This study investigated the association between proximity to mine dumps and prevalence of chronic respiratory disease in people aged 55 years and older. Elderly persons in communities 1-2 km (exposed) and 5 km (unexposed), from five pre-selected mine dumps in Gauteng and North West Province, in South Africa were included in a cross-sectional study. Structured interviews were conducted with 2397 elderly people, using a previously validated questionnaire from the British Medical Research Council. Exposed elderly persons had a significantly higher prevalence of chronic respiratory symptoms and diseases than those who were unexposed., Results from the multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that living close to mine dumps was significantly associated with asthma, chronic bronchitis, chronic cough, emphysema, pneumonia and wheeze. Residing in exposed communities, current smoking, ex-smoking, use of paraffin as main residential cooking/heating fuel and low level of education emerged as independent significant risk factors for chronic respiratory symptoms and diseases. This study suggests that there is a high level of chronic respiratory symptoms and diseases among elderly people in communities located near to mine dumps in South Africa.
Health equity in economic and trade policies
The G20 is a private meeting, hence organisations such as corporations, aid agencies, consumer organisations and other non-government organisations (NGOs) are not eligible to attend as delegates. This report critiques the selective participation of business in the meeting, with some of the world’s largest energy and mining companies reported to have full access to all the delegates at a working lunch. The report noted the cincidental holding of the inaugural meeting of the Energy and Minerals Business Council in the same hotel and dates as the formal meeting of the G20.
In this open letter from 13 African civil society organisations, they argue that sub-Saharan Africa is caught between the desire to regain control of its own development and excessive reliance on external sources of funding. In the past decade, African states have committed to dedicate more public resources to agriculture and to promote regional agricultural policy and trade through regional trade blocs like ECOWAS and NEPAD. These commitments testified to a real commitment to agriculture on the part of the African authorities, as well as to a new desire to assume control of African development in dialogue with local populations, and they were a sign to social movements and networks of peasants and producers that agriculture had regained its position at the heart of the political agenda. Unfortunately the methodology adopted for the formulation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme, NEPAD’s initiative to boost agricultural productivity in Africa, rapidly degenerated, and the National Agricultural Development Programmes, promoted from above with insufficient dialogue with the concerned actors, appeared to be merely occasions for negotiating new aid. The letter argues that success in agricultural policies in Europe, the United States and in emerging countries like Brazil and India, have always been the product of sovereign will and of a partnership between the states and the economic actors, that is the producers, the processors, the traders. Therefore external funders and foreign investors are not the appropriate role players to drive agricultural policy in Africa.
On 25 September 2009, hundreds of farmers, traders, students, women groups and civil society from across Kenya congregated at Uhuru Park to proclaim their concerns about the economic partnership agreements (EPAs) currently under negotiation between the European Union (EU) and African countries. The protesters delivered a petition to the Ministry of Trade as well as Trade committee of the Kenyan parliament. Through a collective mass fax and e-mail action, more than 80 organisations in 30 countries across Europe, Africa and the Pacific have called on decision-makers to fundamentally change the course of the ongoing negotiations. The multiple messages are aimed at stressing the importance of bold committed African leadership displayed by only supporting trade and economic policies that lead to the development of their people.
With many countries repaying their loans to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and not seeking new lines of credit, the institution’s traditional means of generating income is dwindling. Facing a budget shortfall of US$400 million in 2010, in April, the IMF’s Executive Board approved a proposal to sell some of its gold reserves. The revenue will be used to create an endowment whose earnings will assist in financing the institution’s administrative budget. Civil society is writing to urge that before the Executive Board implements gold sales, it must insist on meaningful pro-development reforms in IMF policy in developing countries and attach conditions to how gold sales will occur. Over the last three decades, IMF policies have limited development, and denied opportunity and decent livelihoods to hundreds of millions of people.
Research suggests that poor countries in the south would have 24% larger economies if it wasn’t for global warming. This is because the world is 1°C hotter than it was a century ago. That warming means crops fail, economic productivity goes down and people get sick or die because of the heat. South Africa is argued to be between 10% and 20% poorer than it would have been without that warming in the last six decades. Nigeria is 29% poorer and India is 30% poorer. The research, titled “Global warming has increased global inequality' reports that rich countries have benefited from this warming. By calculating temperature and economic growth between 1961 and 2010, the researchers found that already rich countries, mostly in colder climates, have growth spurts during an unusually hot year. This is because hotter weather moves them closer to what is known as the “empirical optimum” — the closer a country’s average temperature is to 13°C, the more its economy thrives. South Africa’s average is around 17°C and is only increasing with global warming. The researchers concluded that global warming has meant countries are also more unequal. Richer people can insulate themselves from extreme events — by buying food when the price goes up or by being able to claim from insurance — and keep functioning. Those with few resources to start with do not have such a buffer. This local and global inequality in the impact of global warming is the topic of fierce international negotiation. While China and India are massively growing their emissions, the authors note that they still represent a fraction of total emissions in the last two centuries, with China has emitted half of what the United States has and India a seventh.
With governments looking to close the long-stalled Doha Round of trade liberalisation talks in 2010, what will happen to remaining disagreements on intellectual property issues is still unclear. A coalition of governments seeking IP amendments is determined to have some kind of result at the end the round. The coalition, a group of 110 countries, is often referred to as “W/52” supporters after a compromise document the group created uniting states who were fighting for disclosure of origin on genetic resources with states fighting for stronger genetic information (GI) protection. A great deal of hope is being placed in this informal process by the W/52 proponents, who seek changes they argue are critical to prevent the misappropriation of genetic resources and traditional knowledge, and to protect key agricultural products. But those who do not support W/52 say the connection between GI extension and the disclosure of origin amendment, which emerged from a mandate to examine the relationship between TRIPS and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, is not justified, as the issues are too different.
Africa’s ability to leverage its increasing visibility and preference for South-South economic partnerships will significantly depend on how well it is equipped to manage the intellectual property complements and components of the contemporary economic transformations, according to this article. The continent suffers from a lack of IP manpower in the judiciary and academia, as the development of capacity and expertise has not kept pace with the expansion and sophistication of intellectual property. That state of affairs depicts a structural fault line in Africa’s ability to optimise on-going economic and social transformations. The author argues that Africa needs need expertise in IP such as patent rights, especially in biotechnology at large, including health, food, agriculture, chemistry, pharmaceuticals. He recommends stronger collaboration between members of the Africa diaspora and those back home in Africa as a way forward. Strong local institutional commitment is needed to buy into this vision. To achieve this, countries will require a culture of transparency, accountability and efficiency in the management of collaborative research funds and other forms of assistance and partnership.
This collection of writings draws together the thoughts of scholars, activists, historians and social commentators on post-extractivism in different contexts. As a system of thought and action, post-extractivism offers a new and radical approach to the problems caused by mining and extractivism in general. Founded in philosophies of Buen Vivir (Good Living) it proposes radical alternatives to current models of ‘development’ thinking that support an oppressively extractive, non-reciprocal relationship with Earth and each other, and suggests fields of action and transition to change the current status-quo.
Tobacco, alcohol and foods that are high in fat, salt and sugar generate much of the global burden of noncommunicable diseases. A better understanding is needed of how these products are promoted. The promotion of tobacco products through sporting events has largely disappeared over the last two decades, but advertising and sponsorship continues by companies selling alcohol, unhealthy food and sugar-sweetened beverage. The sponsorship of sporting events such as the Olympic Games, the men’s FIFA World Cup and the men’s European Football Championships in 2016, has received some attention in recent years in the public health literature, as have global football events with which transnational companies are keen to be associated, to promote their brands to international markets. Despite this the marketing and sponsorship portfolio of these events have received very little scrutiny from public health advocates. The authors call for policy-makers and the public health community to formulate an approach to the sponsorship of sporting events, one that accounts for public health concerns.