« Nous sommes fiers que notre programme Arogya Parivar ait été récompensé par GBCHealth, a déclaré Joe Jimenez, Administrateur délégué de Novartis. Arogya Parivar constitue une part importante du travail que Novartis accomplit dans le monde pour développer des solutions durables qui répondent aux besoins médicaux insatisfaits des populations de pays en développement. Nos initiatives à caractère social font la différence en promouvant l’amélioration de la santé tout en stimulant la croissance économique locale. Nous pensons qu’Arogya Parivar aura un impact durable en Inde et espérons étendre ce modèle à d’autres économies en développement. »

Arogya Parivar, qui signifie « Famille en bonne santé » en hindi, est un programme social à but lucratif développé par Novartis, qui adapte une approche basée sur le marché afin d’améliorer l’accès aux soins de santé des populations rurales pauvres d’Inde. Novartis forme des éducateurs sanitaires qui, à leur tour, instruisent les communautés sur la santé et la prévention des maladies, ainsi que des chefs des ventes qui améliorent l’accès aux médicaments à l’échelle locale dans plusieurs domaines thérapeutiques en informant les pharmaciens sur place des produits existants. Depuis le lancement d’Arogya Parivar en 2007, Novartis a formé plus de 500 éducateurs sanitaires et chefs des ventes, et a amélioré l’accès aux soins de santé pour 42 millions de patients dans 33 000 villages indiens. Résultat de l’impact positif d’Arogya Parivar, Novartis travaille à l’extension du modèle d’entreprise social en 2014.

Arogya Parivar est un exemple d’une approche à but social de Novartis. Les projets à caractère social créent des solutions locales durables pour relever les défis liés à la santé dans les marchés émergents. Ces programmes vont au-delà de la médecine, des dons et des réductions de prix en s’attaquant à des problèmes sociétaux plus larges qui ont une influence sur l’accès aux soins de santé : l’éducation, l’infrastructure et la distribution. Novartis adapte son approche à chaque initiative sociale afin de satisfaire à divers besoins sanitaires et culturels locaux. Pour en savoir plus sur les actions sociales de Novartis, veuillez consulter http://www.novartis.com/corporate-responsibility/access-to-healthcare/our-key-initiatives/index.shtml.

A propos de Novartis

Novartis propose des solutions thérapeutiques innovantes destinées à répondre aux besoins en constante évolution des patients et des populations. Basé à Bâle, en Suisse, Novartis propose un portefeuille diversifié de produits susceptibles de satisfaire au mieux ces besoins : médicaments novateurs, soins ophtalmiques, médicaments génériques peu coûteux, vaccins, instruments de diagnostic, produits de santé en vente libre et produits vétérinaires. Novartis est le seul groupe international à occuper une position de leader dans ces domaines. En 2012, Novartis a réalisé un chiffre d’affaires net s’élevant à USD 56,7 milliards et dépensé environ USD 9,3 milliards (USD 9,1 milliards hors charges pour pertes de valeur et amortissements) pour la recherche et le développement (R&D). Le Groupe Novartis emploie quelque 129 000 collaborateurs à plein temps et déploie ses activités dans plus de 140 pays à travers le monde. Pour de plus amples informations, veuillez consulter notre site à l’adresse http://www.novartis.com.

Novartis est présent sur Twitter. Pour vous tenir informé sur Novartis, enregistrez-vous sur http://twitter.com/novartis.

The writer, Dr Michael J.K. Bokor

And the most important development at this stage is that the pink sheet exhibits being used by the petitioners are to be recounted by the KPMG firm as ordered by Presiding Judge Atuguba at Tsatsu Tsikata’s insistence. While Bawumia and Philip Addison insisted on 11,842 as the total, Tsatsu and Tony Lithur held otherwise and pressed for a recount/audit, supported by Quashie-Idun, the EC’s lawyer.

We are waiting for the KPMG’s recounting of the pink sheets to know what is what. The implications for Bawumia will be dire if the result discounts his claim because the duplicated, triplicated, and quadruplicated pink sheets in the whole lot will be detected and counted out to reduce the quantity from 11,842 to something less. Perjury-in-the-making?

After monitoring proceedings to date and paying attention to the nitty-gritty of this petition and the court proceedings, I am more than convinced that the NPP will go nowhere with this case. There are two possible ways by which this can happen:

1. The Supreme Court will not want to curtail anything and, therefore, be patient enough to hear the petition to its logical conclusion but rule against the NPP on the strength of the evidence before it;

2. The Court may be bold enough to dismiss the case midstream if it is convinced that the NPP’s case has crumbled and it will be a waste of time and resources to continue hearing it. This may be a tough call, especially because of the factors that engendered the petition and the hot-headedness of the NPP elements, seeing this petition as their last resort to redeem themselves.

The Court will be cautious in dismissing the case so as not to incite the disappointed NPP elements; but if it can no more contain the duplicity unfolding before it, there will be no other option but to dismiss the case as frivolous and empty—and damn the consequences.

Beyond these primary issues, there are other major areas to persuade me. After all, right from the beginning, I saw through this petition and established it as an adroit exit strategy being used by Akufo-Addo and the NPP bigwigs rooting for him to escape the wrath of their followers. In effect, the petition is nothing but a window-dressing and a smokescreen behind which to let off steam and resign themselves to the sad fate that Election 2012 wrought for them. But can they do so without being eaten alive by their own followers?

They knew right from the scratch that they did not win the elections but couldn’t tell their agitated followers whose expectations they had hyped with vain propaganda and false assurances of a “one-touch” victory for Akufo-Addo. These supporters have been held hostage and won’t easily forgive or forget the ordeal when the wool falls off from their eyes. That is why the internal politics of deception and massaging of feelings persists.

Beyond this cunning to outwit their benighted followers, Akufo-Addo and his co-petitioners have not kept faith with the Supreme Court itself, as we are being made to see day-in-day-out. Two issues emerge:

1. Why did the petitioners isolate only the Presidential elections to contest (and not the Parliamentary ones too)?

2. Why did they put together only pink sheets from the NDC’s strongholds to complain about irregularities in the entries thereon?

A careful analysis of the situation takes us back to the very seminal conundrum that underlies the petition itself and catalyzed the rush to the Supreme Court by Akufo-Addo and Co. to seek redress when they knew very well that they had not done diligent work to warrant all the time and resources being wasted on the hearing of this petition.

There is too much haphazardness in the manner in which the pink sheets were put together (whether electronically or manually generated). In effect, despite all the time available to the petitioners to put their house in order, they chose to “mess things up” to deceive the Court and the respondents’ legal teams. Unfortunately for them, their treachery has been exposed, which accounts for the numerous objections so far raised by lawyer Addison.

Why is he afraid of pink sheets from the NPP’s strongholds being put under the microscope for the irregularities in the entries to be exposed and explained away as consistent with what the petitioners had selectively put together from the NDC’s stronghold? What are the NPP petitioners scared of to warrant their not wanting Tsatsu to lead evidence concerning the NPP’s strongholds?

Do these NPP petitioners even want the Supreme Court to examine the integrity of Election 2012? If they do, why will they not extend their scrutiny of the pink sheets to all the 26,000 polling stations but limit their work to 24,000 and come out with slightly over 11,000 as their benchmark for alleging irregularities?

In admitting that errors occurred, all that Buwumia has kept saying is that it is an error but it shouldn’t affect someone’s presidency.

Bawumia has admitted the errors detected in the pink sheet exhibits but insisted on explaining that even though there were duplications, triplications, and quadruplications, he used only one pink sheet for his analysis.

Everything he says is tied to this “analysis” as if the Court cares about his self-opinionated understanding of the issues at stake. If the quantum of pink sheets itself has an error, what is the guarantee that the analysis based on it will be valid, error-free, and admissible?

Indeed, Bawumia doesn’t even know that the Court is interested in nothing but irrefutable evidence which, in this case, will be expected to derive from nowhere else but the pink sheet exhibits used as the basis for the petition. Unfortunately for him and his co-petitioners, he continues to admit that the pink sheet exhibits are fraught with anomalies, mislabellings, duplications, triplications, and quadruplications. How damaging!

The Court knows better, which is why it repudiated Bawumia and Addison’s plea to use PowerPoint presentation and CD-ROM as supporting material to present their case.

It is beyond argument that the main objective of Tsatsu Tsikata in the cross-examination of Bawumia is to discredit the quantum of evidence presented by the petitioners and to impugn the credibility and integrity of Bawumia himself as the star witness for the petitioners.

So far, Tsatsu has forced Bawumia to admit that there were irregularities in the compilation of the pink sheet exhibits, which is a major advantage for the respondents. Thus, by persistently undercutting the credibility of the exhibits, Tsatsu has succeeded in establishing that most of the pink sheets tendered in court as evidence have been duplicated, triplicated, and quadrupled “to deceive the court.” The total number of polling stations where the electoral malpractices allegedly occurred will definitely be whittled down, which damages the case of the petitioners.

This admission by Bawumia is a major factor in the eyes of the law as far as credibility and the arousal of reasonable doubts in the minds of the judges is concerned. And in matters of the Court, doubts and lack of credibility count a lot.

The matter is accentuated further by the fact that Bawumia wasn’t at any of the polling stations nor is he using first-hand evidence but entries on the pink sheets, distant second-hand or third-hand information. No direct evidence from Bawumia? Doubts galore!!

Another major stab on the evidence is the interrogation of Bawumia that has revealed that the allegations of over-voting and no signatures on the pink sheets are mere administrative errors. The results were announced at the various polling stations after the counting of ballots. It wasn’t what was recorded on the pink sheets that were declared. So, why the fixation with the entries on the pink sheets?

I shall return…
• E-mail: mjbokor@yahoo.com
• Join me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/mjkbokor

The opinions expressed are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views or have the endorsement of the Editorial Board of www.africanewsanalysis.com, www.africa-forum.net and www.wapsfeatures.wordpress.com

Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo, NPP Presidential aspirant welcomes the German Foreign Minister Dr Guido Westerwelle, in Accra/Photo: NPP Communications

Dr Westerwelle said Ghana continues to shine on the African continent as a growing democracy worth emulating.

The foreign minister who is on a two day visit to Ghana, called on Nana Akufo-Addo to discuss among others, the electoral petition in the Supreme Court.

Nana Akufo-Addo said the NPP is happy with the process so far and “we are happy also that the Supreme Court is putting in place measures to ensure the expedition of the process.”

He explained that the party is not in court to disrupt the country’s democracy, assuring that the NPP is committed to a peaceful democratic Ghana.

“We did not go to court to destabilize our democracy but we felt that there were systematic violations of the process which we believe affected the overall outcome of the elections and that is why we have chosen to challenge in the constitutionally designated forum the results as declared by the Electoral Commission.” Nana Addo explained.

He said “like President Mahama, I will stand by whatever ruling the court makes.”

The NPP leader said Ghana’s economy has performed better in the fourth republic largely due to a stable democratic environment and it is important therefore for everybody to commit to the protection of Ghana’s democracy.

He said the NPP hopes, God willing to adopt the German economic model of apprenticeship, skills training and development for small and medium scale businesses.

He observed that central to that however, is education and that is why the party has committed to providing free senior high school education for all.

“Ghana has enormous potential and prospects and I am confident that with the right leadership, our country will make tremendous progress,” he said.

Nana Addo said Ghana needs today a structural transformation of her economy from raw material production to value addition.

The two gentlemen also discussed issues concerning ECOWAS with Mali taking centre stage.

Nana Addo noted that he is happy with the ECOWAS and French intervention on Mali.

He thanked the foreign minister for calling on him and wished him well.

Rolling out fixed-dose combination ARVs has its challenges/Photo: Eva-Lotta Jansson/IRIN

Patients on the triple-therapy regimen will be able to take just one pill daily to control the virus. This has the advantages of improving adherence, simplifying regimens so that prescribing errors are reduced, and enabling the introduction of community models of care.

Motsoaledi launched the phased rollout of FDCs on 8 April at a small community health centre north of the country’s capital, Pretoria. New patients and HIV-positive women who are pregnant or breastfeeding will be the first to receive the new medication. They will initially receive a one-month supply of FDCs, while stable patients will be given a three-month supply.

“The central procurement unit in the national department of health has worked tirelessly with suppliers, provincial medical depots as well as facilities, to ensure that depots placed orders with suppliers, and health facilities placed orders with depots,” Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said. “We are confident that we have sufficient supplies of ARVs for all patients who are eligible for the FDCs.”

But stock shortages have already been reported in Western Cape Province and more are thought to be occurring in other provinces, according to activists. In March, the Western Cape Department of Health told AIDS lobby group the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) / Doctors Without Borders that it had received significantly smaller stocks of the FDCs than had been ordered from suppliers.

Dr Lynne Wilkinson, the MSF project coordinator in Khayelitsha, a township on the outskirts of Cape Town, said this meant the depot could not maintain the usual two- or three-month buffer stock.

The ARV tender, worth about US$672 million, was awarded in November 2012. It logged the country’s second consecutive drop in drug prices and also introduced a 3-in-1 pill combining tenofovir, emtricitabine and efevarinz.

Researcher Simonia Mashangoane said TAC continues to receive reports from health facilities in Mpumalanga and Gauteng provinces, with some saying they have received insufficient supplies of the FDCs. Recent shortages of the ARV, lamivudine, have also been reported. In a joint statement with the National Association of People Living with HIV and AIDS (NAPWA), TAC criticised the health department’s communications and called for clear timelines regarding the introduction of FDC drugs.

“Public announcements created the expectation that the pills will be widely available from 1 April, but non-priority groups might have to wait many more months before being switched to the FDCs,” TAC and NAPWA said in their statement. “Patients have not been given any indication as to when the various phases will be initiated, and how long they will have to wait.”

Wilkinson said there are also concerns that because new ARV patients have been prioritized to receive the FDC, they could be especially vulnerable if FDC stockouts force clinicians to switch them to the old regimen of three separate ARVs.

“Newly initiated patients are counselled about the treatment that they are about to receive,” Wilkinson told IRIN. “The problem is if they are counselled on how to take one pill a day, and in a few months that stock runs out and they have to be put on three separate pills, the clinic has to re-counsel them. If that doesn’t happen, then there’s a chance patients won’t take the treatment properly.”

According to Western Cape Department of Health spokesperson Hélène Rossouw, the problem lies with the National Department of Health. “The problem is that the national government procures the medicines, so it’s all centralized at the national level in accordance with treasury regulations,” Rossouw told IRIN. “The awarding of the tenders… the signing of contracts… takes time.”

“What’s happening in the Western Cape is a domino effect of [those delays],” she added. “The Western Cape Minister of Health Theuns Botha is looking at the possibility of procuring our own stocks separately because we have had too many problems with national government delays, and our patients go without.”

Supply and demand

The inability of pharmaceutical companies to ramp up production to meet demand after winning a tender has at times been seen as contriuting to the threat of drug shortages.

Stavros Nicolaou, Senior Executive at Aspen Pharmacare, one of three companies to be given the FDC tender, said the latest award had sought to avoid stockouts at dispensing level by introducing a grace period for suppliers. Aspen is the largest supplier of generic medicines to the public and private health sectors in South Africa, he said, and is also the only local company producing the FDCs.

“Historically, what happened was that a tender was awarded on 15 December, and on 1 January… you’d be expected to supply,” Nicolaou told IRIN. “If it was the first time you were going to supply, you had to have anticipated winning the tender to be ready to go out with product on the first of January.”

Drug companies need about three months of lead-time to order, ship, receive and assure the quality of the active pharmaceutical ingredients needed for manufacturing drugs. In the case of FDCs, Aspen had also had to make structural alterations to its manufacturing facilities to accommodate the special technology required to manufacture a pill that combines three drugs.

Nicolaou said he did not believe that any possible FDC shortage was attributable to the inability of drug companies to supply. He noted that Aspen and other drug companies had met with the Department of Health in June 2012, before the tender was opened, to devise feasible timelines for ramped up production of the FDCs, develop plans for a phased rollout, and discuss the requirements of the tender, which hinged largely on projections of how many patients would make the switch to FDCs.

Stopping stockouts

An estimated 70 to 80 percent of patients on the triple regimen are expected to make the switch by the end of the year. To combat stockouts, data is being collected on a weekly basis from provincial depots to identify weaknesses in the supply chain, and the department has also instituted monthly meetings with suppliers, at which three-month forecasts are presented.

Recent stockouts of regularly prescribed ARVs in Gauteng Province have been attributed to financial management problems, including corruption, in the provincial department of health, rather than to supply-chain issues. The Gauteng provincial treasury intervened in December 2012.

“We’ve been told that some of the drug shortages in Gauteng are due to poor budgeting and financial management,” said TAC provincial coordinator Stephen Ngcobo. “We did our own research and found that… the budget was not covering the need, and that the [ARV] budget had been cut in half over the past two or three years, and this was having an effect… [now].”

Activists have begun a civil disobedience campaign in the province to draw attention to ARV and other drug stockouts, and civil society organizations will soon be launching a project to monitor supply problems.

llg/kn/he

IRIN News
www.irinnews.org

Theme (s): Health & Nutrition, HIV/AIDS (PlusNews),
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Hon. Hannah Tetteh

“I am surprised that she [Israeli Ambassador] did not call on the Minister of Foreign Affairs to understand the context in which this meeting is taking place. It only begins to frame the question in the context of Her Excellency the Israeli Ambassador’s concerns. Are you Ghanaian or pro Israeli?” she questioned.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, Hon Tetteh stated that Ghana was a democratic country and understood how important it was to maintain international peace and stability.

“As far as Ghana is concerned, we are a democratic country and very much appreciate the fact that it is important to maintain international peace and stability. We are also very concerned about keeping that discussion ongoing which is around all the different international parties and partners to have discussions with each other on matters of security concerns.”

With President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad expected to arrive in the country on Tuesday, Israel has cautioned Ghana to be wary of her relations with Iran so as not to be categorised as a country that is legitimizing the Iranian regime.

According to the Israeli Ambassador to Ghana, Ms Sharon Bar-Li, Ghana as a sovereign State was capable of putting into perspective the terrorist operations of the Iranian regime around the world and its national interest.

On Wednesday morning, President Ahmadinejad is expected to visit the Iranian clinic which is an investment in healthcare by the government of Iran.

There will be some bilateral discussions and he will meet with the Union community.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday embarked on his tour of West Africa, which will take him to Benin, Niger, and Ghana.

Before leaving Tehran, Ahmadinejad told reporters that the expansion of ties with African countries is one of Iran’s foreign policy priorities.

He was used to finding stuff in carts that customers had somehow forgotten — keys, credit cards, wallets. And he turned them in to customer service.

But this particular item stood out. It was a white envelope with a clear window in the middle, bulging with what was inside, a lot of cash. Around $20,000, it turned out.

Because of what he did that afternoon, Mensah now is in possession of a plaque that names him the winner of the retail giant’s national 2013 “Integrity in Action Award.”

Mensah is 32 and he remembers the exact date — Feb. 8, 2012 — on which he arrived in the U. S. of A., at JFK International Airport, from Ghana.

He has a photo of that occasion: standing in an airport parking lot, wearing a cap and scarf in the Ghanaian national colors of red, gold and green, an optimistic smile on his face.

He has dreams; you know, the perennial ones that immigrants through generations, and from countries all over the world, have told and still tell. They don’t mind sounding naive about America being the land of opportunity.

For Mensah that meant get a job, go to college, study business administration, eventually return to Ghana to expand the five little shops that his mom, Irene, had started from her work as a seamstress.

But about that $20,000.

It belonged to Leona Wisdom and Gary Elton, a couple from Black Diamond.

The wife says they were returning home from getting the money at a finance company when they stopped off to shop at the Walmart at South 345th Street and 16th Avenue South.

Wisdom says she’s a caregiver who works with people who are disabled, and says the cash was for a down payment on a house the couple was buying on a short sale. They didn’t get the money as a check, Wisdom says, because they didn’t want to wait days for it to clear.

It’s also the case that, for reasons that might not seem logical to many, some people deal in cash.

Wisdom had two carts full of merchandise and Mensah helped her take the stuff to the trunk of her car.

As she was driving away, Mensah noticed what had fallen out of her purse — that thick envelope.

“I run after them. I think somebody heard me and signaled for them to stop,” he remembers.

Mensah handed her the envelope.

“She was like, ‘Wow!’ Tears are coming out. She took some money and tried to reward me. I said, ‘No, no. I’m all right,’?” says Mensah.

He figures that every couple of weeks, after deductions, his take-home pay is around $620 to $640.

Mensah can manage because he’s staying for free at the Auburn home of Vicki Campbell, who has traveled to Ghana and had come to know Mensah’s mother when she sewed dresses for Campbell.

He has an aunt in Portland, cousins in New York.

“He’s a hardworking young man,” says Campbell, who has grown children of her own. “I don’t like to work with people who are slackers.”

Mensah says keeping the $20,000 never occurred to him.

“My conscience wouldn’t allow it. I couldn’t even drive home if I did that,” he says.

Wisdom says she called the store twice to make sure management knew about Mensah’s good deed.

She also tried to again do something to thank him, but he declined her offer to be taken out to dinner.

Wisdom says she also asked Mensah if he was single, which he is, as she has a daughter who is single. “It’s hard to find honest people,” she explains.

Mensah demurred at the matchmaking offer, too.

Jeremy Smith, who was then the store manager, says customers regularly called the store about Mensah.

“Maybe they were trying to load something heavy into their vehicle. He rushed right away to help them. They were overwhelmed with his kindness and generosity,” says Smith.

A month ago, Mensah was moved to a full-time position, and $9.19 an hour, with benefits.

Besides working in the parking lot, he now also has responsibilities in the backroom, as an inventory-control specialist.

He says he knows that Wal-Mart has at times been viewed negatively. Even his mom in Ghana was concerned about her son working at the chain and phoned him.

Mensah says he “cooled her down,” reassured her that he liked the place, people there treat him right, that he was learning a lot and could take what he learned about running a big retail place back to Ghana.

He says, “You have to start someplace.”

These days, Mensah works pushing carts in the parking lot a couple of days a week, the rest in inventory.

He’s easy to spot, the guy with the smile.

“In the parking lot, people chat, tell you their problems, you see that a person is not happy. I tell them, ‘God is in control. Everything is OK,’?” says Mensah.

Somehow, he says, it helps the sad people to hear from a hopeful person.

Seattle Times

President John Agyekum Kufuor, Special Envoy for Neglected Tropical Diseases/Photo: BERKANE/ANA

Africa is often the focus of the global development agenda, from HIV/AIDS to economic growth, yet across the continent millions of people are also suffering from a little known group of parasitic and bacterial infections called neglected tropical diseases – or NTDs.

More than one in six people worldwide, including 500 million children, are infected by NTDs – and half that burden is here in Africa. Often transmitted through insects, water or soil, NTDs blind, starve and disable.

They ostracize people from their communities and prevent them from leading productive lives. South Africa is affected by two of these diseases: schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthes (STH).

These diseases are called “neglected” for a reason – despite their impact, they have always been considered secondary health priorities, behind better-known diseases like tuberculosis and mal.

This is curious because NTDs are easy to treat and prevent, and nearly all of the drugs to fight them have been donated by pharmaceutical companies, which makes them some of the most cost-effective medical solutions available today. Providing pills once a year can treat and protect against several of these diseases at once for approximately US$0.50 per person.

For those suffering and at risk, a change has been long overdue – and I am proud to say that in the past year, that change has come.

One year ago, in an unprecedented display of partnership around these diseases, the global health community – donor and NTD-endemic country governments, non-governmental organizations, pharmaceutical companies, global health organisations and others – united to end NTDs as a threat to the world’s poorest people.

Launching the landmark London Declaration on NTDs, they pledged to work together to reach the World Health Organization’s targets to control and eliminate 10 NTDs by 2020.

This month marks the first anniversary of that commitment – and a recently released report marking that occasion underscores just how far we’ve come. Authored by the endorsers of the London Declaration, the report tracks our substantial progress in expanding drug supply and the rise of partnerships in expanding crucial disease treatment efforts.

To me, the most heartening part of the report is that there is great progress in so many sectors. Pharmaceuticals donated almost 200 million more treatments for worm-based diseases like roundworm and elephantiasis. The United States and United Kingdom continued to increase their support, and the emergence of the END Fund galvanized private donations from new sectors.

Most importantly, more NTD affected countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America, are designing and launching integrated plans that allow governments to align objectives and make the best use of their resources. The full commitment of national governments to the principles of the London Declaration is a key element to success. Four countries launched these programs last year, and 40 more developed plans.

WHO has also released its Second Report on Neglected Tropical Diseases, highlighting similar themes about the need for partnership and country commitment and detailing the steps necessary to address each disease.

In the next few days, WHO’s Executive Board is likely to consider a resolution calling on all countries to support the 2020 goals – a critical next step to attract the world’s attention and resources.

While results so far have been impressive, more needs to be done. Research and development into new ways of treating, preventing and diagnosing NTDs still has far to go: a lack of adequate diagnostics delays the elimination of lymphatic filariasis in some areas; and a long, risky treatment regimen makes eliminating sleeping sickness more difficult. Along with a global annual funding gap of US$300 million, there are still inadequate human resource and technical capacities.

I know that the path is not always easy. Ghana, my home country, suffers from five of these diseases, and as recently as 1989 recorded nearly 190,000 cases of Guinea worm. In 2007, we committed ourselves to eliminating several NTDs – and with strong political commitment, increased resources and international support, we conquered blinding trachoma in 2009 and Guinea worm in 2011. Ghana’s work continues, but its future is bright.

There is no silver bullet remedy to helping a country break the cycle of poverty, but investing in the health of its population offers one of the best options for unlocking economic potential. With full support both from national governments and from the global community, we can build on this year’s progress and put an end to NTDs on the African continent.

The author is the former president of Ghana (2001-2009) and the NTD Special Envoy for the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases.

Nigerian military under attack (file photo)/Obinna Anyadike/IRIN

Two Nigerian soldiers were killed and five others seriously injured in a 19 January attack on a military detachment heading for deployment in Mali, as part of Nigeria’s contribution to a UN-sanctioned African intervention force to reclaim northern Mali from Islamists, military officials told IRIN.

The soldiers, from a military unit based in the southern Nigerian city of Ibadan, were on their way to the town of Kachia in northern Kaduna State to prepare for deployment to Mali, when they were attacked near the city of Okene in central Kogi State, Nigerian army spokesman Maj-Gen Bola Koleoso told IRIN.

“We lost two soldiers to an attack by Boko Haram terrorists on a military convoy on its way to Kachia for a military drill in preparation for their deployment to Mali. Five other soldiers were badly injured in the attack. The terrorists detonated a high-calibre remote-controlled IED [improvised explosive device] they planted by the roadside as the military convoy was passing and opened fire on the soldiers,” Koleoso said.

On 20 January the Islamist group Jama’atu Ansarul Musilimina Fi Biladis Sudan (JAMBS) – “Vanguard for the Aid of Muslims in Black Africa” – claimed responsibility for the attack, which it said was in response to Nigeria’s participation in the military intervention in Mali. JAMBS splintered from Boko Haram in June 2012 and is believed by some to have close ties to Islamist groups in North Africa and Mali.

JAMBS claimed responsibility for the 19 December 2012 kidnapping of a French engineer near the northern city of Katsina on the border with Niger, and an attack in November on the headquarters of the Nigerian police Special Anti-Robbery Squad in the capital, Abuja.

Nigeria plans to send 1,200 troops to Mali as part of a 5,500-strong African-led International Support Mission to Mali (AFISMA) to oust Islamist groups from the north.

“We are gladly informing the general public, especially those in the black Africa, that…with the aid and guidance of Allah we have successfully executed our first attempt in griping [sic] the Nigerian army troops that aimed to demolish the Islamic empire of Mali,” JAMBS said in an emailed statement written in poor English.
IRIN News

www.irinnews.org

aa/oa
Theme (s): Conflict, Security,

President John Agyekum Kufuor/Photo: BERKANE/ANA

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor left Accra on Thursday evening to Nigeria, Germany and Switzerland on a working visit.

A statement to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Friday signed by Mr Frank Agyekum, spokesperson to the Former President said Former President Kufuor’s first stop will be in Abeokuta, Ogun State of Nigeria, where he will deliver the keynote address at a series of events to celebrate the ‘Life and works’ of Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo dubbed: “Celebrating the Father of the Nation.”

It said Former President Kufuor will speak on “Obasanjo in the Eye of History” at a lecture at the auditorium of the Obasanjo Library Complex.

The Lecture would be chaired by Former Nigerian President, General Abdulsalam Abubakar and would be attended by Ministers of state, Senators, Legislators and Governors, it added.

“A civic reception would be held in honour of Former President Obassanjo on Saturday, January 19, 2013 and would be attended by President Goodluck Jonathan and high ranking officials of the country”.

According to the statement, in Berlin Germany, Former President Kufuor together with Former President Obasanjo will attend the Berlin Africa Summit where they will also have a side-meeting with Former German President, Horst Kohler.

It also indicated that in Geneva, Switzerland, Former President Kufuor will hold meetings with business executives on varied topics.

The former president will be away for about a week, the statement said.

GNA

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde is optimistic about Malawi’s economic recovery/Photo: Michael Spilotro/IMF

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde urged Malawians to stick with tough economic reforms during a recent three-day visit to the country, but measures recommended by the Fund and implemented by President Joyce Banda have been deeply unpopular with many citizens who can no longer afford basic goods and services.

Key among these measures was Banda’s decision, made soon after she took office in April 2012, to devalue the Malawian kwacha by 49 percent and untie the currency from the US dollar. The government also lifted subsidies and price controls on fuel.

The moves were designed to address chronic shortages of foreign-exchange reserves and key imports such as fuel, but they also triggered rapid inflation, which remains at 33 percent.

Life difficult

Lagarde pointed out that Banda had inherited “a serious economic crisis” and predicted that Malawians would soon start to reap the rewards of her recovery measures. But urban poverty is on the rise, and the Consumers Association of Malawi (CAMA) has called for nationwide demonstrations, set to take place on 17 January, to protest the rising cost of living.

“These reform measures are hurting consumers,” CAMA Executive Officer John Kapito told IRIN. “There is a need to control the movement of the kwacha as well as the suspension of the fuel pricing mechanism.”

Kapito said the government should develop its own economic recovery plan, including measures to protect poor Malawians, instead of adopting wholesale IMF’s recommendations. “It only shows who is in control of this country. We will ask the government to reconsider its position; people out there are suffering.”

But Chancellor Kaferapanjira, chief executive of the Malawi Confederation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry, insisted that the economy was already showing signs of recovery. “We just have to give the government time to implement some of the measures put in place.”

At a market in Blantyre, Malawi’s commercial capital, Tawere Dimba, a mother of four, was buying a 20kg bag of maize. “We cannot afford to buy the 50kg bag of maize,” she said. “This 20kg will last a few days, and [then] we have to find more money.”

Dimba said lately she had been surviving on the K300 (US$0.86) a day she received from working on a government programme to repair roads. “This money has helped us, but we are only expected to work for one month, and then another group will come in to take over,” she said.

Lyson Fazili, a coffin maker at the market, said the devaluation of the kwacha had affected his business as he could no longer afford to travel to Zimbabwe to buy materials. “With the increase of prices and low sales, life is becoming difficult,” he said.

Rising cost of living

A cost-of-living assessment released monthly by the local, faith-based organization Centre For Social Concern (CfSC) found that in the capital, Lilongwe, the total cost of basic food items and essential non-food items, such as housing, water and electricity, for the month of December 2012 was K91,632 (US$263) up 32 percent from K69,305 ($199) in December 2011.

The price of maize, the national staple, had risen particularly steeply, with a 50kg bag costing K4,500 ($13) in Blantyre, nearly double what it cost a year ago.

The CfSC report warns that low-income earners in Malawi’s cities are increasingly unable to afford basic services such as water and electricity. The high rate of inflation is also taking a heavy toll on rural households in the south of the country, where a series of poor harvests have left nearly 2 million people food insecure and in need of humanitarian assistance.

Despite the high inflation rate and the decline in maize production in the south, IMF has predicted a 5.5 percent growth in Malawi’s economy in 2013 (double the rate estimated for 2012) – provided the government stays committed to economic reforms and normal weather conditions prevail.

“Malawi still has a long and hard road ahead,” Lagarde said in a speech delivered in Lilongwe on 5 January, “but it does not need to walk this road alone.”

The IMF granted a three-year $157 million loan to Malawi in July 2012, while international donors, including the United Kingdom, have moved to restore flows of aid. Donor support had dwindled significantly during the final years of former President Bingu wa Mutharika’s administration amid concerns about his increasingly authoritarian rule.
IRIN News

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Theme (s): Aid Policy, Economy, Food Security, Governance,