Social Issues
Calls for Africa to make own Aids drugs dangerous
IPN Opinion article
Local production of drugs is a long-standing slogan in the aid industry and in many individual countries and has now been taken up by the African Union. But its superficial attraction hides vested interests, expensive subsidies and dangers to quality.
The Myth of a General AIDS Pandemic: How UNAIDS has Wasted Billions
Professor James Chin addresses the prevalence of HIV, future trends of the pandemic, and the potential for HIV epidemics in ‘general’ populations outside Sub-Saharan Africa.
Fueling waste and corruption: U.S. aid hurts poor more than helps
IPN Opinion article
President Obama has revamped the Bush policy of heath aid to poor countries by widening its scope beyond AIDS to all diseases: it looks like a great idea but it is full of unintended consequences.
Corruption fuels spread of fake drugs business
IPN Opinion article
A barrage of email spam highlights the dangers from bad drugs as everyone worries about swine flu but the plague of counterfeits is constant threat everywhere and particularly in poor countries. Taxes and corruption make business difficult or impossible for legitimate medicines but open the field to counterfeit dealers who can pay the bribes and make huge profits on their cheap imitations.
This healthcare 'reform' will kill thousands
IPN Opinion article
Before the USA institutes a federal body for 'comparative effectiveness' review of new medical treatments, it should take a look at England's rationing body NICE - which has denied innovative medicines to thousands of patients.
Protectionism in Green Garb
IPN Opinion article
The US Waxman-Markey energy bill claims to be about reducing greenhouse gas emissions but its hidden consequences include subsidies and protectionism for US firms plus trade war with the rest of the world. Even its core intention is made irrelevant by the current and future emissions of China and India. Aris Taristides explains some of the threats to other countries and to the USA itself of damaging trade, especially in a time of recession.
