Congo rebel M23 Colonel Sultani Makenga

East African countries have been urged to utilize their regional body in order to curb a wave of intra-conflicts and terrorism which are detrimental to economic development, peace and stability.

The call was made in a telephonic conference at the US Embassy on Monday this week by Ambassador Johnnie Carson who is the US, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of African Affairs.

Carson who has a vast experience in the diplomatic circle and African affairs said that Kenya and the Democratic Republic are in dire need of assistance from their neighboring countries in order to resolve ongoing problems in these countries.

He pinpointed the East African Community to be an important body in resolving problems in the DRC which is facing severe internal strife and M23 while Kenya is troubled by the spillover effect of its neighbouring country of Somalia.

“By lacking a strong central command for two decades now Somalia is prone to have the problems that it is facing now, by lacking a national security people are likely to miss basic services like water, food and even micro credits hence the turmoil,” he said.

With a span of 37 years of diplomatic career a good number of those having been spent in Africa, he said that without peace in Kenya or the DRC business activities will not go smoothly in other neighbouring countries.

He however was positive that there are good signs that the Somali question will be resolved due to the fact that for the past 18 months there are positive signs that this country is progressing towards harmony with a minor exception of few events of peace disruption.

“I praise the recent developments where by concerted efforts of various players led by the Kenya Defence Forces alongside Amisom have taken control of Al Shabaab stronghold and headquarters of Kismayu in Somalia,” he commented.

Apart from Kenya and the DRC Carson also discussed the turmoil in Mali, Sudan and Southern Sudan and said that all these problems demand an immediate intervention by regional bodies like the EAC, and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in West Africa.

Ambassador Carson said that the dramatic improvement of peace in Somalia has been a product of a joint effort by the AU, IGAD, EAC, under the auspice of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), all meant to sweep away the Al-Shabaab militants.

He stood by the UN position which condemns Rwanda for having been involved in the creation, arm and support of the M23 rebels, a view strongly backed by Congo’s government. Rwanda has been denying any involvement instead it blames Congo for the upsurge in violence.

Responding to various questions from Tanzania, Rwanda and South Africa, the seasoned diplomat denied that the US has any vested interests in Africa including allegations that it wants to register military presence through its involvement in the conflicts.

“The US does not intend to settle in Africa that is why even the United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM or AFRICOM) is headquartered at Kelley Barracks, Stuttgart, Germany,” he concluded.

AUTHOR: Elias Mhegera
URL: http://mhegeraelias.blogspot.com
E-MAIL: mhegeraelias [at] yahoo.com

The BDS movement is overpowering the pro-Israel lobby in South Africa, Howard Sackstein said in an interview with the Israeli newspaper Haaretz yesterday. Sackstein has worked for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the largest pro-Israel lobby organization in the US.

South African BDS activists are “professionals”
In the interview, Sackstein warned the pro-Israel groups in South Africa that they’re up against “professionals.” He also claimed the the BDS campaign is “spearheaded”  by Muhammed Desai of BDS South Africa and Zackie Achmat of Open Shuhada Street:

According to Howard Sackstein, whether pro-Israel groups can get back up on their feet depends on how rapidly they realize that they’re up against “professionals”…

“One point I would make finally is that the BDS campaign, spearheaded by Muhammed Desai and Zachie Achmat, is very well run and seems to be well-funded.”

The above comments have since been removed by Haaretz from the online version of the article, with no editorial note or correction issued.

In an email to me, Desai responded to Sackstein’s observation: “It is ridiculous (or deliberately deceptive) to claim that the boycott of Israel movement in South Africa is spearheaded by two individuals. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) with over two million workers, the South African Communist Party with more than 150,000 members, the South African Students Congress – South Africa’s largest student formation, the South African Council of Churches and others are actually at the forefront.”

He continued: “In fact, this very week COSATU, an official alliance partner of the ANC, reaffirmed its commitment to the BDS campaign at its national congress and has undertaken to ensure that this is advanced at the upcoming ANC National Conference in Mangaung. The ANC National Conference is the supreme ruling and controlling body of the ANC that determines ANC policy and ultimately the government policy for the next five years.”

Ministers have backing of the ruling ANC
In comments also removed from the online version, Sackstein criticized the actions of two South African government ministers in relation to correct labeling of Israeli settlement products and advice against travelling to Israel:

Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies announced that he was to issue an official notice “to require traders in South Africa not to incorrectly label products that originate from the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) as products of Israel”.

Third, Deputy International Relations Minister Ebrahim “Ibie” Ebrahim said that Pretoria discouraged all South Africans from visiting Israel. He said: “Because of the treatment and policies of Israel towards the Palestinian people, we strongly discourage South Africans from going there.”

Sackstein is convinced that the most influential body in the ANC, the national executive council:

“…discussed Israel, Palestine etc. and decided that they would have a common front on the issue and that certain steps needed to be taken.”

In other words, said Sackstein, Davies and Ebrahim were not acting of their own accord, but effectively carrying out ANC policy.

These comments too were censored by Haaretz.

Sackstein claims that “much of the ANC’s latest emphasis on anti-Israel action is the result of trying to win Muslim votes in the Western Cape.” However, Desai refutes this claim in his email: “Its not the ANC pandering to the Western Cape. But the Western Cape together with other stakeholders such as the churches, unions, students and others that are insisting that our ruling party (and indeed our government) take the side of the oppressed, of the Palestinians by supporting the BDS campaign. Its merely the ANC listening and adhering to a position that the vast majority of its constituencies hold.”

Indeed, Palestine solidarity activists in South Africa have mobilized substantial support for the oppressed Palestinian people.
BDS South Africa books impressive results
At the end of Augst, the student council of the prestigious University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg unanimously adopted a full acadmic and cultural boycott of Israel. Tebogo Thotela, president of the Wits Student Representative Council, explains the reasons for the decision in a video published by BDS South Africa (seen at the top of this post).

In 2011, the University of Johannesburg severed its ties with Israel’s Ben-Gurion University, following a campaign backed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and over 400 South African academics. In a recent BDS news roundup, EI’s Nora Barrows-Friedman summed up the recent BDS victories in South Africa:

The Student Representative Council at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa unanimously adopted a full academic and cultural boycott of Israel on 29 August.

This comes on the heels of increasing support of the Palestinian-led BDS movement in South Africa, including the recent moves by government officials to have Israeli settlement products correctly labeled to let consumers know they originate from settlement colonies in the occupied West Bank; and a proclamation by a government minister to discourage South Africans from traveling to Israel because of its human rights record.

Posted on the website for BDS South Africa, the Wits’ student council’s resolution says that it will “not participate in any form of cultural or academic collaboration or joint projects with Israeli institutions and will not provide support to Israeli cultural or academic institutions.”

AUTHOR: Adri Nieuwhof
URL: http://www.samora.org
E-MAIL: a.nieuwhof [at] samora.org

Initially, after having 34 of their colleagues killed and many more wounded by the South African police bullets, 270 Marikana miners were arrested and charged with murder under the very same law the apartheid regime used to prosecute anti-apartheid activists. The “Upington 14” case comes to mind here, in which the accused were convicted and sentenced to death in 1989 for the murder of a policeman, only to have the ruling overturned by the appeal court after worldwide public outcry.

The law in question is called the doctrine of common purpose, which gives the state powers to charge anyone, even if they did not kill or throw a stone, who participated in mass crowd action. The ANC—the erstwhile liberation movement then and now the ruling party—vehemently protested against the law, and viewed it as part of the apartheid regime’s strategy to criminalize mass protesting in South Africa (which it was).

The police claim that the killing of the miners was unavoidable because it was an act of self-defense after they were overwhelmed from all directions by petrol bombs and machete wielding, angry miners. A day earlier, after they opened fire, two of their own colleagues were gruesomely killed by the striking miners, so making some people in some quarters of South Africa and around the world think that perhaps the shooting was a case of revenge. Thirty-four dead, a number half the 69 people killed by the apartheid police during the Sharpeville Massacre on 21 March 1960, is too large a number for a self-defense. Could it be that the police overreacted? Nobody seems to know the answer to that question. In an attempt to get some truth, South African president Zuma has set up a commission to investigate the shooting.

But having a legal backing from an apartheid law that is still on the files of South African case laws, the prosecutors who brought the case against the miners initially seemed to believe that they had a strong case against the miners only to back down after public condemnation against the prosecution.

Relying on an apartheid law to charge the striking miners with murder is not only strange for a new South Africa, but a blow to the historical relationship between the South African workers and the ANC Government. Workers Unions, especially miners, have been the backbone of the ANC’s anti-apartheid resistance. After the “Madiba magic” of national truth and reconciliation, who in their right mind thought that an ANC-led Government police would turn their guns on the protestors just like the apartheid security forces did in the 60 and 80s? This indeed a bummer in the post-apartheid South African exceptionalism the world got infatuated with!

AUTHOR: Ndumba Jonnah Kamwanyah
URL: http://foreignpolicyblogs.com/
E-MAIL: Ndumba.Kamwanyah [at] umb.edu

Brewing was an early application of biotechnology

While realistic liability and redress provisions are necessary for responsible development and deployment of genetically modified products, African countries should however be careful about imposing strict liability provisions that undermine advancement of biotech research and development, biotechnology and biosafety experts meeting in Pretoria, South Africa have cautioned.

The preparatory meeting of delegates from 15 African countries which are signatories to Cartagena Protocol commences and organized by the AU-NEPAD Agency Africa Biosafety Network of Expertise (ABNE), Government of the Republic of South Africa, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Africabio, the Program for Biosafety Systems (PBS), Public Research and Regulation Initiative (PRRI) and the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) AfriCenter said all over Africa, there is a clear sense of urgency to move forward with biotechnology applications of priority to Africa as well as creating a framework where Africa can exploit the knowledge and experiences from elsewhere.

They said this is buoyed by the increasingly loud voice of African countries on issues touching on biotechnology and biosafety.

They however urged African countries to push for their own agenda to ensure alignment with their needs and ambitions.

“African countries should be conscious of the different interests of partners and should carefully select partners that are aligned with their own policy priorities,” warned the experts.

They cited the Supplementary Protocol saying it should be used as a guide for putting in place a workable and fair liability and redress framework.

They urged the African countries to follow up on the ratification/accession process and suggested that national implementation can include the use of existing liability and redress instruments or the development of new ones at the national level.

The experts advised those African countries which may require assistance in domesticating the Supplementary Protocol to seek the support from countries with capacity to do so.

AUTHOR: Henry Neondo
URL: http:// www.africasciencenews.org
E-MAIL: neondohenry [at] yahoo.com

[Eugene Terre'Blanche against the backdrop of an AWB flag, From The Guardian via Google Images]

Obviously a great deal has transpired across the continent in recent weeks. And nowhere has seen fissures split wider than in South Africa (a post on the ramifications of the mining strike will follow). One of the stories that caught my eye and that connects the country’s tortured past with its still sometimes troubled presence was the sentencing of the killer of Eugene Terre’Blanche.

Terre’Blanche was a fascinating but repulsive figure. The leader of the far-right paramilitary Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB — Afrikaner Resistance Movement) Terre’Blanche was unrepentant in his continued calls for white supremacy and Afrikaner nationalism. He was known for brutalizing the black farmworkers he employed (and some he did not) and continued to call for an all-white state within South Africa if he could not claim the whole. Most of the time Terre’blanche was a clown, but it is easy to forget that he was a clown with a disturbing number of followers who fomented resistance to the CODESA meetings that resulted in the negotiated settlement that ended Apartheid and led to the election of Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress.

Millions of South Africans wept no tears when Terre’blanche was killed at his home in 2010. Nonetheless his killer, Chris Mahlangu, was convicted (along with a young accomplice) and last week was sentenced to life in prison, plus fifteen years. Mahlangu and Terre’Blanche were involved in a pay dispute. Judge John Horn decried the murder, rejected claims of extenuating circumstances, and handed down his sentence. Horn made clear that he did not find the murder to be racially motivated, but AWB members, many of whom had hung Mahlangu in effigy in somewhat alarming imagery given the context, nonetheless celebrated.

There are few easy moral lessons from the death of Terre’Blanche. He was a thug and a bully and a racist. He waved the AWB banner, evocative of the Nazi Swastika, and was a bittereinder who believed in white supremacy and celebrated Apartheid to the last. Except in certain AWB circles he will not be missed and his death was a tragedy in only the narrowest of senses.

Yet the sentencing of Mahlangu is also a good thing. Terre’Blanche was loathsome, but loathsomeness does not justify murder. In the New South Africa the black murderer of perhaps the country’s most notorious racial demagogue will spend the rest of his life in prison. And this qualifies as progress.

AUTHOR: Derek Charles Catsam
URL: http://africa.foreignpolicyblogs.com
E-MAIL: derekcatsam [at] hotmail.com

According to Dr Mulure, donor funding has become unreliable adding that the only sustainable way in the fight against the disease that is caused by a parasite (Plasmodium falciparum) and transmitted by mosquitoes is through raising local funds.

Dr Mulure pointed to Tanzania, Zambia and South Africa as countries in Africa who have shown that it is possible for governments to set aside budgets within their own resources to wage war against malaria.

He said that although African governments may be looking to the West for support, yet, malaria is still an African problem and the solution to it lies within the continent.

According to Dr Mulure, although Malaria is preventable and treatable, yet nearly 800,000 lives are lost to the disease every year, mostly children under 5 years old and pregnant women.

He said 80 per cent of the 300-500 million clinical cases per year are reported in Africa and that 90 per cent of the estimated 1 million deaths per year occur in Africa.

He said most of the older treatments (e.g. chloroquine) are no longer effective anymore because of resistance.

Yet global mechanisms such as the Affordable Medicines Facility – an innovative financing mechanism designed to expand access to the most effective treatment for malaria, artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) ends at the end of the year due to lack of funds.

Through the facility, the Global Fund, as host and manager of the AMFm, has negotiated with drug manufacturers to reduce the price of ACTs, and to require that sales prices must be the same for both public and private sector first-line buyers.

As a result, private importers now pay up to 80 percent less than they did in 2008-2009. The Global Fund pays most of this reduced price (a ‘buyer co-payment’) directly to manufacturers to further lower the cost to eligible first-line buyers of ACTs purchased from manufacturers.

This means that first-line buyers only pay the remainder of the sales price for the ACTs. First-line buyers are expected to pass on the highest possible proportion of this price benefit so that patients are able to buy ACTs across the public, private, not-for-profit and for-profit sectors at prices that are less than those of oral artemisinin monotherapies and competitive with the prices of CQ and SP.

AMFm Phase 1 which is set to end this year, is being implemented through nine pilots in eight countries: Cambodia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania (including Zanzibar) and Uganda.esides the challenge of funding.

Dr Mulure added that the issue of poor quality drugs, emergency of resistance to available drugs and long and complicated supply and procurement chain as well as lack of accurate data especially in the private sector are still challenges that those leading the war against Malaria still contend with.

Innovations and partnership

Dr Mulure however cited some few innovative ways countries have adopted to record some noted successes against malaria. “Coupled with global partnership, winning the war against malaria appears achievable,” he noted.

Countries such as South Africa, Tanzania, Jamaica, Madagascar, Zanzibar, Rwanda and Kenya have seen malaria incidents drastically reduced by use of indoor residual sprays, distribute insecticide treated bednets, early diagnosis of suspected cases as well as treat identified cases with artemisinin combination therapy.

A participant from Zimbabwe said his country has adopted such mechanism as levying every working person some tax that is spent to fighting diseases such as HIV.

Tanzania’s sms for life programme—which brings together mobile phone provider, IBM, Novartis and other partners and uses mobile phones to track weekly stock outs of ACTs and quinine in rural health–is proving a success and many countries are thinking copying the programme in bid to heighten their efforts in eliminating malaria.

AUTHOR: Henry Neondo
URL: http:// www.africasciencenews.org
E-MAIL: neondohenry [at] yahoo.com

The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, United States Department of State

Dear Secretary Clinton,

I am William Nicholas Gomes, Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com.

I have come to know that Daniel Bekele,Executive Director, Africa Division of Human Rights Watch had written a letter to you in light of your forthcoming trip to Africa. I do fully agree with the content and concern expressed by him. I want add my voice for better and deeper human rights advocacy and for that I am writing this letter to you.

In light of your forthcoming trip to Africa, I would like to bring to your attention some of our recent research findings and recommendations for many of the countries you will be visiting, including Senegal, South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, and South Africa. I hope that you will take the opportunity during your visit to address these issues with your counterparts and speak publicly about these and other human rights concerns. I do not include below information on Malawi, but I would encourage you to praise the positive steps that President Joyce Banda has implemented since taking office.

Senegal

The Hissène Habré Case

Hissène Habré is accused of thousands of political killings and systematic torture when he ruled Chad, from 1982 to 1990, before fleeing to Senegal. After years of stalling by President Abdoulaye Wade, newly elected president Macky Sall has ordered that proceedings against Habré begin by the end of the year. On July 24, Senegal and the African Union (AU) announced a landmark agreement to create “Extraordinary African Chambers” with African judges in the Senegalese justice system and to begin pre-trial investigations in October.

The United States has been a key player in encouraging Senegal to bring Habré to justice. Your letter to President Wade last September and your June report to Congress calling on Senegal to take “concrete steps” to bring Habré to justice both helped catalyze action. Habré’s trial, if conducted fairly and expeditiously, will be a significant milestone in the fight against impunity in Africa.  We hope that you will therefore be publicly supportive of Senegal’s current efforts to try Habré domestically, and that the United States will join other international donors that have agreed to finance the trial by offering a substantial contribution. 

Forced Begging of Children

In a 2010 report, Human Rights Watch documented the system of exploitation and abuse of at least 50,000 boys known as talibés – the vast majority under age 12 and many as young as four – forced to beg on Senegal’s streets for long hours under the guise of getting a Quranic education.  We documented widespread physical abuse, including severe beatings and several cases in which children had been chained or bound for failing to hand over to their Quranic teacher a required daily amount of money from begging. Many boys run away from these abusive residential schools and become almost permanent street children.

Senegal has the laws necessary to protect these boys from exploitation, in particular a 2005 law that criminalizes trafficking and forcing others into begging for personal financial gain. However, the previous government largely failed to take concrete steps to enforce the law, helping ensure that more boys would fall victim to abuse.

During your visit to Senegal, I hope that you will discuss with President Sall the importance of authorities applying the law against forced child begging and trafficking, as well as laws against physical violence toward children. In addition to prosecutions, it is essential that the Sall government take steps to regulate the Quranic education system, which, with a few exceptions, has been subject to almost no state oversight.

South Sudan

South Sudan, which on July 9 celebrated the one-year anniversary of its independence, faces significant human rights challenges. Human Rights Watch has recently called on the government of South Sudan to free all unlawfully detained prisoners, guarantee freedom of speech, and accelerate ratification of key international human rights treaties. In addition, I have urged that security forces be held to account for ongoing human rights abuses. The failure to pursue justice for serious crimes is a longstanding problem in South Sudan, a country with limited law enforcement capacity and a vast territory.  The improvement of the justice and prison systems in South Sudan is essential.

Human Rights Watch has reported extensively on indiscriminate bombings in civilian areas, killings, and other serious abuses by Sudanese armed forces in the border areas of Sudan and South Sudan. I ask that you emphasize in your meetings in Juba the critical importance of humanitarian access to Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

Uganda

Excessive Use of Force by Police and Military

Security forces’ unjustified use of lethal force remains a significant problem in Uganda. In protests in September 2009, at least 40 persons were killed, but there has been no meaningful attempt to investigate and prosecute those responsible. Again, in April 2011 during the “Walk to Work” demonstrations, military and police shot and killed nine people. The government has not conducted criminal investigations into the April killings and other state abuses, although there was one arrest for the killing of a child.

During your visit to Uganda, we ask you to raise the importance of accountability for the excessive use of force by police, military, and ad-hoc security units during the 2009 Kayunga protest and the 2011 “Walk to Work” demonstrations. I urge you to press the police and prosecutors to conduct credible investigations and bring charges against those found responsible, including commanders who ordered the use of live ammunition where there was no imminent lethal threat.

Crackdown on Civil Society

In the last two years, government officials at both the national and local levels have deployed an array of tactics to intimidate and obstruct the work of NGOs in certain sectors. Organizations focused on evidence-based research and advocacy on more controversial issues—transparency in the oil sector, compensation and reparations for land acquisitions and sales, political reform, and protection of human rights, including the rights of LGBT people—have decreasing room to maneuver. The methods used range from closing meetings and workshops, demanding apologies, and occasional physical violence, to threats, harassment, and heavy-handed bureaucratic interference to impede NGO registration and operations. Recent, increasing use of these tactics is obstructing the work and impact of the NGO sector and, more broadly, obstructs Ugandans’ rights to free expression, association, and assembly.

I encourage you to raise concerns over the restrictions of freedom of expression and association given the current threats to civil society in Uganda and call on the government to take concrete steps to foster an environment in which civil society can operate freely on a full range of subjects—including oil sector management, corruption, governance, land sales, and human rights, including the rights of LGBT people.

Regional Security: Rwanda and the DRC

The Ugandan government should urgently investigate reports that armed combatants in military uniform have crossed from Ugandan territory into neighboring eastern Democratic Republic of Congo at and near Bunagana in July 2012, allegedly to support the M23 rebellion led by ICC war crimes suspect Bosco Ntaganda. Human Rights Watch and a UN Group of Experts on Congo have independently documented the supply of recruits, arms and ammunition from the Rwandan military to the M23 rebels. Congolese civil society organizations reported last week that soldiers also came from Uganda into Congo to support the rebels’ latest offensive.

Uganda should ensure that there is no support, whether official or unofficial, from Uganda or which passes through Ugandan territory, in aid of Ntaganda or other M23 leaders responsible for serious human rights violations.

The United States sent a strong signal to the Rwandan government on July 21, condemning Rwandan support to the M23 rebels by cutting $200,000 of US military assistance to Rwanda. The US government should inform the Ugandan government that it could take similar action with respect to Uganda if there is clear evidence of support from Ugandan actors as well.

Kenya

Kenya’s general elections are slated for March 2013, yet few perpetrators have been brought to justice for the violence following the 2007 elections. The International Criminal Court has charged four high-profile suspects – including two presidential aspirants – with crimes against humanity for the post-election violence, but the Kenyan government has not upheld its promises to prosecute other cases. In the Mt. Elgon region, killings and enforced disappearances committed by the army and a militia group from 2006 to 2008 remain unpunished. Meanwhile, Kenya’s security forces are committing abuses against ethnic Somalis in North Eastern province. Judicial and police reforms currently underway provide some hope for accountability.

Human Rights Watch’s top advocacy priorities for Kenya include the creation of a special mechanism to prosecute those responsible for violence after the 2007 election. I also urge you to press for greater accountability by police and security forces, which, according to our field-based investigations, continue to commit torture, beatings, arbitrary arrests, and unauthorized searches of homes. 

South Africa

The controversial Protection of State Information Bill (the Secrecy Bill) remains a major concern in light of its restrictions on freedom of expression, press freedom, and democratic accountability.  Ever since the bill was introduced in March 2010, it has been subject to serious criticism as being inconsistent with South Africa’s constitution and human rights obligations. The bill has been amended over the past few years, but the draft version still omits a public interest defense. The absence of this clause means that journalists, whistleblowers, and others could be imprisoned for up to 25 years for leaking or sharing information deemed classified by the government and which exposes corruption, mismanagement, or malfeasance, even in the face of a compelling public interest.

I ask that you call on the government of South Africa to amend the Protection of State Information Bill to ensure that it conforms to international standards on freedom of expression, including by providing a public interest defense. 

Thank you, once again, for your attention to these concerns.

AUTHOR: William Nicholas Gomes
URL: www.williamgomes.org
E-MAIL: williamgomes.org [at] gmail.com

The meeting, which came in the sidelines of the ongoing World Health Assembly, was the first annual face-to-face gathering of representatives from the 22 focus countries since the launch of the Global Plan towards the Elimination of New HIV Infections among Children by 2015 and Keeping Their Mothers Alive in 2011.

The African ministers were joined by Indian Health minister to share their ideas and experiences on four focus areas related to the implementation of the Global Plan: Financing and political ownership; quality of care; community engagement; and human resources.

During her welcoming remarks, the Director General of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan emphasized the full commitment of her organization towards the success of the Global Plan. “This is an ambitious, noble and achievable cause,” said Dr Chan. “It is also a great opportunity to make progress towards the integration of health services in countries.”

In 2010, an estimated 390 000 children were born with HIV. However, with access to comprehensive HIV services the risk of transmission can be reduced to below 5%.

In response to this, the UNAIDS and the President Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) convened partners to develop a global plan to stop new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keep their mothers alive. The plan focuses on the 22 countries in which 90% of new HIV infections in children occur, 21 of which are in sub-Saharan Africa.

“By uniting our forces across boundaries, institutions and communities, we will leverage this historic opportunity to welcome the first generation born free of HIV by 2015,” said UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibé. “By building bridges between the movements of AIDS, maternal and child health and women’s movements, we will quicken the pace of this race towards zero.”

Speaking about innovative methods of funding, Zimbabwe’s ‘AIDS Levy’ was praised as an example of a sustainable national initiative to mobilize resources for the AIDS response.

“Even though no one likes to pay taxes, people are recognizing the utility of the AIDS Levy given the results achieved in the AIDS response,” said Zimbabwean Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Henry Madzorera.

Namibia’s Minister of Health and Social Services, Richard Kamwi, also explained how his country is rapidly increasing its domestic contribution to the overall resources allocated to the AIDS response.

Since the launch of the Global Plan at the 2011 High Level Meeting on AIDS, great strides have been made in reducing HIV infections among women of reproductive age and expanding access to antiretroviral therapy for pregnant women living with HIV.

However, progress is not being scaled up as quickly on meeting the family planning needs of women living with HIV, preventing maternal mortality and ensuring that all children living with HIV have access to antiretroviral therapy. All of which are key elements in the global plan to achieve zero new HIV infections in children.

“We have the knowledge and the tools to ensure that all children are born HIV-free and that their mothers are healthy,” said United States Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby.

“Countries are at the forefront of efforts to achieve this vision, and as partners, we are firmly committed to their success.”

The President of the 65th World Health Assembly emphasized the need to raise awareness among communities to ensure that both men and women have access to HIV services for their own health and to prevent HIV infections in children.

“Women still face stigma and discrimination when found HIV positive,” said the Health Minister from Côte d’Ivoire, Thérèse N’Dri-Yoman. “Women will not disclose their status and therefore won’t access HIV services unless communities provide them with the support they need.”

The integration of services to provide better quality of care for women was also stressed as a key element by several countries.

In Tanzania, for example, the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Hussein Mwinyi, reported that currently all family planning services integrate HIV services and vice versa. Similarly, the Government of Ghana has issued a policy to provide free family planning to all.

Botswana, one of the most advanced countries in preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV, has integrated HIV services in all health settings providing antenatal care to pregnant women. “We are doing everything possible to bring health to people,” said Botswana’s Minister of Health John Seakgosing.

Countries like Burundi, Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo reported efforts to increase the capacity of health care providers with initiatives such as nurse-driven antiretroviral treatment programmes, expanding service delivery outlets and promoting decentralization.

The Deputy General Manager of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Debrework Zewdie, noted that 15% of the funding for HIV prevention goes to the elimination of new HIV infections among children. However, she highlighted that the Global Fund is demand-driven and that countries must request the funds.

The countries involved include Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

AUTHOR: Henry Neondo
URL: http:// www.africasciencenews.org
E-MAIL: neondohenry [at] yahoo.com

At least this is true from a football fan’s perspective. But South Africa also is likely to lose hundreds of millions of rands as a result of hosting the continent’s premiere sporting event. There is a legitimate debate to be had as to whether or not hosting the World Cup was “worth it” (which of course also depends on what “worth it” means, thus the scare quotes). But it is difficult to see the upside in South Africa hosting the event in 2013. Maybe some countries with smaller economies would see positive economic impact from the tournament. But it is likely to bring little in terms of tourists to South Africa, a country that already sees impressive numbers of visitors, and given the cost of hosting the event, it is almost certain to cost South Africa a lot more than it brings in even if it does allow the country to utilize some of its stadia.

AFCON local organizing committee (LOC) chief executive Mvuzo Mbebe claims that the event will create 18 600 jobs. I would love to see the evidence for this claim and would especially like to know how many of those jobs are more than temporary work for the duration of the tournament.

[Full hypocrisy disclosure: My skepticism would not prevent me from attending the tournament, and almost certainly enjoying it immensely, if given the chance. My concerns are more pragmatic than moral even if this strikes me as a shortsighted allocation of resources.]

AUTHOR: Derek Charles Catsam
URL: http://africa.foreignpolicyblogs.com
E-MAIL: derekcatsam [at] hotmail.com

The first line of defence in the battle to control type-2 diabetes is still to encourage lifestyle changes, such as following a healthy diet and regular exercise, as well as by blood sugar moderation using glucose lowering Metformin that stem the liver’s glucose production.

Until now, when this medication failed, the next step was either to stabilise a patient’s blood sugars using medication which increases the body’s natural insulin production, called sulphonylureas; or to artificially raise insulin levels by injecting the hormone. But these medications often cause significant weight gain and hypoglycaemia, a condition in which blood sugar levels dip too low, causing varying symptoms such as blurred vision, elevated heart rate and agitation that may result in confusion, coma or even death.

The new guidelines, drawn up in consultation with government and published by the Society for Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes of South Africa (SEMDSA) in April this year, allow doctors to prescribe a new type of medication which uses incretin hormones to stimulate the amount of insulin released by the pancreas. Incretin therapy doesn’t have the same adverse effects of weight gain and plummeting blood sugar levels.

“The old guidelines were policy-centric, prescriptive and inflexible,” said Prof Jeffrey Wing from the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital speaking at the Incretin Leadership Summit, hosted by global healthcare company Novo Nordisk in early May, on the use of incretins in diabetes treatment.

“The new guidelines are democratic, they’re more patient-centric, he said. They also allow for doctors to prescribe incretin therapy before moving on to the use of sulphonylureas or insulin”.

“Type 2 diabetes mellitus and obesity are parallel epidemics”, explained specialist physician Dr Adri Kok from the faculty of consulting physicians of South Africa, who treats some 8 000 diabetic patients in her Johannesburg-based practice.

“Incretin treatment allows for the control of diabetes, without exacerbating the obesity problem, along with the associated risks of arthritis, sleep apnoea, high blood pressure, cholesterol and certain cancers. Switching from traditional second-step medicines onto the new incretins often comes with significant weight loss and no risk of low blood sugars”.

“I’ve seen firsthand (how incretins) improve patients’ lives because of the weight loss. They feel more energetic. They don’t fear low blood sugars. They have better control of their diabetes.”

The Incretin Leadership Summit was hosted in Cape Town by global healthcare company Novo Nordisk.

AUTHOR: Shout Africa
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