The H5N1 strain of avian influenza, or bird flu, remains a global threat, but while Southern Africa should prepare for its emergence, the region needed to bear in mind that the disease has yet to mutate into a deadly human strain, a World Health Organisation (WHO) expert told IRIN. News reports suggesting that least one case of bird flu in humans had been identified in the Indian Ocean island of Reunion raised concern this week, but these reports proved inaccurate after medical tests were conducted by French authorities.
Equity in Health
Southern African countries must prepare for bird flu
Stephen Lewis: An Envoy on the Brink of No Return
UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis on Sunday criticized rich nations for failing to deliver adequate aid to Africa, CBC News reports. Lewis also recently launched a book titled "Race Against Time." In the book, Lewis criticizes musician Bob Geldof for using the "hype" surrounding the Live 8 concerts in July to allow the leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized nations to promote a "wholly inadequate" aid package for Africa as a "major triumph of international consensus and generosity," the Ottawa Citizen reports.
The Promise of Equality
UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, October 2005
The report, 'The Promise of Equality: Gender Equity, Reproductive Health and the Millennium Development Goals', explores the degree to which the global community has fulfilled pledges made to the world’s most impoverished and marginalized peoples. It tracks progress, exposes shortfalls and examines the links between poverty, gender equality, human rights, reproductive health, conflict and violence against women and girls. It also examines the relationship between gender discrimination and the scourge of HIV/AIDS.
Equity in Health Care in Namibia report launched
The Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) on Tuesday, 13 September, launched a study report on Equity in Health Care in Namibia, which is aimed at generating evidence needed to enhance the health ministry’ endeavors to redressing inequities in resource allocation in the country. The study specifically purports to develop a needs-based allocation formula that will assist the MoHSS to shift its resource allocation mechanism away from the historical incrementalist type.
Further details: /newsletter/id/31104
Health and the millennium development goals
This report from the World Health Organization (WHO) asserts that if trends established in the 1990s continue, the majority of developing countries will not achieve the health Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. None of the poorest regions of the developing world is on track to meet the child mortality target, while maternal mortality has only declined in countries where levels were already relatively low. Targets for reversing HIV and AIDS and reducing incidence of malaria, tuberculosis and other communicable diseases, remain a huge challenge in sub-Saharan Africa.
HIV/AIDS eroding region's development, says UN report
HIV/AIDS has accounted for huge reversals in human development in Southern Africa, which could impact on the region meeting some of the UN's poverty-slashing Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), according to a new report. The UN's '2005 Human Development Report' released on Wednesday noted that 12 of the 18 countries that have suffered development reversals between 1990 and 2003 were in sub-Saharan Africa, with Southern Africa "hit hardest".
Poor funding hampers AIDS vaccine research, says Lewis
The global pursuit of a vaccine against HIV/AIDS is failing due to a lack of funds and commitment, a delegation of researchers heard on Tuesday. Addressing the '2005 AIDS Vaccine International Conference' in Montreal, Canada, Stephen Lewis the UN Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa urged scientists to emerge from their laboratories to become champions for the cause.
The Power Of Growth To Reduce Poverty: World Development Report 2006
Equity, defined primarily as equality of opportunities among people, should be an integral part of a successful poverty reduction strategy anywhere in the developing world, says the World Bank's annual 2006 World Development Report. "Equity is complementary to the pursuit of long-term prosperity," said François Bourguignon, the Bank's Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics, who guided the team that produced the report. "Greater equity is doubly good for poverty reduction. It tends to favor sustained overall development, and it delivers increased opportunities to the poorest groups in a society."
Treating severe malnutrition: implementing clinical guidelines in South African hospitals
According to the World Health Organisation malnutrition is associated with about 60 percent of deaths in children under five years old in the developing world. The WHO has developed guidelines to improve the quality of hospital care for malnourished children in order to reduce deaths. The guidelines suggest ten steps for routine management of severe malnourishment. These will require most hospitals to make substantial changes.
UN summit gridlocks
The 2005 World Summit, a “high-level plenary meeting of the 60th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations”, was the grand title of a dreary and lacklustre meeting held in New York on Sept 14–16, reports the 24 September issue of The Lancet. The summit has been widely derided, mainly for its watered-down outcome document, which was painfully agreed on the eve of the summit. For those most concerned about the fate of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), with their aim to halve world poverty by 2015, there were one or two potentially bright spots. UN delegates committed an additional US$50 billion to the MDGs over the next 5 years, with every developing country agreeing to create a national plan by the end of 2006 for achieving the MDGs.