In this article, the author argues that migration has a role to play in inclusive development and addressing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for poverty, gender equity and health. Remittances sent to family back home usually help to cover the daily consumption needs, which helps to reduce poverty and hunger. Remittances are, in addition, often invested in health, education and accommodation. Such investments often come with important impacts on the MDGs linked to education and health, particularly where women decide on the use of remittances. Sectors with critical skills shortages can benefit from the transfer of skills through circular migration and return (so-called ‘brain gain’ and ‘brain circulation’). The migration experience can empower women, both as individuals and as a group, by helping them to enter the labour market and earn higher incomes. The transfer of values and ideas brought about by migration (so-called ‘social remittances’) may also facilitate the gender equity goals of the MDGs.
Health equity in economic and trade policies
On 26 February 2013, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) presented their trilateral publication ‘Promoting Access to Medical Technologies and Innovation’ to the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (included in last month’s newsletter). Promoted by the three organisations as ‘neutral’ and ‘informative’, the report came in for criticism from delegates from developing countries. On behalf of the Africa Group, Algeria said that while the study recognises that there are some limitations to the use of patent flexibilities, it does not look at the constraints developing countries encounter when using the flexibilities. Furthermore, many African countries lacked resources to meet all the formal requirements needed to implement flexibilities. Algeria highlighted the African and Developing Agenda Group (DAG) joint proposal on a patents and health work programme, which calls for further research, information exchange and technical assistance for least-developed countries (LDCs). Delegates from India and Brazil also called for further research into TRIPS flexibilities, arguing that the report had not done enough in this regard.
An estimated 0.5 to 1.5 million informal miners, of whom 30-50% are women, rely on artisanal mining for their livelihood in Tanzania, and are exposed daily to mercury and arsenic. The primary objective of this study was to assess community risk knowledge and perception of potential mercury and arsenic toxicity in Rwamagasa in northwestern Tanzania, an area with a long history of artisanal gold mining. A total of 160 individuals over 18 years of age completed a structured interview. These interviews revealed wide variations in knowledge and risk perceptions concerning mercury and arsenic exposure, with 40.6% and 89.4% not aware of the health effects of mercury and arsenic exposure respectively. Males were significantly more knowledgeable (36.9%) than females (22.5%) with regard to mercury poisoning. An individual’s occupation category was associated with level of knowledge, and individuals involved in mining (73.2%) were more knowledgeable about the negative health effects of mercury than individuals in other occupations. Of the few individuals (10.6%) who knew about arsenic toxicity, most (58.8%) were miners. Overall lack of knowledge, combined with minimal environmental monitoring and controlled waste management practices, highlights the need for health education, surveillance, and policy changes, the authors conclude.
The African Union (AU) has announced it will proceed with the establishment of a Pan-African Intellectual Property Office (PAIPO), despite misgivings from civil society and development economists about the potential impact on local economies. There is currently no intellectual property (IP) office for Africa. The AU has requested a meeting of all stakeholders dealing with intellectual property before the May 2013 AU Summit. According to the author of this article, public information is difficult to obtain from the African Union, and nothing further is known at this time. He argues that signing up to the global IP system, in which nearly all of the IP rights are owned by non-African entities, clashes with the development objectives of the African Union, which are to promote African sovereignty and equitable development.
Low fruit and vegetable consumption is an important contributor to the global burden of disease. In the wake of the United Nations High-level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), held in September 2011, a rise in the consumption of fruits and vegetables is foreseeable and this increased demand will have to be met through improved supply. The World Health Organisation, the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Bank have highlighted the potential for developing countries to benefit nutritionally and economically from the increased production and export of fruit and vegetables. Aid for Trade, launched in 2005 as an initiative designed to link development aid and trade holistically, offers an opportunity for the health and trade sectors to work jointly to enhance health and development. It is one of the few sources of aid for development that is stable and experiencing growth, according to this paper. At present the health sector has very little input into how Aid for Trade funds are allocated. This is an opportune moment to investigate opportunities for collaboration, since more than half of the reporting external funders are planning to revise their Aid for Trade strategies in 2013. Health departments should make central planning and finance departments aware of the potential health and economic benefits, for both developed and developing countries, of directing Aid for Trade to fresh produce markets.
The 2012/13 edition of the Global Wage Report looks at the macroeconomic effects of wages, and in particular at how current trends are linked to equitable growth. Among the major findings of the report are that the gap between wage growth and labour productivity growth is widening, the difference between the top and bottom earners is increasing, and the labour income share is declining. Workers are receiving a smaller slice of the economic pie than before. These worrying changes affect the key components of aggregate demand – particularly consumption, investment and net exports – that are necessary for recovery and growth. The report looks at the reasons for these trends, which range from the increasing financial and trade globalization to advances in technology and the decline in the power of trade unions and reduced union density. Raising average labour productivity remains a key challenge which must involve efforts to raise the level of education and the capabilities that are required for productive transformation and economic development. The development of well-designed social protection systems would allow workers and their families to reduce the amounts of precautionary savings, to invest in the education of their children, and to contribute towards stronger domestic consumption demand and raise living standards. The report calls for internal and external “rebalancing” to achieve more socially and economically sustainable outcomes within and across countries, proposing policy actions beyond labour markets and national borders.
The Least Developed Countries (LDCs) have submitted a "duly motivated" request to the WTO TRIPS Council for an extension of the transition period for them to comply with the TRIPS Agreement "for as long as the WTO Member remains a least developed country". The request was submitted by Haiti, on behalf of the LDCs, at a meeting of the TRIPS Council on 6-7 November 2012. The exemption will continue to allow LDCs to access affordable medicines without the risk of violating patents on the medicines. Haiti argued that because of their extreme poverty, LDCs need the policy space to access various technologies, educational resources, and other tools necessary for development. Furthermore, LDCs have such small economies that they do not represent a significant loss of profits for pharmaceutical patent owners. Most intellectual property-protected commodities are simply priced beyond the purchasing power of these countries’ governments and their nationals, the spokesperson for Haiti added. Haiti has asked for this issue to be put on the agenda of the next TRIPS Council meeting, scheduled to take place in March 2013.
Pharmaceutical spending in Africa is expected to reach US$30 billion by 2016, driven by increases in incomes and the shifting nature of its disease burden, according to this article. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are expected to account for 46% of all deaths in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030, up from 28% in 2008. As a result, big pharmaceutical companies are now expressing interest in new opportunities opening up for treating chronic, non-communicable diseases (NCDs), particularly in African middle classes. The author projects that the pharmaceutical market in Africa will grow in the next decade.
Economists have predicted that tobacco consumption will double in the next 12 to 13 years in Sub-Saharan Africa unless anti-smoking policies are adopted. Besides impoverishing families, an increase in the consumption rate will result in an increase in disease burden that will generate unaffordable health costs. Implementing smoke-free policies in Africa remains a problem, however, largely due to tobacco industry interference, insufficient financial and human resources, lack of support from government officials and legislators and poor involvement of civil society. However, the author argues that poor compliance, as well as poor, often non-existent enforcement and monitoring and surveillance systems are the real threats to smoke-free laws in Africa. Therefore, there is a crucial need for efficient implementation strategies, along with proper monitoring and surveillance systems on the one hand; and on the other, a need for scientific research in order to evaluate the effectiveness of smoke-free policies in Africa.
In this report, the authors provide an in-depth evaluation of debt cancellation measures the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that took place at the beginning of the 21st century. As a proxy for the effect of debt relief, the authors of this report looked into the education sector for evidence of improvements following the debt cancellation. Some positive changes, notably in the payment of wages, were found that correlated with the debt relief, but these changes did not reach further than the headquarters of the ministry of education in Kinshasa. They identified two new issues: the growing need to question the legitimacy of ‘odious debt’ incurred during a dictatorship without the population ever having received any benefits from it; and the ongoing fight against vulture funds and other rogue creditors, which buy up the debt of poor developing countries at very low prices and then sue them to enforce payment of the nominal value, including arrears of interest. Legislation outlawing the seizure of Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) funds and state-to-state loans would be an important step in that direction, the authors argue. Belgium has already passed a law to protect its ODA grants against seizure and also intends to audit the ethical basis of all sovereign credits on developing countries. (Please note that this report has only been issued in French – the English version is forthcoming.)