The UN Foundation, in partnership with the World Bank, the Brookings Institution, the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN) and the Standard Bank recently hosted a panel on the role of innovative financing and the global health funding gap.
Innovative financing plays a critical role in promoting efficiencies in investments and addressing funding gaps for foreign assistance, which is more important than ever given the challenging fiscal climate. Keynote speaker Amie Batson, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Global Health at USAID, said “innovative finance, alongside advances in research, clinical practice and social marketing, is crucial in our efforts to reach ambitious global health goals in a resource-constrained environment.”
At the event, the UN Foundation unveiled the Pledge Guarantee for Health (PGH), a new financial tool to help expedite the disbursement of foreign assistance while making global health supplies more affordable for developing countries. PGH provides short-term loans to developing country recipients on the basis of pending aid commitments, which in turn helps countries avoid high costs that can arise while they are waiting for funding to replenish supplies of life-saving medications. Through the first PGH-facilitated deal, more than 800,000 anti-malaria bed nets were delivered and distributed in Zambia three months ahead of schedule and before the deadly rainy season. Throughout the year, we look forward to tracking the progress of this new financing mechanism and the life-saving impact it will have.
After the event, I had the opportunity to speak with Joy Phumaphi, executive secretary of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance, about global health challenges and existing financing mechanisms to address these problems such as the Global Fund and GAVI. Joy shared with me her support for the Global Fund and GAVI and encouraged ONE members to continue fighting on behalf of the world’s poor.
Here’s what she said:
“The Global Fund is the biggest single donor of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria in the developing world. And it is not just the biggest funder but it is also a development tool that has created ownership of the fight against malaria, TB and HIV/AIDS. That mechanism has effectively brought together stakeholders in a way that no other mechanism has ever been able to do in global development. This is a huge contribution to development… the contribution the Global Fund has made to global health is comparable to none…. Investments are more critical now than ever because it is not only a question of losing potential gains in the future but it is a question of losing the investments that we’ve made and we can’t afford to do that.”
Yup, you heard that right. Malian musician Bassekou Kouyaté is making a big splash in the world music scene, both here in the US and abroad. He’s on Sub Pop, the same record label as Beach House, the Postal Service and the Shins, and just last month he was nominated for Best Traditional World Music Album at the Grammy Awards.
His latest album, “I Speak Fula,” incorporates the banjo-like sounds of the ngoni — a traditional West African string instrument — into a danceable beat accompanied by beautiful vocals. His music has earned recognition from the likes of Bonnie Raitt and Eric Clapton, and on his international tour, Kouyaté was dubbed the “Jimi Hendrix of ngoni.”
Kouyaté and other Malian musicians are helping to make the country a musical powerhouse. Mali’s prowess may come from the country’s historical role as a meeting point for nomadic peoples, said the New York Times in a recent article.
Here in Pennsylvania, we have been writing letters to our senators and making phone calls to urge bipartisan leadership in the Senate to help fight extreme poverty and global disease around the world. But yesterday, my colleague Christopher Geer ran into Senator Casey in Philadelphia at the train station.
Senator Casey immediately recognized ONE and Chris made sure to tell the senator all about our actions as ONE members and our upcoming meeting with his office. At the meeting, we will be asking that Senator Casey fight to ensure that there are no cuts to poverty-fighting programs in the upcoming Senate short-term funding bill. Senator Casey told Chris that he would work hard to make sure that those life-saving programs are better funded and even took a ONE pin from Chris before taking an impromptu photo for the ONE blog. Way to go Chris! Go ONE!
Hard times do not justify health aid cuts-study: Researchers from Britain and the U.S. looked back over 30 years of economic ups and downs in Europe and found that “most countries did not cut development funds during recessions,” prompting them to suggest that “some governments may be using recession as a smokescreen for political decisions to cut aid.” Advocates for global health aid are pointing to this study to argue for healthcare infrastructure development in poor countries and for sustaining existing health projects and starting new ones.
Planting Seeds in Africa and Asia: The Bill and Melinda Gates announced a $40 million grant to grow disease-resistant wheat and protect African farmer’s crops, in an effort to combat a disease wiping out wheat crops in parts of East Africa. With the disease affecting up to 80 percent of the world’s wheat supply, the race is on to develop new resident varieties, not only to ensure food production in developing countries, but also to safeguard the world’s wheat supply.
Greater Support Urged for Private Sector in Post-Conflict Africa:A strong private sector is crucial to broad based economic growth, and this is especially true to post conflict African states such as Liberia, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone as well as a host of others in Africa,” says Hany Besada, a senior researcher at the North-South Institute in Ottawa, Canada. According to Besada, “the relationship between the private sector and post conflict African states are good and are constantly improving.”
‘Whoonga’ threat to South African HIV patients: HIV patients in the South African township of Umlazi live in fear of being robbed of their lifesaving anti-retroviral drugs, due to gangs stealing their pills to create “whoonga” – a highly toxic and addictive street drug. Smokers believe the anti-retroviral Stocrin increases the hallucinogenic effects of marijuana, though there is no scientific proof of this. With 700,000 South Africans currently on ARVS, theft from HIV patients is “a big national concern.”
Last year I turned 36, and a friend sent me an SMS to wish me a happy birthday and inform me that I was officially no longer considered a “youth.” In my new role as an “elder,” I can now take the time to ponder the role of young people, whose growth I have invested much of my life to, especially in regards to determining the future of Africa.
This afternoon, as part of a selection process for a high school scholarship program, I had a flash-forward experience where I met the future president of South Africa -– she is 12. I know who she is because she told me. The young lady gave a clear synopsis on the state of the nation, and what she would like to do. When challenged on some of her views she replied, “I don’t have all the answers yet, but this nation is not excellent, and when I am president I will solve the challenges.” A friend once told me that when someone tells you who they are, you should believe them –- she’s onto something.
As I continuously work with 12- to 30-year-olds, I am struck by the commonalities that they have as a generation. They are fearless, audacious, moralistic, courageous and have a clear understanding of the shift that has taken place in the world. We, the non-youth, have an awareness of it, and yet they live it. They are a generation with an absolute belief in themselves, both as members of their community and as individuals. The youth of today are unconventional and are not afraid to show “the man” the middle finger. They have personalized the future, and have a clear understanding of what they can do and what they will dare. They are prepared to search the horizons for new solutions simply because they can, and they are not afraid of the answers -– unconventional (for us!) as they may seem.
Today’s youth speak the same language as their peers and are largely on the same page. They understand their differences and similarities, and they are hungry for change. They were born into a world with HIV/AIDS, increased natural disasters and environmental degradation, unstable food security, and the golden arches. They have watched the leaders of the day make decisions, and our responses to them. They are not afraid to hold us accountable, and they have begun to do so. They are not afraid to “be the change they want to see” − the movement has begun.
They have mapped their own path, they know the direction –- ours is to support them and follow. The child has become the parent; it’s a new world order. Their role is to maintain focus and direction, and ours is to invest in them with useful education, and preserve their courage and ability to believe in themselves.
When I met the “president,” she and her peers had several things in common: they understood the need for self-preservation, loyalty and need to protect others, even those that have hurt them. They could not connect to failure -– they each had varied appetites for risk. What was apparent was that each one had a clear vision and was prepared to attempt it. In the words of Seneca, “It is not because we dare that things are difficult, it is that we do not dare that they are difficult.”
The youth of this continent are like a well-thought through pension fund portfolio –- if we make the right investment in protecting the capital, it will pay off in the coming years.
Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir ‘will not seek re-election’: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir will not stand in the next presidential election due in four years, a ruling party official has said. The move is part of a package of reforms aimed at democratising the country, Rabie Abdelati said.
South Sudan minister says health is priority in Unity state: South Sudan’s minister of health visited Unity state, for the first time since his appointment last year, to assess what kinds of services are being delivered by the local state health ministries across South Sudan. Luka Monoja’s visit to Unity state is to show that health is a top priority for the government of South Sudan.
South Sudan Works to Rebuild Higher Education: Officials estimate that about twenty-five thousand students have registered at the five universities. Classes were supposed to start in April. But the Ministry for Higher Education in the south has now moved the opening date to the middle of May.
Audio slideshow on Sudan’s love of cows: For the Dinka people of Northern Bahr al-Ghazal state, cows take precedence over almost everything else. In the dry season, they have traditionally shared grazing lands with the Misseriya and the Rizzigat – Arab tribes from the north, who cross into the south with vast herds. But during the long years of war between north and south this migration was accompanied by violence, killing and rape.
Yesterday evening, I attended an event hosted by Senator Claire McCaskill here in Kansas City, Missouri, and I was able to speak to the Senator directly one-on-one. Sen. McCaskill said she “knew all about ONE,” accepted my ONE band and even said she has thousands of bands and T-shirts from ONE members all across the state.
I told her that I hoped that she would keep the world’s poorest in mind as the Senate begins budget talks and asked that she push to restore funding cuts by the House to the Global Fund. The senator said that she understood, and made it clear that this was a national security issue as well as a moral one. She thanked me for my work and graciously took this photo with me.
As the event came to a close, I was able to band a few other participants (including a state senator!), and speak to Sen. McCaskill’s Kansas City constituent director. We told her that we had a petition of more than 1,200 signatures from Missourians who care about the effects that these budget cuts could possibly have on the millions who depend on PEPFAR and the Global Fund to receive the lifesaving medicines, bed nets and treatments they need to survive.
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
