developing South-South and other partnerships. A new working group will reflect on the response of the ACP Group to global challenges. Officials also decided to set up a high-level panel to advance trade negotiations with the EU.
Slow motion robbery: The WTO and developing countries
Developing countries are being shackled by regulations formulated and enforced by international organisations. Policies to nurture domestic industry, which were used in Europe, north America and more recently the successful East Asian 'tiger' economies, are becoming illegal. The three major agreements which emerged from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Uruguay Round of international trade talks - on investment measures (TRIMS), trade in services (GATS) and intellectual property rights (TRIPS) - are narrowing the powers of states. Governments now find it difficult to combine profit-oriented actions of companies within their borders with complementing national development strategies.
Smallholders’ use of pesticides in Ugandan agriculture
Duus J, Streibig JC, Sekimpi D, Maziina J and Jørs Erik: African Newsletter on Occupational Health and Safety 22(1): 16-18, May 2012
This article reports the results from a research project on farmers’ and pesticide dealers’ knowledge and practice when handling pesticides in two districts of Uganda. In Uganda the number of farmers using pesticides is growing because of the evolution of the farming from mainly organic subsistence farming to a mix of cash crop and subsistence farming involving the use of increasing amounts of pesticide. This research project took place in the districts of Wakiso and Pallisa, Uganda, in January and February 2011. In all, 24 small-scale farmers and 20 pesticide dealers were observed and interviewed. Researchers observed many health and environmental problems in the use of pesticides in Wakiso and Pallisa, with faulty equipment, exposure of children to drift spray and environmental pollution. However, no pesticides classified as WHO class Ia or Ib were found apart from dichlorvos. The main problems were found to be a lack of use of personal protective equipment and the farmers’ failure to follow the instructions for the correct handling of pesticides. Training for both farmers and pesticide dealers could be a way to solve the problems. Moreover, the instruction for use should be adapted to the reality of the small-scale farmers.
Smoke, spies and lies: Should you throw away your e-cigarette?
Van Dyk J: Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism, April 2019
E-cigarettes allow users to inhale solutions that usually contain nicotine in a colourless liquid such as propylene glycol – an additive typically found in food and cosmetics. This solution is heated in hand-held devices and produces a vapour, which is why smoking e-cigarettes is often called “vaping”. South Africa’s new tobacco control Bill, which was published in July last year, proposes the same harsh regulations for e-cigarettes as their traditional cigarette counterparts. These include advertising restrictions, plain packaging and the banning of smoking areas in restaurants and public buildings. After the Bill’s publication, the Vapour Products Association (VPA), which represents e-cigarette manufacturers and retailers, publicly asserted that e-cigarettes are 95% safer than conventional cigarettes and may even help traditional smokers to quit, quoting an expert review by Public Health England in 2015. The UK study has however been widely criticised with some scientists taking issue with its methodology, arguing the research was based on the opinions of experts, instead of clinical trials. Anthony Westwood, a pulmonologist at the School of Child and Adolescent Health at the University of Cape Town, explains: “Our children cannot afford to find out in 20 years that they’ve got cancer because of e-cigarettes. “We have a chance to defuse this ticking time bomb.”
Social determinants of malaria and health care seeking patterns among rice farming and pastoral communities in Kilosa District in central Tanzania
Shayoa EH: Rumishaa SF; Mlozib M; Bwanac VM; Mayalaa BK; Malimac RC; Mlachaa T; Mboera L: Acta Tropica 144: 41-9, 2015
This study was carried out to understand the role social determinants and health seeking behavior among rice farming and pastoral communities in Kilosa District in central Tanzania. The study involved four villages; two with rice farming communities while the other two with pastoral communities. In each village, heads of households or their spouses were interviewed to seek information on livelihoods activities, knowledge and practices on malaria and its preventions. A total of 471 individuals were interviewed. Only 23.5% of the respondents had adequate knowledge on malaria. Fifty-six percent of the respondents could not associate any livelihood activity with malaria transmission. Majority (79%) of the respondents believed that most of fevers were due to malaria; this was higher among the pastoral (81.7%) than rice farming communities (76.1%). Cases of fever were significantly higher in households with non-educated than educated respondents. Women experienced significantly more episodes of fever than men. Fever was reported more frequently among pastoral than rice farming communities. Treatment seeking frequency differed by the size of the household and between rice farming and pastoral communities. In conclusion, education, sex, availability of health care facility and livelihood practices were the major social determinants that influence malaria acquisition and care seeking pattern in central Tanzania. The authors argue for an ecohealth approach to address the links of livelihoods and malaria transmission among rural farming communities.
Social support under siege: An analysis of forced migration among women from the Democratic Republic of Congo
Wachter K; Gulbas L: Social Science & Medicine (208) 107-116, 2018
The authors aimed to develop theory to explain how women who migrated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo recreate social support post-resettlement in the United States. An interpretive approach informed by postcolonial feminist perspectives guided the grounded theory methodology. Upon arrival to the United States, women experienced partitioned lives through changing relationships in space and time, which contributed to women being alone and impacted on their well-being. Converging processes propelled women towards learning to stand alone, through which they developed a sense self-reliance, but not without consequences for themselves and their relationships. The analysis contributes to the knowledge of how resettlement is a life altering event that sets into motion psychosocial processes with implications for well-being and health.
Solidarity and responsibility: Struggle between two lines
Tandon Y: Pambuzuka News 747, 22 October 2015
The author writes that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is firmly located in an old ethical order which puts profit over people; where those in power make the rules to suppress the powerless; and where this iniquitous and unjust world “order” (disorder) is legitimised by the ideology of neoliberalism. He states that progressive people must defy this iniquitous system and overturn it as it is not reformable. He observes that it is one that could be neutralised if Africa was united to challenge the WTO and the "Big and Powerful". At the Seattle WTO Ministerial in November 1999 Africa and the global South neutralised the WTO with the help of world peoples' movements fighting for justice for the weak in the international trading system. The Tenth Ministerial Conference (MC10) of the WTO in Nairobi is not just Africa’s war. Trade negotiations in Geneva are said to be carried out in a "surreal" atmosphere where the forest is missed for the trees. In this piece the author argues that the Nairobi negotiations will be behind closed doors where the 'Empire' will use all means at its command to secure a "consensus" that serves its interest and where those from the grassroots resist being drawn into that consensus if that does not do justice to grassroots people and communities. He notes that economics is girded firmly in the politics of power and that power, in turn, is legitimised by an ideology, in this case the ideology of neoliberalism. Those who are fighting for justice thus have to tackle all three levels – economic, political and ideological.
Some Intellectual Property Issues Related to H5N1 Influenza Viruses, Research and Vaccines
Hammond E: The Sunshine Project/ Third World Network, July 2007
A dramatic rise in international patent applications related to influenza is underway. This includes patent applications covering the virus itself, vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics. As recently as 1993, years passed with little or no such patent activity. In 2006, however, more than 30 international (Patent Cooperation Treaty) patent applications were filed on influenza vaccines alone, making it the largest year on record - but not for long. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) data indicates that during the first half of 2007 as many influenza vaccine patent claims have been filed as in the entirety of 2006, meaning that this year is on track to at least double the record set in 2006. Together, these developments are resulting in a much more complex and limiting field of intellectual property claims than has ever before existed for influenza vaccine. And it is going to get worse.
South Africa and the DRC: Evaluating a South–South Partnership for Peace, Governance and Development
Besharati N; Rawhani C: SAIIA Occasional Paper No 235, 2016
The ‘Rise of the South’ and the role of ‘emerging powers’ in global development has animated much of the political and economic discourse of the past decade. There is, however, little empirical evidence on the contribution that emerging Southern partners make to sustainable development, due to the lack of common measurement systems for South–South cooperation (SSC). This case study utilises the analytical framework developed by the Network of Southern Think Tanks (NeST) to assess the range, extent and quality of South Africa’s peace, governance and economic support to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The study reveals that South Africa, in absolute financial terms, is a significant development partner in the DRC, and even exceeds the traditional donors when its aid is measured in proportion to gross national income. The qualitative field research highlights that South Africa’s approach to development co-operation to a large extent reflects the core values of SSC, although with a mixed bag of successes and failures in terms of the results of co-operation activities. This pilot study of the South Africa–DRC development partnership is one of the first in which the NeST conceptual and methodological framework has been tested for the purpose of further refining tools and indicators for SSC analysis, so as to assist the future monitoring and evaluation endeavours of South Africa and other emerging development partners.