Aids Treatment, Is It Worth The Investment?

What does the long-term future hold for the global fight against Aids and HIV? With a drop in funding, it is clear that Aids is a in a losing battle with wealthy governments. Cuts of course will be made in all areas, but many Aids campaigners are hopeful in that the UK will make up for the deficit in contributions to the Global Fund to fight Aids, TB, and Malaria.

Campaigners and treatment providers in poor countries do believe that if funding were to cease, there is concern regarding potential resistance to the Aids treatment if not administered continuously. This will no doubt set them ten steps back from where they first began.

With that said, a new study published by the free-access journal PloS One revealed that investing in Aids treatment programs will not only be the right thing to do to save lives, but it also makes an economic case in that it actually saves money. Treatments were given to 3.5 million people in 98 countries. The results showed that the benefits far outweighed the costs. Individuals who received treatment had a restored sense of productivity of those able to work again and are more able to provide and care for their families.

Spending $14.2 billion may seem a bit much to assist 3.5 million people with antiretroviral drugs, but with large health gains generated and economic benefits of treatment, it could more than double their initial investment. So, is it worth it?

-Georisa Chang

Source: The Guardian

Initiative Against Corruption in Construction Sector

The World Bank is about to launch an initiative in order to address what has become not only a big problem of management but also one of the big excuses for countries and people not to donate to development efforts: corruption, inefficiency and mismanagement, in this case in the construction sector. OECD estimates that these three factors add some 10-30% to the total value of any given construction project; but they also mean less building quality, which can deteriorate users living conditions or even costs lives in regions vulnerable to natural hazards like earthquakes, floods or hurricanes. The construction sector is one of the less transparent and prone to corruption due to the big amount of transactions and contractors involved and its tendency to bribe politicians and officials and to influence the political sphere of a country.

This new initiative will try to tackle the problem by enhancing transparency, efficiency, accountability and expert management and design to construction projects and their associated administrative processes. The construction sector is one of the most important for developing nations, since it is the one in charge of building and maintaining infrastructures and housing, widely seen as pillars of development. The initiate is supposed to include construction companies, governments and civil society in making the sector more transparent and efficient.

British foreign aid agency (DFID) has already conducted a $7.3 million pilot project called Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (CoST) involving eight nations that joined voluntarily: United Kingdom, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Malawi, Tanzania, Philippines, Zambia and Vietnam. Several other countries are interested in CoST, which has attracted far more countries than intended when it was initially designed. So far, the results have been good, despite some loses detected, which are attributed to poor design or lack of capacities of the participant countries administrations. Still, CoST "fathers" state that the project has the potential to change for better the whole international construction sector. Maybe that is why the World Bank will take CoST as the seed of its own worldwide initiative against corruption in the construction sector. If this initiative succeeds, it will mean a major boost for developing nations, since it will attract more investors by saving time, money, and most importantly, lives.

- David Nebreda

SOURCE: trust.org

Foreign Aid Is Spared From British Budget Cut

While the U.S. House of Representatives decided to undertake deep budget cut in order to fund their debts and budget deficit, the British government has already delivered the promised budget cut to fund UK's current deficit. But unlike the U.S. House bill, the British government has spared two key areas from the budget cut: national health and fortunately, foreign aid. Not only that, the government is actually planning to increase the budget for foreign aid by 37% in real terms over the next four years. The British conservatives are going to implement an average of 19% budget cuts across almost every area of government spending to eliminate the current deficit by 2015. Defense will face a 7.5% budget cut over the next four years while the diplomatic budget will shrink by 24%.

There are mainly three reasons why the British government is exempting foreign aid from the budget cut. First, national security reason. The British government believes that it is cheaper to donate several billion dollars to the fragile states in order to help them build their infrastructures than investing tens or thousands of billion dollars for emergency intervention in case these states collapse and pose a security threat for Britain. Second, economic reasons. As the world is shrinking and several new powers are competing with the West to capture the world market, it is wise to provide aid to weak countries in order to build goodwill and create personal and organizational ties. Third, humanitarian reasons. The British government believes that it is their moral duty to eliminate global poverty and to help reduce the enormous suffering across the globe. Experts are hopeful that the British government's decision of sparing foreign aid from the budget cut can be an example for the American government who so far placed less priority on aid and decided to cut a major portion of it to finance their deficit.

-Nisha Noor

SOURCE: NPR

Britain Slashes Budget, Increases Foreign Aid

A few months ago, the United Kingdom announced major governmental cuts in an effort to stem runaway spending and its expanding deficit. Currently, the annual deficit approximately 10.4% of its economic power, a number that by all accounts is completely unsustainable. As such, most departments are expected to reduce their budgets by 20-25% over the next four years, amounting to budget reductions that have not seen since the tenure of Margaret Thatcher.

While historically foreign aid is typically the first budget to get reduced in a time of fiscal uncertainty, the United Kingdom has made the difficult and admirable decision to not only exempt the Department for International Development (DFID) from budget reductions but to increase funding by 32%! By 2013, the UK will be committing .7% of its GNI and as such meet its goal pledged at the 2000 UN Millennium Summit.

We at The Borgen Project commend the United Kingdom for making developmental assistance a priority as it makes difficult decisions regarding its budget. Through this, the United Kingdom demonstrates that foreign aid is essential to its national and long term interests.

This is encouraging news as we, on the other side of the pond, are also facing important and difficult decisions concerning our budget. If the United Kingdom can place a high priority on its developmental assistance, so can the United States.

-Corey Cox

SOURCE: The Faster Times

READing from UK to Uganda

The award winning recycling charity called READ International has shipped its largest its largest shipment of reference and textbooks to Uganda from the UK. 33,000 books have been sent to schools in Uganda and Tanzania. Since 2006, the charity organization has been improving access to education across the region through the donation of over 1.3 million books.

The way it works: READ has many drop off boxes where people can drop their books off. Books can also be gathered from nearby secondary schools which are then sorted to make sure only relevant books are sent. All books that are not sent are sold online to cover the cost of shipping the book to Uganda and Tanzania. This simple and low cost model is what has made READ so successful. Through a number of key partnerships, the cost of shipping these books are very low (almost 50 pence each!)

All the books are written in English. The UK and both Uganda and Tanzania follow the secondary school system. The books that are sent almost mirror the classes that are taught in the UK and are perfect.

You can contact READ International at:
Contact: READ International,
Vintage House, 37 Albert Embankment, Vauxhall, London, SE1 7TL
Telephone: +44 (0)20 3031 9116
Website: www.readinternational.org.uk

-Shereen Alibhai

SOURCE: Positive News

Solar Pebble to provide cheap renewable energy for rural Africans

The Solar Pebble has the potential to provide jobs, hours of LED lighting, and power for small electronic devices for only $2.70. Plus Minus Design partnered with SolarAid, a UK-based NGO that helps provide affordable renewable energy in developing countries, to create a small solar panel device to replace kerosene lamps, the most common form of lighting for people without power.

Kerosene lamps, although widely used, are expensive, unhealthy and dangerous. Breathing in the smoke and fumes from kerosene lamps is the equivalent of smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. Due to their highly inefficient design, kerosene lamps use nearly 100 times more energy than modern lighting systems and require up to 40% of a family's income for sustained use. And because of their glass design they are prone to breaking and causing fires- a person dies every 20 seconds from a kerosene lamp related death.

The Solar Pebble uses a ratchet stand that allows the device to be pointed at the sun to gather energy during the day. It's small design allows for highly efficient use (2 hours of charging provides 1 hour of lighting). It's made from simple parts that can be worked on with basic tools, which allows for easy maintenance when it is being used in rural areas. It is also shipped without being fully built, thereby allowing local people to get in on the profits by assembling it for a small fee. It has small outlets on its side that allow it to charge mobile phones and other small electronic devices. The Solar Pebble is expected to be distributed in Uganda by the end of July.

-Matthew Thwaites

SOURCES: "Game Changing Idea? Tiny Solar Pebble to Power Africa"-Planet Green, Nuru Lights on Kerosene Lamps