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一Aid Cuts Threaten Millennium Development Goals, Warns UN
Henry Ridgwell
September 21, 2012
LONDON — The Secretary General of the United Nations has warned that declining aid donations mean many of the UN Millennium Development Goals are likely to be missed. The UN says official development assistance in 2011 was less than half the $300 billion needed annually to meet the targets set in 2000. Researchers say up until now good progress has been made in tackling poverty and improving healthcare.
Margaret Gift has brought her son Simplicious for a check-up at a mobile health clinic in the remote village of Chikhwawa in Malawi. His diarrhea can be treated on the spot.

Officials say Malawi has made rapid progress in cutting child mortality - one of the UN's Millennium Development Goals or MDGs - partly due to decentralizing healthcare. UNICEF's Victor Chinyama says that makes health workers more accessible.

"These are people who live within the communities and are able to provide basic treatment to children for some of the most common illnesses, such as malaria, pneumonia and diarrhea," said Chinyama.

Since 2000, there has been an estimated 40 percent fall globally in the number of children dying under the age of five - good progress towards the goal of two-thirds reduction.

Launching the 2012 MDG Gap Task Force Report, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned gains are at risk because of a $167 billion shortfall from donors.

"Last year, official development assistance declined for the first time in many years. I repeat my call to the international community: do not place the burden of fiscal austerity on the backs of the poor," he said.

Professor Anne Mills of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine specializes in the health economics of developing countries. She says the fall in donations is alarming.

"If that continues into the future, then I certainly think it's of major concern. Ultimately that may have an impact in terms of maternal deaths, neo-natal deaths and child deaths," said Mills.

Mills says child and maternal health has improved significantly since 2000. But she says the global financial crisis is having an impact.

"We can see increased arguments about the value of aid as we see in the UK. We've also seen that for some of the donor countries, the increase in aid is beginning to plateau off," she said.

Another of the Millennium Development Goals calls for the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water to be halved by 2015. That appears to be on track thanks to programs like this one in Mali, which aims to bring clean water and improved sanitation to half a million school children.

One of the students, Youssouf Dissa, says that when he came home he spoke to his grandfather and grandmother and explained what he had learned at school, especially the importance of washing hands before eating.

Health professionals appear to agree that the Millennium Development Goals have led to widespread improvements in healthcare and poverty relief. But with a 2015 deadline, there are warnings that the financial crisis could bring a halt to that progress.

Numerous Encephalitis Cases Devastate North India

Vidushi Sinha
September 21, 2012

Health officials in northern India report that a serious outbreak of Japanese encephalitis has infected hundreds of children. The viral brain disease, which can cause permanent disabilities and sometimes death, is a common seasonal disease in Asia. Experts say it is likely the virus also is spreading in other countries in the region, but is going undetected due to inadequate surveillance and diagnostics.

In India every year, during the monsoon season, hundreds of children die or become disabled, physically or mentally, after contracting Japanese encephalitis. Doctor K. P. Kushwaha is a senior pediatrician at a government hospital in Gorakhpur, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

"We have the highest number of patients admitted in one day, which is 550 patients," said Kushwaha. "We have never got such figures in the past. In the current cases of encephalitis, the children not only have swelling in their brains, but their skin, kidney, liver and heart also show swelling.”

"Japanese encephalitis is interesting because it is in animals as well as in people. This is a virus that will never be eradicated or eliminated,” said Dr. Julie Jacobson, who is trained in clinical tropical medicine and is a senior program officer at the Gates Foundation, a private philanthropy.

She explained that encephalitis is a zoonotic infection that is found in humans, as well as in a variety of domesticated and wild animals. Pigs and migratory birds pose a special danger because they are so-called "amplifying hosts" - they store the virus in large amounts in their systems without getting sick.

When mosquitoes bite an infected pig or bird, they pick up the virus and can transmit it to humans when they bite them.

Jacobson said Japanese encephalitis, when it is not fatal, can leave victims with severe physical and mental damage.

“People’s personality changes - they have behavioral issues," she said. "A very striking finding is that within families when you are talking to them, the children who have survived, kids will not recognize a family member. So they will be crying, crying to talk to their sister, 'I want my sister, I want my sister I want to talk to my sister' - it is very devastating for families to have that kind of disability that comes to the household.”

Health experts say the best way to protect people against this crippling disease is to immunize them with the encephalitis vaccine. They recommend that children especially be routinely vaccinated. Jacobson said there also is an urgent need for public health agencies to step up surveillance and diagnostic operations in endemic countries - to look for early signs of encephalitis and take steps to limit its terrible toll.

Tests Show Levels of Arsenic in US Rice
Zulima Palacio
September 21, 2012

Preliminary results of a large study by the U.S. government and research by a non-profit organization show measurable amounts of arsenic in samples of rice and rice products for sale in U.S. markets. One form of the chemical, inorganic arsenic, is a known human carcinogen. While the private study cautions that people should limit their consumption of rice products, government scientists say they are making no recommendations until their study is complete, sometime next year.

Two hundred different types of rice and rice products tested by both the non-profit research group, Consumer Reports, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration [FDA], contained varying levels of different forms of arsenic. Michael Taylor is the Deputy Commissioner for Foods at the FDA.

“Arsenic is a substance that nobody wants in food, but we are confident that at the levels that we are seeing, there is no immediate safety concern. People should continue eating rice,” said Taylor.

The U.S. government has standards for the amount of arsenic allowed in water for human consumption, but not for food. Taylor says the FDA is mainly concerned with cumulative lifetime exposure to arsenic.

“We don’ think, based on the preliminary information that we have, that we can recommend that consumers change their eating practices. Rice is an important staple of the diet. It’s a nutritious, healthy food," said Taylor. "I think we would want to be sure we have much more information before we make decisions about recommending changes in eating patterns.”

The FDA says it will complete its comprehensive study of 1,200 rice samples by the end of 2012, and will determine then whether to issue additional recommendations. Consumer Reports is less cautious, however. Its study reviewed only 200 rice samples, but concludes that to be safe, people - especially infants - should limit rice consumption.

Ami Gadhia, with Consumer Reports, said there is a heightened focus on this issue.

“From a public health standpoint, there is great deal of concern about what babies are ingesting. Very often the first solid food that babies are given is rice cereal, and to see arsenic in that product is obviously a problem," said Gadhia. "We also saw levels in rice milk, and sometimes if children are allergic to cow milk they are given rice milk.”

Consumer Reports and FDA officials agree the results in their separate studies are similar, but only the FDA can set national industry standards.

Arsenic, a known carcinogen, is a contaminant that comes in two forms: organic and inorganic. Organic arsenic occurs naturally in the soil and water. Inorganic arsenic comes mainly from commercial fertilizers and pesticides used in agriculture.

“Many of those pesticides were banned many years ago. Unfortunately, those pesticides and the arsenic in them remain in the soil, and so it is still getting into the rice plants," said Gadhia.

Gadhia said the highest levels of arsenic were found in samples of rice from the south-central U.S. The lowest arsenic levels were in rice from California, India and Thailand.

For now, the FDA recommends that consumers continue eating a balanced diet that includes a variety of grains. Consumer Reports recommends not only that people moderate their intake of rice, but also that they rinse it well and cook it with plenty of water.

USAID Democracy Programs Can Complicate International Relations
Brian Padden
September 21, 2012

WASHINGTON — Russian officials say they are ordering the U.S. Agency for International Development to close its operations in the country because U.S. pro-democracy programs have interfered in its elections. While Russia is not the only country to make such claims, U.S. officials say foreign assistance is not used to support political opposition groups, but to increase democratic participation and peacefully resolve disputes and grievances.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the leaders of Russia asked the U.S. for assistance in building a democracy and a market economy.

Over the past 20 years, election-monitoring groups, human rights organizations, and anti-corruption efforts have been funded in part by USAID, which has provided more than $2.6 billion to Russia.

President Vladimir Putin has now ended USAID's programs, reportedly out of concern they interfere with elections by aiding opposition groups.

But David Satter, a foreign policy analyst with the Hudson Institute, said USAID programs do not pick political sides. Instead, he said, the programs try to help disenfranchised groups use legal, peaceful and democratic means to get their voices heard.

“The existence of such groups gives to people on the one hand the know-how to defend their rights, and on the other, the conviction that defending their rights is possible,” said Satter.

Earlier this year Egypt’s military leaders overseeing the transition to an elected government attempted to prosecute U.S.-funded pro-democracy and human rights groups. They relented after weeks of heavy diplomatic pressure from the United States.

James Goldgeier, the dean of American University’s School of International Service, said the most vocal critics of U.S. democracy programs often are elite leaders trying to hold onto power in the face of growing popular opposition.

“If you are an authoritarian leader and you have a group that is fostering civil society, you are going to naturally fear that, that funding is helping people who would like you to not be in the... not be the ruler anymore,” said Goldgeier.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has also been critical of U.S. pro-democracy efforts, saying they have attempted to undermine his socialist agenda. Goldgeier said the U.S. does indeed promote a different ideology.

“The United States in general tends to support democracy, a market economy, rule of law and protection of human rights. So if those things are at odds with what a particular government might be promoting then there will be a conflict,” he said.

Goldgeier says the U.S. does not pick political sides, but it does support building a framework of democracy that preserves majority rule and minority rights.
Traditional Stoves Detrimental to Heath, Environment in Nigeria
Heather Murdock
September 21, 2012

ABUJA — After malaria and AIDS, Nigeria's number one cause of death is diseases associated with traditional cooking. Activists say nearly 100,000 people die yearly in Nigeria from what they call a "silent energy crisis."

Bola Abiola serves amala, a traditional Nigerian dish made of yam flour while smoke billows from the nearby outdoor kitchen.

Like many Nigerian cooks, she does not know about the health risks from the smoky wooden stoves that boil the amala, which activists are now calling "killers" of both people and the environment.

But like many who cook with traditional stoves in Nigeria she doesn’t feel there is any choice.

"If we use kerosene or charcoal it takes too much time to cook the food and costs us a lot more money," she said. "Firewood is best for us because it takes 30 minutes to cook something that could take an hour and a half.

Activists say the wood smoke emits toxins, causing eye problems, lung and heart diseases and increasing the risk of strokes.

Hamzat Lawal works for the International Centre for Energy, Environment and Development in Nigeria, one of several organizations lobbying for new policies that increase the supply- and demand- for safer stoves. He says it has been difficult to get kerosene, gas or energy-efficient wood stoves in the hands of the people - most of whom cook on traditional wood stoves.

And he says, it’s not just the men and women who cook who are in danger.

"Our mothers carry our younger ones on their backs. And that smoke also affects them. So, over time we get to lose some of these children from the effects of the smoke," he said.

He says electrical stoves are not currently on the agenda because most people in Nigeria don’t have access to electricity. Those that have power, have it sporadically - sometimes only a few hours a day.

These men grill goat on the side of a street in the outskirts of the capital. Dan Malik says he spends all day standing over smoke from the wood fire. He says his eyes hurt and he expects other problems later in life.

"I’m aware of the long-term effects but I have no other options because I don’t have another business to turn to," he said.

Officials say traditional stoves in Nigeria are also unsustainable, with deforestation rates already among the highest in the world.
UN Seeks Extra Funding for DRC Displaced
Nick Long
September 21, 2012

GOMA — United Nations agencies are appealing for additional funding to help people uprooted by conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Insecurity and the weather are proving to be major challenges fo