In a repeat of a crisis a decade ago, donors now fear that the IMF is blocking aid increases to Mozambique. With public pressure in several European countries for increased aid, and with problems in Ethiopia and Uganda tainting these former donor darlings, donors are anxious to pump more money into Mozambique -- especially as budget support. But the IMF says no -- it will not allow Mozambique to accept more budget support. Instead, it wants donors to fund more projects outside the state budget -- which goes directly against the policy of many donors.
Health equity in economic and trade policies
Highlights of the first tobacco treaty conference of the parties
WHO
On February 17th, 2006, the first Conference of the Parties (COP) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in Geneva adopted 4 major decisions, including:
* establishing the permanent secretariat of the Treaty within the World Health Organization (located in Geneva);
* creating working groups that will begin development of protocols (legally binding instruments) in the areas of cross-border advertising and illicit trade;
* allowing the Conference of the Parties to assess progress made by countries in implementing the measures required by the Treaty; and establishing an ad-hoc group of experts that will study economically viable alternatives to tobacco growing and production.
Ignore the World Bank on health, says minister
The Standard, Kenya
Kenya should ignore donor restrictions and employ health workers needed urgently countrywide, an assistant minister has said. The country needs 10,000 health workers to offer improved services, Health assistant minister Enock Kibunguchy said. He said about 130,000 infants born yearly to HIV-positive mothers were not being cared for effectively for lack of medical staff. He said the scaling up of the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV could only be achieved if there was adequate personnel and infrastructure.
IMF study says big aid increases are OK
The Macroeconomics of Managing Increased Aid Inflows: Experiences of Low-Income Countries and Policy Implications
An IMF study released last August says that, contrary to IMF assumptions, low income African countries, including Mozambique, are able to manage significant increases in aid. A big increase in aid to Mozambique did lead to an increase in inflation, but this was brought back to a reasonable level, the study found, both by Bank of Mozambique actions and because fiscal expansion brought rapid GDP growth.
Further details: /newsletter/id/31308
Contact: j.hanlon@open.ac.uk
SA must push rich nations
Buisness Day
The European Union's (EU's) commissioner of trade called on SA in early February 2006 to use its considerable influence among developing countries to facilitate concessions in services and industrial goods in world trade talks. In a veiled threat, commissioner Peter Mandelson warned that developing countries should make concessions quickly or risk losing the gains made in the Doha round of negotiations to date.
Thai solidarity
PHA-Exchange
Thai AIDS activists and their international allies sought suspension of scheduled trade talks that threaten to undermine Thailand’s lawful ability to produce, import/export, and market low-cost generic versions of life-saving medicines. In January, in Chiang Mai, the United States and Thailand were scheduled to start the Sixth Round of negotiations on a proposed Free Trade Agreement, and were for the first time to hold discussions on a U.S. proposal to dramatically increase intellectual property protections for pharmaceutical products.
The great global vitamins conspiracy: Sanctions and deterrence
AAI Working Paper No. 06-02
A comprehensive examination of the global bulk vitamins cartels of the 1990s exposes 16 interrelated cartels with the largest discovered international price-fixing schemes of the late 20th century in terms of affected commerce and direct overcharges. The convicted members of the vitamins cartels were in absolute monetary terms the most heavily sanctioned defendants in the history of antitrust law. Yet, the impressive corporate monetary sanctions imposed worldwide were inadequate to deter recidivism.
The World Trade Organisation and sustainable development: a guide to the debate
Royal Institute of International Affairs
The paper concludes that there is no doubt that international trade can play a vital role in promoting sustainable development across the world even though its inter-relationship with the different pillars of sustainable development - economic, environmental and social - is both complex and different in each case. There is equally little doubt that current trade rules need to be reformed to better support environmental and developmental objectives. But whether the Doha 'Development Round' will do this remains an open question.
TRIPS agreement and access to drugs in developing countries
Sur - International Journal on Human Rights
This article examines the progress made in the process to lend more flexibility to the TRIPS Agreement for medical drugs, and shows how the Doha Declaration and the 2003 Decision of the TRIPS Board on the implementation of its paragraph 6 are insufficient to ensure a reduction in prices and the negotiation of voluntary licenses.
WHO Board adopts decision on trade and health
Third World Network
As countries rush to conclude bilateral and regional free trade agreements, there are growing concerns that these trade agreements could adversely affect the health policies of the developing countries. Against this backdrop, the WHO Executive Board has recommended that the next World Health assembly in May adopt a resolution on trade and health. Member States are asked to include health ministries in negotiations on trade agreements and the WHO Secretariat has been tasked to assist in this process.