Arjen Westra’s African Weblog

Round 6 was passed by the Global Fund board an 30 minutes ago. I could imagine Burundians that are getting low cost ACT (Artemisin Combination Treatment) for malaria are happy. Even so the 6700 HIV infected people that are on ARV’s. They would have died if the Global Fund would have decided not to go for a Round 6. Also check this posting on the subject a few days ago:

According to statistics from Kenya’s Ministry of Health 700 abortions are performed every day in the country on girls aged between 15 and 19 who might (financially) not be able to raise a child, did not use a condom and regretted or girls who were offered extra money if they would have sex without a condom by men. On top of that there are hundreds of rape cases and cases of domestic sexual violence each month.

This in a country where abortion is illegal. That is why a lot of abortions are taking place in secret in health centers, hospitals (if you are lucky) and a lot of them under much worse circumstances. I once head a story of a girl that had to lie down why people were hitting and pushing her on the stomach.

Another known method is bringing in a pin. Often done for a few shillings and under very bad hygienical circumstances. Results: girls get infected or even die not to talk about the emotional damage after an abortion.

From time to time you can read about embryos being found on odd places. Last year, more than 10 embryos were found in plastic bags in Nairobi river. Other stories go round that babies are being taken away in certain hospitals to be brought up in orphanages. Officially people don?t know, and even neglect that so many abortions are taking place. But theoretically every Kenyan must have somebody in his or her direct environment that has dealt with an abortion.

Two years ago a doctor who was doing tens of abortions a day for an affordable rate in Nairobi?s City Center was arrested. The man got sentenced to jail. Especially young girls and women are frequent victims of sexual violence. The law does not make an exception for these girls.

Now they are talking about the introduction of an abortion pill in Kenya. The medicine is available under the name Misoprostol. It works for stomach diseases and officially it is not known as an abortion pill. The NGO Women on Waves is working on legalizing the abortion pill but they will get a hard time in this country where only yesterday a member of parliament said in a debate about a new law for sexual offences: ?If women say no to sex, they in fact say yes.? Yes this guy was serious.
Also check out the voice of this Kenyan Women by clicking here

Women on Waves

… and it was great. Music unites people and can bring messages across that we journalists can’t. But can somebody tell me why the dancefloor at Angelique’s concert was divided (by a guarded fence) in a VIP area and in an area for the common people? I am sure Angelique did not want it halfway the concert she left the stage and came to the audience (picture, under the umbrella), illustrating her message that she believes that: “human beings in the basis are good.” Later on she invited the audience to come and dance with on the stage “Because it’s fun” (picture: Angelique is the one with the white short hair in the middle)

That kills more people in Africa than any other disease…. Only in Africa more than 2 million people…

Just back from Burundi for reports on malaria. More than 80 percent of the Burundi people are at risk to get malaria each year. I visited health centers and was talking to many Burundians, being dependent on donor money for their free malaria treatment.

Other than a lot of people in the West might think, malaria is still the killer number one in Sub Saharan Africa. It kills more people than AIDS does.

Three years ago the Burundi government decided to introduce a very efective ACT treatment as First Line of defence. Death figures went down dramatically. ‘But now part of the treatment program is at risk, which means thousands of people will die in stead of live.’, says Minister of Health Dr Barnabe Mbonimpa. According to the Burundian minister of Health only in Burundi thousands of people are dependent on money of the Global Fund for their treatment.

I took this picture in a health center in Bujumbura, people are being tested if they have malaria here.

In another health center, I saw this little kid getting a blood transfusion. It is the last attempt to save a life after other treatments have failed or, which is more likely, people where not in time to get their treatment for any reason, most of those have to do with poverty.

Just got this Press Statement:
=============================

Washington, April 24 — This week, the world’s largest source of funding for health programs, the Global Fund, is considering whether to proceed with issuing new grants this year. All three diseases its addresses are at crisis proportions, but the Fund’s Board, meeting in Geneva April 27-28, could decide to postpone providing urgently needed resources until sometime next year or even later.

“It would be a terrible mistake for the Board of the Fund to delay providing new resources for health programs,” said Dr. Paul Zeitz, Executive Director of the Global AIDS Alliance. “These resources are needed to save lives, and there can be no delay. AIDS kills about 1,500 children each day. Nearly half a million orphans are receiving social, medical and educational support thanks to the Fund — how can we in good conscience cut these children off from the help they need?”

“Over these last 5 productive years, the Global Fund has become a beacon of hope and inspiration,” stated the Communities Delegation, a group representing the concerns of people affected by AIDS, TB and malaria. “Until now, the steady development and scaling up to meet challenges has fueled a momentum that will be lost if Round Six is not launched at the April Board Meeting. Six million of us already die each year from the three diseases. Further delay in launching Round Six is immoral and unacceptable.”

In Africa alone, 3,000 children die from malaria every day. The Fund provides about half of all external funding for malaria programs.

Contributions to the Fund have been inadequate, and the US and other members of the Board seem ready to urge the Fund’s work be delayed. However, the Fund has or will very soon have enough resources to meet the needs of another round of grantmaking, and many other board members support going forward with Round Six.

The Bush Administration says it backs the Fund, but it has asked Congress to provide 45% less funding for the Fund for 2007 than is being provided in 2006. Last month, Mark Dybul, the Deputy US Global AIDS Coordinator, backed the cut, stating, “The President’s request strikes the right balance for Fiscal Year 2007.” He told Congress that the US is the largest contributor to the Fund, but the proposed cut would actually leave France as the largest contributor. Fortunately, Congress seems likely to reject this cut.

The Fund is a key part of the global effort to meet key benchmarks on AIDS, one of which is to ensure that by 2010 everyone who needs AIDS treatment has access to it. African civil society groups are backing a target of “10 by 10,” since by 2010 about 10 million people will need AIDS treatment. While Dybul has stated that “it would be nice if we started listening to Africans as they’re fighting their own epidemic,” the US actually opposes this target, preferring a vague statement of intent.

“It’s hard to say why the US chooses to undermine global efforts,” said Zeitz. “However, there is simply no way for the US or the rest of the G8 to keep the promises they made regarding AIDS treatment unless the Fund’s work is allowed to proceed without delay. Progress in fighting tuberculosis and malaria would also be dramatically set back.”

1 comment

Bar owners see the surface of their terrace reduced… to 30 percent of the normal…

Waiters and guards are happy… “Now we can assist clients with umbrellas and get an extra tip so we can pay our bus fare tonight…”

Farmers smile…”Finally…but the cows that did not die will die because they start drinking, the animals are not used to water anymore…”

Villagers are sad… “The roads are swept away…”

Expats in Landcruisers are angry… “Holy cow: Still no proper system to keep roads free of excess water…”

City council of Nairobi is happy… “Mmhhh might be a good opportunity to raise some extra donor funds to repair our sewage systems…”

Tourists cry… “This is not the weather we paid for, the brochures promised us something else…”

Europeans are surprised…”I thought it was so dry and dusty in Africa…”

Taxi driver Kamau and his colleagues are happy: “Put some extra shillings on the price…they have no choice and my wife will be happy…”

Street vendors make some extra business with selling their China-made umbrellas…

Over the years that I have been here, my respect for the young generation of Africans has been growing. Being young in a country where not everybody has the same chance and some people are more special than others has its own challenges. Africa is full with talented, well educated young people, but they don’t get jobs because a lot of elder people hold on to their positions. I meet a lot of young people who don’t believe that they can really make a difference. Look at politics in Kenya for example: you will find people in the government who were there already twenty years ago. Young people don’t get a chance. As a consequence, a lot of youngsters engage in illegal activities like drug dealing, robbery, prostitution. A lot of them are often maintaining their families this way. Others leave the country to try their luck elsewhere in the world, sending funds to their families. These highly talented people could help to build this continent. A good example is in the health sector here in Kenya: according to a recent WHO report, Kenya has a shortage of health workers. Not because they are not there, but because they all left the country, looking for greener pastures. Western countries are even recruiting them. At the same moment, a lot of well paid expats are hired and volunteers come in to ‘solve the problems’ of this country. I am waiting for a political party for young people that get up and stand up for the rights of the new generation and force their governments in a friendly way to see and use the potential of the young.

Preparing a trip to Burundi. Going there for reports on malaria. On the 25th of April it’s Africa Malaria Day. Yearly almost three million people are still dying of this disease, most of them young children and women. Between 300 and 500 million get the disease each year. Kenyan government is considering to use DDT in the battle against the malaria mosquito. Almost 50.000 Kenyans are being killed by the disease each year. Since a year Uganda has already been using DDT, because research shows that it is more effective than any other pesticide. And what about the next generation of children, being born with handicaps caused by this poison that is forbidden almost everywhere in the world?