‘‘Eight million Africans are dying from HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria every
year. We want to stop this,'' Regis Mtutu of the Treatment Action Campaign
Regarding the commitment to put aside 15 percent of national budgets for
health services, ‘‘only Botswana and The Gambia have met this promise'',
Mtutu said.
included a plan to set
up pharmaceutical plants for producing life-prolonging anti-retroviral
drugs (ARVs).
Mtutu pointed out that ‘‘the ministers for finance and industry were not
part of the discussion. To succeed, the health ministers need mandates
from their finance and industry counterparts.
policy officer at Oxfam Kenya office, told IPS that ‘‘‘MDGs' is just a
label. It is a brand.
‘‘HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria and other diseases are really the issue. It is
about systems to deliver health care. This should be the starting point to
meeting the MDGs,'' said Edete.
lthough governments have committed themselves to the MDGs and the Abuja
target, some prefer to move at their own pace. Kenya's government, for
example, says it will commit 12 percent of its national budget to health
by 2008
‘‘It should be a step-by-step approach. Each country has its own strategy.
If you set a time frame it might not work. For example, you cannot expect
(strife-torn) countries like Somalia, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic
of Congo to reach the 15 percent target. It is not practical,'' she told
IPS.
the political and economic crisis
in Zimbabwe deserves special mention as it is also a health crisis for
Africa. People living with HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe cannot obtain the care
they need and the climate of violence is perpetuating the epidemics of HIV
and TB.
‘‘The shockwaves from the crisis in Zimbabwe are reverberating throughout
the continent as refugees seek health care and other services in
neighbouring countries. Our health ministers must speak out on Zimbabwe on
health and humanitarian grounds,'' the coalition argued.
a new report, ‘‘Paying for People'', published this month (April),
Oxfam estimates that 13.7 billion US dollars must be invested every year
to appoint an additional 1 million teachers and 2.1 million health care
workers urgently needed to break the cycle of poverty in Africa.
‘‘Today in too many of the world's poorest countries health and education
services are dependent on a handful of workers struggling heroically to do
their jobs on pitiful wages and in appalling conditions. Becoming a
doctor, nurse or teacher is like signing a contract with poverty,'' Oxfam's
Elizabeth Stuart wrote in the report.
Africa has 13 percent of the global population
and 25 percent of the global burden of disease but only 1.3 percent of the
global workforce.''
The report cites Tanzania as an example. This southern African country
produces 640 doctors, nurses and midwives each year. But to reach the
World Health Organisation's recommended staffing levels within 10 years it
would need to produce 3,500 such health workers each year.
Another example is Malawi where only nine percent of health facilities
have adequate staff to provide basic health care. The country loses around
100 nurses each year ‘‘who emigrate in search of a better wage'',
according to the Oxfam report.
Charo told IPS that Kenyan health workers are not only moving overseas but
are also seeking opportunities in the private sector for better pay. ‘‘If
you work for government, you get 12,000 Kenya shillings (about 172 US
dollars) but in the NGO or private sector you earn 40,000 shillings
(nearly 572 US dollars) a month. People are tempted to move on.''
(END/2007)
Has some good statistics. Lists lots of problems in African heatlhcare. Has some info on Africa Health Strategy, and proposes more money will solve more problems.
Another organization targeting individuals to give money to those in need. The biggest problem with these organizations is their integrity. Many times, a majority of the money a person donates will go to the organization an dnot the needy. How can we refine the system?
This article gives insight into the reasons that throwing money at issues does not work. It shows where the money goes instead of going to actually buy the things that might solve the problem.
Interesting video that looks at NGO's and how they have in treated the African people that they support with their own programs that they think will benefit the people and not what the people themselves believe that they need. Also it says that one NGO in Ghana asked a girl to cry for a video they were making, in order to help raise more money, but that money did not even go to that girl/her people.
There are several companies out there that provide traffic generation services of various types, usually for pretty large fees. Or there are free services that promise to bring you traffic if you visit a certain number of websites yourself. You may be wondering if these services are actually worth the money or time you'll spend to get the traffic.
I may be reading to much into the wording, but do we really want to "compare" cultures. When we talk about comparing cultures, it seems as if we are holding them to a certain standard.
Three primary elements characterized feudalism: lords, vassals and fiefs; the structure of feudalism can be seen in how these three elements fit together. A lord was a noble who owned land, a vassal was a person who was granted possession of the land by the lord, and the land was known as a fief. In exchange for the fief, the vassal would provide military service to the lord. The obligations and relations between lord, vassal and fief form the basis of feudalism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudal_system
These impoverished
peasants often moved to the cities, providing cheap labor essential
for the growth in urban manufacturing
Eastern Europe (especially Poland) and Latin America,
exhibited characteristics of peripheral regions.
In Latin America, the
Spanish and Portuguese conquests destroyed indigenous authority
structures and replaced them with weak bureaucracies under the
control of these European states.
This is the most common pattern found in the world simulation, though other forms emerge as well.
served as buffers between the core and the peripheries
According to Wallerstein, the semi-peripheries were exploited
by the core but, as in the case of the American empires of Spain
and Portugal, often were exploiters of peripheries themselves.
Spain, for example, imported silver and gold from its American
colonies, obtained largely through coercive labor practices, but
most of this specie went to paying for manufactured goods from
core countries such as England and France rather than encouraging
the formation of a domestic manufacturing sector.
nice summary here of the relationship of core, semi-periphery, and periphery
Similarly, Protestants, who
were often the merchants in Catholic countries, found they were
targets of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church, a trans-national
institution, found the development of capitalism and the strengthening
of the state threatening.
During this period, workers in Europe experienced a dramatic fall
in wages.
Is the merchant class the first indication of a middle class? If so, then why the fall in wages becasue it seems to me that all they created was a middle man to continously take the wages from the working class that supported the goods that were traded?
European states participated in active exploration for the
exploitation of new markets.
With the independence
of the Latin American countries, these areas as well as previously
isolated zones in the interior of the American continent entered
as peripheral zones in the world economy. Asia and Africa entered
the system in the nineteenth century as peripheral zones.
Expansion of the periphery - this typically represents Round 2 of the World Simulation.
the core enriched itself at the expense of the peripheral economies.
This, of course, did not mean either that everybody in the periphery
became poorer or that all citizens of the core regions became
wealthier as a result.
Wallerstein asserts
that an analysis of the history of the capitalist world system
shows that it has brought about a skewed development in which
economic and social disparities between sections of the world
economy have increased rather than provided prosperity for all.
This was the first time that an economic system encompassed much of the world
with links that superseded national or other political boundaries
OLPC is funded by a number of sponsor organizations, including AMD, Brightstar Corporation, eBay, Google, Marvell, News Corporation, SES Global, Nortel Networks, and Red Hat. Each company has donated two million dollars.[6]
Mark Skousen uses a Searcher approach to solving poverty. Instead of useless charitable donations, he proposes breaking the World Bank down into self employed institutions. Individuals borrow money with specified limits. If the borrower defaults, then he must be reducated in the borrowing process and repayment process. The only negative aspect about this is that these lending agents act like a Cash-n-Go and the interest is very high at over 18%.
The money invested in North American companies producing green technology rose 35% in 2005, to a total of $1.6 billion, according to a new report by the Cleantech Venture Network.
What seems to be the great thing about this organization, is that they want help in all areas. It isn't just money they want, they are offering volunteer opportunities, jobs, etc. They have goals for diseases and a way to achieve these goals.
Oil (and other minerals) are affecting the economic situation of African countries. Companies are getting rich, but the people are poor. Poverty is undoubtedly a cause fore the lack of healthcare access in Africa. Some solutions are offered in this article to put some of the money made from the oil back into the hands of the people that live there.
A video that criticizes the G8's debt relief because even though it tells the people that their debt will be cancelled, they then tell them how and when they can invest their money, rather than allowing the people to make their own decisions.