What We’re Reading 2/26/10

Feb 26th, 2010 11:07 AM UTC
By Robyn Mitchell

The Boston Globe: A ‘test and treat’ approach to fighting HIV
The Boston Globe reports that a promising new way to prevent the spread of HIV is being tested in Botswana on a group of people who are being exposed to a particularly vicious strain of the virus. According to the paper, the “test and treat’’ approach is not primarily intended to ward off the development of full blown AIDS, though it should also do that. Rather, the purpose of the trial is to sharply reduce the high quantity of virus being generated in an infected person to such a low level that little to no HIV would be available to pass along to a partner. This new method was designed and is being employed by AIDS scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health in the village of Mochudi, where 25 percent of the adult population is infected with HIV.

MediaGlobal (New York): Substandard Antimalarial Medicines Highlight the Need for Health Care Reform in African Countries
Sub-standard anti-malarial medicines are still widely sold in Madagascar, Senegal, and Uganda, according to a recently published study by Maryland-based NGO, the United States Pharmacopeia (USP). According to the study, substandard medicines are available because there is a high public demand for affordable health options and people living in rural areas do not always have access to a government-regulated distributor. The study maintains that addressing these issues is a complicated process, and drug regulation requires continuing efforts on the part of national governments. A government official involved in the study called for the creation of national health insurance programs, saying “If people know that they can go there and get the medicines at very reduced price, or next to nothing, then they will not be hesitation to go to the outlets to find these.”

The Financial Times: Helping Zimbabwe (Editorial)
The Financial Times writes that South African president Jacob Zuma believes lifting the targeted sanctions against Zimbabwe would help break political deadlock there, and will use his state visit to the UK next week to press his case. According to the Times, Mr. Zuma’s visit is an opportunity to try, once again, to find a way forward for Zimbabwe. The paper lays out a number of “wish list” conditions that would precede any change in sanctions: for example. “the press should be allowed to operate with freedom…and clear signs of progress on constitutional reforms are needed before any fresh elections.” Mr Zuma should, in return, be authorized to say that sanctions would then be lifted and phased aid to the government from western donors would be resumed. The Times concludes by saying, “There is no guarantee of success. But at least then there would be a credible attempt to resolve the Zimbabwe conundrum.”

The Wall Street Journal: India Budget Boosts Farm Spending
Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Friday proposed a new law to ensure food security in the country and announced the government would boost agriculture spending in addition to providing farmers more time to repay loans. According to the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Mukherjee outlined a four-pronged strategy – easier access to farm loans, greater focus on value addition by food-processing sector, cutting food wastage and increasing farm productivity – to boost farm sector growth. He plans to launch a “Green Revolution” in the country’s eastern region, similar to programs in the sixties and seventies which helped the country become self-sufficient in food production for the first time. Increased investments in agriculture and the proposal for a new food security law were announced amid widespread concern that another year of bad monsoon could badly hit the country’s ability to feed its millions.

The Economist: Attack of the really quite likeable tomatoes
The Economist explores the burgeoning popularity of genetically modified foods around the world, arguing that their success is providing opportunities to win over their many critics. According to the article, one of the primary criticisms of GM crops is that they are a way for “big companies to take over the livelihoods of small farmers,” primarily in the developing world. However, organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are refuting these claims by funding efforts in various countries to make crops more hardy or nutritious. Bill Gates maintains that as with drugs and vaccines, it is possible to get products that were developed with profit in mind to the people who need them using donor money and clever pricing and licensing deals. Said Gates, “The whole idea is not that poor farmers should go on being poor. It is that poor farmers should get a bit richer, be able to invest a bit more, and thus increase the food available to a growing and predominantly urban population.”

TAGS: What We're Reading