Medicine
Will the destruction of coffee stocks save Kenyan farmers?
IPN Opinion article
The decline in coffee earnings has contributed to low productivity in what was once Kenya's 'black gold'. Coffee berry diseases, leaf rust, leached soils, high input and marketing costs has made Kenyan farmers to invest less in this sector. Political interference has virtually rendered the producers of this vital commodity helpless.
Kenya is known for its fine quality coffees, the majority being the Mild Arabica with 60% produced by small holders and 40% by estates. Kenyan farmers are grappling daily with the imbalance that makes it difficult to afford the finished product of what they produce and earn a fair income. The news of a flooded coffee market spells doom to local farmers. Will the destruction of 5 million bags in stock stimulate the market for this product?
AIDS activists hinder their cause
IPN Opinion article
Two weeks ago at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the head of UNAIDS, Peter Piot, told delegates that he was upset that AIDS discussions were not higher up the agenda of the summit. He will be even more upset when he sees the latest data to come out about AIDS research.
There are between 5 percent and 30% fewer anti-AIDS drugs in development than there were a few years ago.
NGOs play big role in AIDS plans
IPN Opinion article
The head of UNAIDS, Peter Piot, is angry the discussion of the AIDS pandemic is so low on the agenda of the World Summit for Sustainable Development and that African ministers are so lukewarm to the issue. He was expected to tell WSSD delegates Friday night he is annoyed by the lack of government action on controlling acquired immune deficiency syndrome on the African continent.
Shattering the myths of the Earth Summit
IPN Opinion article
The great Earth Summit is about to roll into town: 65,000 government heads and bag carriers, media folk and glad handers, lobbyists and freeloaders. The restaurants and the massage parlours and the peddlars of ethnic bangles and elephant bookends can't believe their luck. Ten thousand officials from 174 countries, 6,000 journalists and talking heads of every shape, size and description have hustled air fares, hotel rooms and expenses from taxpayers around the world for the greatest hot air convention of the decade: the Sustainable Development Show.
Economic empowerment is key to fighting HIV/Aids in Africa
IPN Opinion article
Poverty is making the African people come up with strategies that may scare inventors and innovators. Simply lobbying for cheap drugs may not help. A counter lobby may exist that may link the quest for cheap drugs to foreign aid. What then is the solution to the threat of Africa becoming a continent of orphans?
It is urgent that the issue of economic empowerment in Africa through trade, good governance and rule of law be addressed. To fight Aids, empower the Africans economically.
Weapon against malaria is ignored
IPN Opinion article
South Africa recently controlled a malaria epidemic by spraying the DDT insecticide on the insides of houses, where the Anopheles mosquitoes rest. This led to an 80 per cent decline in malaria cases in a year. Unfortunately, donor agencies are loath to fund the use of DDT and are generally reluctant to support insecticide use (except in bed nets) because of pressure from environmentalists within their organisations and at home.
It is an outrage that the most cost-effective method of controlling malaria and saving lives is being sidelined because it is deemed \"unsustainable\". No one is arguing that insecticide should be the only weapon, but many of the supposedly more environmentally friendly alternatives only sustain poverty, death and illness in malarial countries.
Doctors Without Principles
IPN Opinion article
AIDS activists have a new and very curious choice for their new poster boy - President Mugabe of Zimbabwe. The President has become their darling because of his decision to break drug patents and import generic anti-retrovirals for his country's HIV/AIDS programme. That MÈdecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) or "Doctors Without Borders" has aligned itself with the government of Zimbabwe is surely one of their most shameful moves.
Tying up malaria control in Indian Red Tape
IPN Opinion article
Over 100 years ago, while working in India, Dr. Ronald Ross was the first to discover that the Anopheles mosquito transmitted the malaria parasite to humans. Ever since vector, or mosquito, control, has been a cornerstone of any successful anti-malaria programme. Despite the importance of Dr. Ross's discovery India has been unable to eradicate the disease, largely because of its cumbersome and unaccountable bureaucracy.
When Activists Win
IPN Opinion article
Today data are released from PhRMA, the pharmaceutical lobby group, which show that AIDS drugs in development are in shocking decline, down by 33% over the past 5 years. What the industry is unwilling to admit is that drug activists have been successful in their campaign of demanding lower prices for AIDS drugs. The result is that in some drug company boardrooms, investment is obviously switching from AIDS research into areas where profits can still be made.
It's all bad news on Aids drug research
IPN Opinion article
There has been widespread applause for the recent findings of the British government's Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, which argues that patents block essential drug access and intellectual property rights offer few advantages to developing countries. But the real victims of poverty and disease are already worse off because of previous attacks on intellectual property.
