• Author: Joshua Kurlantzick
• Source: The Boston Globe

JUST THREE YEARS ago, at the G-8 summit of industrialized nations, it looked like the world of foreign aid was about to change. As the 2005 conference ended, British Prime Minister Tony Blair ascended the steps of a resort in the quaint Scottish village of Gleneagles and announced that rich nations would double their aid to Africa by 2010, giving some $50 billion annually. “It is progress — real and achievable progress,” he concluded. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Development, Health and Infectious Disease

• Author: Richard Ingham
• Source: Agence France Presse

“Save someone’s life and you have a burden for life,” goes the proverb, and its truth seems horribly apt for the campaign against AIDS.

After years of battling for funds and anti-HIV drugs for needy people in poor countries, activists are finally making headway.

But the 17th International AIDS Conference that ended here Friday has highlighted the dilemma of this success: the more lives you save, the more the bill goes up. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Development, Health and Infectious Disease

• Author: Andrew Jack
• Source: Financial Times

Emerging countries should fund more of their own spiralling needs to tackle Aids and other infectious diseases, the head of the largest multilateral donor agency for health warned on Thursday.

Michel Kazatchkine, head of the UN-backed Global Fund to fight Aids, TB and Malaria, said he wanted to see other countries follow the recent lead of Russia in “co-investing” to tackle some of the world’s leading killer diseases. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Development, Health and Infectious Disease

• Author: Richard Ingham
• Source: Agence France Presse

The UN goal of achieving “universal access” to anti-HIV drugs and care by 2010 is unlikely to be reached worldwide, two leading figures in the campaign against AIDS said here on Wednesday.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under Health and Infectious Disease

• Source: The Press Trust of India Limited

New York — Warning that prejudice against people infected with HIV/AIDS was leading to its rapid spread, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has asked the religious leaders, school teachers and media to spread tolerance for the victims.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under Health and Infectious Disease

• Author: Bathandwa Mbola
• Source: All Africa

The Deputy President said this would help them further their work in treating and preventing HIV and AIDS. (more…)

Filed by Sarah Cale under Development, Health and Infectious Disease

• Source: Delta Farm Press

Shortly after the latest G-8 summit wrapped up in Japan in early July, speakers at a National Family Farm Coalition-sponsored forum pointed to the lack of a strategic grain reserve as a cause for current agriculture market conditions.

Over the last 25 years “when we’ve had a severe shock to the market — especially the corn market — we’ve had stocks in place to moderate price and provide supply to domestic and export customers,” said Daryll Ray, economist/director of the Agriculture Policy Analysis Center at the University of Tennessee and sometime Delta Farm Press contributor. “We can lose sight of that and now we’re on unfamiliar territory because we haven’t had the same situation in the past.” (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Multilateral Trade, Health and Infectious Disease

• Source: States News Service

MRS. BUSH: Welcome, everyone, to the White House. Thank you all very much for coming for this signing of the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008.

I’m so glad you all are here. Americans can be proud that our country is leading the efforts against global HIV/AIDS. And I’m proud of my husband’s leadership in launching the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. (Applause.) (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Development, Health and Infectious Disease

• Source: Voice of America Press Releases and Documents

The head of the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO) says there were no big surprises in the latest UNAIDS report. Richard Burzynski says, “I think we’ve been starting to hear some of this information. I think what’s complex when we’re looking at some of the information they’re bringingCthere are three key areas. One is there has been an increase in prevention and treatment services with some measurable results. But clearly it’s not going to be even close to sufficient to meet universal access targets that were set by the G8 and other governments for 2010. (more…)

Filed by Ozlem Yucel under Education and Social Policy, Health and Infectious Disease

• Author: Kalpana Sharma
• Source: The Hindu

In our quest to become an economic and nuclear power, are we losing track of the basic needs of ordinary people?

One out of every two persons in the world compelled to defecate in the open is an Indian. This is one of several unsavoury facts brought out in a recent report by the World Health Organisation and UNICEF. According to the report, out of the 1.2 billi on people who defecate in the open worldwide because they have no access to toilets, more than half are Indian. An astounding 667 million people in this country have no option but to defecate in the open, a country that would like people to believe that it is on the cusp of becoming a global economic giant. (more…)

Filed by Ivana Jankovic under Health and Infectious Disease, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

• Author: JIM ABRAMS
• Source: Associated Press Newswires

WASHINGTON (AP) - Expanding on a U.S. program that has saved and prolonged the lives of millions in Africa alone, the House of Representatives prepared Thursday to pass and send to President George W. Bush legislation that triples money to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis around the world.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under Health and Infectious Disease

• Source: Business Line (The Hindu)

The Hokkaido conference of G-8 nations has gained undue prominence in Indian politics because the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, chose to attend the G-8 meet and had discussions with the US President, Mr George W. Bush, in the face of bitter opposition to the proposed nuclear deal. G-8 has become a well-known but dirty word in the Indian political vocabulary for the wrong reasons. The G-8 conference in Hokkaido was not about the nuclear deal. It was about serious globa l issues, such as global warming, oil prices, inflation and financial instability. (more…)

Filed by Sarah Cale under Global Financial Crises, Multilateral Trade, Development, The Environment, Climate Change, Health and Infectious Disease, Energy and Nuclear Safety

• Author: Zakir Hussain
• Source: BBC Monitoring South Asia

The Group of Eight - world’s most rich and powerful - gathers in a ritual summit annually. This year the G8 met from 7 to 9 July at an exclusive resort in the Hokkaido island of Japan. They dined and wined in an ambience of opulence far removed from the world they claim to lead; not only lead but pledged to help relieve the pains of poverty and hunger, among other noble deeds for peace and shared prosperity in this unequal world plagued by unrest and turmoil. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Development, The Environment, Health and Infectious Disease

• Source: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, DIANA MARRERO

Nearly a year after dropping out of the presidential race, Tommy Thompson is turning his attention to worms.

Thompson, the former Wisconsin governor who later served as the country’s top health official, has teamed up with a nonprofit health organization to fight hookworm, whipworm and other tropical diseases that affect 1 billion of the world’s poorest people.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under Health and Infectious Disease

• Source: The New Nation

Children trust adults to keep their promises. It is important to remember that as the survival and health of millions of children will depend on the outcomes of this week’s G8 meeting in Japan and to sticking to past promises made.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under Development, Health and Infectious Disease

• Source: M2 Presswire

Up to a million lives in Nigeria could be saved as a result of a new GBP50m project to tackle malaria announced today by International Development Minister, Gillian Merron.

The aid will help provide up to four million mosquito bed nets and ten million anti-malaria drug treatments alongside a wide-range of additional health measures. This will be targeted at those most at risk from malaria including pregnant mothers, babies and children. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Health and Infectious Disease

• Source: Voice of America Press Releases and Documents

A partnership of NGOs, governments, and UN agencies is calling on G-8 leaders to provide more funding to help reduce death rates among pregnant women and infants in the developing world. The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health is asking for US$10 billion to meet previous commitments to global health. The partnership is also asking for new long-term financing. Experts say an increase in funding could prevent at least six million mother and child deaths every year. From Cape Town, Voice of America English to Africa service’s Unathi Kondile reports that in recent years donors have provided billions of dollars in funding for maternal, newborn and child health. But health experts say the 68 countries with the highest rates of maternal and child mortality need more. (more…)

Filed by Ozlem Yucel under Health and Infectious Disease

• Author: Mbatau wa Ngai
• Source: Emerging Markets Africawire

Once again, leaders of the world’s industrialised countries held their annual three-day meeting that ended on July 9 at a secluded resort on the northern island of Hokkaido in Japan to discuss the state of the global economy.

It would amount to the triumph of hope over experience to expect the Group of Eight (G8) consisting of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States to come up with solutions to solve the worsening world economic crisis leave alone the triple challenges of illiteracy, disease and poverty strangling Africa. It is not by coincidence that only South African President Thabo Mbeki was invited to the high table from Africa. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Education and Social Policy, Development, Health and Infectious Disease

• Source: AIDS Weekly

World Vision commends the U.S. Senate for approving increases for hunger and developmental assistance for fiscal years 2008 and 2009 in the Supplemental Appropriations Act, including $850 million in the first year to address the global food crisis. (more…)

Filed by Sarah Cale under Development, Health and Infectious Disease

• Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

Toyako, Japan (Kyodo) - The following is the full text of the chair’s summary released Wednesday by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda after the three-day Group of Eight summit was wrapped up.

Chair’s Summary Hokkaido Toyako, July 9, 2008 We met at Hokkaido Toyako to address key challenges we face today. We adopted the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit Leaders Declaration and three independent statements on Global Food Security, Counter-Terrorism and Zimbabwe. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Global Financial Crises, Multilateral Trade, Development, Climate Change, Health and Infectious Disease, Terrorism, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD, Democratization and Human Rights

• Source: Morning Star Online

NTERNATIONAL union organisations slammed G8 leaders on Wednesday for following a “business agenda” at the Hokkaido summit and ignoring their demands for decent work and real action on the environment.

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) said that it was “disturbing” that G8 leaders had failed to address the weakness of the global economy and the likely rise in unemployment that is now being forecast over the year ahead. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Development, Health and Infectious Disease

• Source: Kyodo News

The leaders of the Group of Eight nations pledged Tuesday to step up efforts to improve public health in Africa by increasing the workforce in the health and medical service sector.

In a statement on global health issued on the second day of their summit talks in Hokkaido, the G-8 leaders said they agreed to address a package of measures to enhance the public health system in Africa by such means as fostering health and medical workers, as the summit endorsed a report by the G-8 health experts group. (more…)

Filed by Ozlem Yucel under Health and Infectious Disease

• Source: States News Service

The following information was released by the World Health Organization:

The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomes the agreement announced today in Japan by G8 leaders and their commitment to full, annual measurements of progress in meeting their pledges to improve global health.

“Many noble commitments have been made over the last decade to support health,” said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan. “And now G8 nations are saying they will ensure an accounting of those promises every year. This is commendable. WHO and its partners will do everything possible to support their efforts.” (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Development, Health and Infectious Disease

• Source: Canada AM

IEN: Leaders at the G8 summit in Japan focused on two main concerns today: the global economy and climate change. Divisions remain on climate change and setting new targets for reducing emissions. The issue for Canada and the US is whether emerging countries such as China and India should be included in any plan to cut emissions. Joining me now from Toyako, Japan is Environment Minister John Baird. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Climate Change, Health and Infectious Disease

• Source: Canada NewsWire

For a government that prides itself on accountability and action, Canada’s contributions at the G8 summit in Japan did little to move prior G8 commitments toward measurable results, World Vision says.

This G8 Summit has created little hope for the millions of children infected and affected by HIV and AIDS, and the parents of the children dying every three seconds to poverty related illnesses. The international development organization points out that once again, the final communiqué failed to include a specific plan to make past promises real. (more…)

Filed by Ozlem Yucel under Health and Infectious Disease