Kaisernetwork.org (Washington, DC)
5 September 2008
Global Challenges
U.N. Report Finds Donors Providing Less Aid to Developing Nations
[Sep 05, 2008]
Despite rising food and energy prices and slowing economic growth worldwide, aid to developing nations has been on the decline, according to a United Nations report released on Thursday by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the New York Times reports. The report found that aid decreased by 8.4% in 2007, following a 4.7% decrease in 2006 (Macfarquhar, New York Times, 9/4). Aid had increased steadily between 1997 and 2005 (AP/USA Today, 9/4). In addition, although the Group of Eight industrialized nations in 2005 pledged to increase aid to Africa by 2010, only $4 billion has been delivered to the continent, according to the report (New York Times, 9/4).
The report -- the first detailed account of commitments to meet the Millennium Development Goals, which include curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases -- found that aid from donor countries averaged 0.28% of their national incomes. As of last year, the only countries that had met pledges to raise that figure to 0.7% were Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden (Morris, Financial Times, 9/4).
Ban said that the report "sounds a strong alarm," adding that the "main message is that while there has been progress on several counts, delivery on commitments made by member states has been deficient and has fallen behind schedule. We are already in the second half of our contest against poverty. We are running out of time." Lead author Rob Vos of the U.N. Department for Economic and Social Affairs said that over the last two years, "we see ... that development assistance has been going down by all the major donors -- the United States, Japan, but also the European Union." Vos added, "On average, the European Union gives more in relative terms vis-a-vis their national income than the other principal donors, the United States and Japan. But we can say to all of them that they have to step up their efforts to meet the commitments they've made" (AP/USA Today, 9/4).
According to the report, the distribution of medicine to treat HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB has improved, but the supply of affordable drugs remains inadequate. In addition, although debt relief has been provided to 33 out of 41 eligible countries, 52 countries in 2006 spent more money paying off debts than on public health, and 10 allocated more money to debt payments than education (New York Times, 9/4).
Ban said that in order to meet the 2010 targets, commitments for official development assistance from industrialized nations would have to increase by $18 billion annually, including $7.3 billion to Africa. He added that the U.N. plans to host a meeting of world leaders on Sept. 25 "to step up efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals" (AFP/The Nation, 9/4).
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Ugandan Text Messaging Program Aims To Increase Awareness, Knowledge of HIV/AIDS
[Sep 05, 2008]
A text messaging program using mobile phone technology is being used in western Uganda to increase awareness of and knowledge about HIV/AIDS, IRIN/Plus News reports. The AIDS Information Center in Uganda and Celtel, a local mobile phone network, have partnered with Text to Change, a nongovernmental organization that uses a bulk short message service platform for HIV/AIDS education. The pilot program, launched on Feb. 14, sent an introductory SMS to a list of 15,000 Celtel subscribers asking if they would like to participate in a no-cost interactive quiz about HIV. TTC offered incentives to participants, such as handsets and airtime for correct answers.
The trial program lasted for six to eight weeks and one question was sent each week. Questions -- such as, "What is the difference between HIV and AIDS?", "Have you ever tested for HIV?" and "How is HIV transmitted?" -- were sent to participants, and 2,500 of the 15,000 subscribers contacted responded to each question. After they sent an answer in reply, the participants received a SMS in return either correcting or confirming an answer. Participants were encouraged to go for HIV testing at the end of the trial period. According to Robert Natlaka, AIC's representative, requests for HIV testing at AIC's central facility in the Mbarara district of southwestern Uganda increased by 100% over the six-week period of the trial program. Natlaka said that approximately 225 participants went to the Mbarara center for testing and that others went to AIC partners throughout the district.
TTC public relations officer Bas Hoefman said that if there were "better sensitization and awareness" of the campaign and the questions were written in local languages, more people would respond to the questions. In the next year, TTC plans to expand the program into other districts.
The number of mobile phone users in Uganda is expected to reach six million by the end of 2008, according to the Ugandan Communications Commission. A 2006 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey showed that up to 50% of people in urban areas have mobile phones, compared with 10% in rural areas. According to DHS, about 30% of women and 40% of men in Uganda have comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS, even though almost everyone in the country has heard of the disease (IRIN/PlusNews, 9/4).
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Advocates in Swaziland Call for Democratic Reforms, Social Spending To Address Issues Such as HIV/AIDS
[Sep 05, 2008]
About 1,000 people in the Swazi city of Manzini held a protest on Wednesday, calling for democratic reforms and increased social spending to address issues such as HIV/AIDS in the country, Reuters Africa reports. The protesters were critical of what is anticipated to be an expensive celebration over the weekend for the 40th birthday of King Mswati, which coincides with the country's 40th anniversary of independence from the United Kingdom. Mswati has "courted controversy for his lavish lifestyle" while two-thirds of people in the country live in poverty and 40% of adults live with HIV/AIDS, according to Reuters Africa (Matsebula, Reuters Africa, 9/4).
More than 1,500 women, many of whom are HIV-positive, last month protested against a foreign shopping trip taken by eight of Mswati's 13 wives in what appeared to be the first demonstration in the country by HIV-positive people questioning how money should be spent. Swaziland is facing shortages of medicines, including antiretroviral drugs. The protest was organized by Positive Living, a nongovernmental organization that aims to help women living with HIV (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 8/25)."What is it we are celebrating?" Phille Mlotshwa, who helped organize last month's protest, asked, adding, "Is it the world's highest AIDS rate? The collapse of the health and education system? What are we showing the world that we have achieved?" (Nullis, AP/Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 9/4).
"There's nothing to celebrate," Mario Masuku -- leader of the Peoples Democratic Movement, a banned political party in Swaziland -- said, adding that independence from the United Kingdom was "merely a transfer of power from the colonial rulers to traditional autocracy. The king's resistance to allow democratic change and his super-extravagant lifestyle has taken the country back by decades" (AFP/Moneybiz.com, 9/4). According to Reuters Africa, groups seeking democratic reforms have become more active in Swaziland, and parliamentary elections are scheduled for Sept. 19.
"We are also calling upon government to stop romanticizing corruption but find lasting and effective strategy in dealing with corruption," Jan Sithole, secretary-general of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions, said during the protest in Manzini. Sithole added, "Remember, silence means consent with the status quo. This system of government has failed dismally to be responsible to the concerns of the ordinary Swazi citizens and the electorate. Change can only come when civil society and the suffering majority stand up to be counted against such injustice" (Reuters Africa, 9/4).
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