| LIFE-NET NEWS |
| by Ret Z. |
| Covering Poverty Widely in a Net of Many Voices |
| 2003 July 2 | No Profit; No Proceeds |
| Volume 7 Number 5 | All-Volunteer |
| "Give a family a fish, and they'll eat a meal; give them a Net, and they'll have fish for Life." |
| Developing World Faces Cancer Crisis |
|
The number of new cancer patients in the developing world
will reach 10 million per year by 2015--and most will have
no access to lifesaving treatment, say experts. About 85%
of the world's people live in developing countries, but
these countries house only about one third of the world's
radiotherapy facilities.
Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said, "A silent crisis in cancer treatment exists in developing countries and is intensifying every year." "At least 50% to 60% of cancer victims in the developing world can benefit from radiotherapy that destroys cancerous tumors, but most developing countries do not have enough radiotherapy machines or sufficient numbers of specialized doctors and other health professionals." Some 15 African nations and several countries in Asia lack even one radiation therapy machine. Ethiopia, which has 60 million people, possesses just one such machine, while other developing countries have one machine for several million people. In contrast, the most developed countries have one machine for every 250,000 people. The IAEA estimates it would cost $2.4 billion over the next 15 years to purchase sufficient machines, physicians and physicists to run them, and pay for the upkeep of the machines. Dr Bhadrasain Vikram, an expert in radiation therapy working for the IAEA, said, "The growing cancer crisis in the developing world can be traced to people living longer, changing lifestyles, unhygienic living conditions and other important factors." The IAEA says that because of the types of cancer more prevalent in the developing world, and because the cancers are often diagnosed at later stages, the vast majority should be treated by radiation. Even for advanced cases where curative therapy may not always work, radiation is able to provide substantial pain relief. Source: BBC |
| A Patient-Care Dream May Die |
|
Jeffrey Brenner, MD, writes from Camden:
There was a time when small physician's offices were everywhere. You saw your own physician at every visit, and doctors even came to your house. I am determined to be that old-time family physician in a new century. I am trying to fix the health-care system, one patient at a time, by focusing on the well-being of families, not just organ systems and diseases. Last week, I learned that my office and offices like it in Camden might not last much longer. State Sen. Wayne Bryant (D-Camden) is involved in an effort to transfer patients on FamilyCare in New Jersey into public clinics across the state. Bryant has said transferring some adults out of FamilyCare, a state health-insurance program for families who do not qualify for Medicaid, would preserve their quality of care and save money for the state. In Camden, that could cost my patients their ability to choose their doctor and force them to go to our local public clinic, CAMcare Health Corp. Its president, Mark Bryant, is the senator's younger brother. CAMcare is right next to my office. Not a day goes by without three or four patients coming into my office to transfer out of CAMcare. They complain to me about long waits, not seeing the same doctor, and being treated rudely. Similar complaints arise about other federally qualified health centers--that they are large, bureaucratic, inefficient and impersonal. Many of the providers and staff who work in health centers are committed and inspired to provide excellent care to underserved patients, but they work in a system too large to provide the kind of personalized care they want to administer. I worked in a community health center for three years, as have many of my friends and colleagues who are concerned about health care for the poor. Many of us left those settings because of our frustrations. My message is a simple one. Poor patients deserve the same thing we all want: choice. The power to choose is even more important for the poor when they are surrounded by dysfunctional systems of care. Source: Philadelphia Inquirer |
| NGOs Pressed to Push US Policy |
|
On May 21 in Washington, Andrew Natsios, the head of USAID,
gave a speech blasting US non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) for failing to play a role many of them didn't
realize they had been assigned: doing public relations for
the US government. According to InterAction, a network of
160 relief and development NGOs, Mr. Natsios was
"irritated" that starving and sick Iraqi and Afghan
children didn't realize that their food and vaccines were
coming to them courtesy of George W. Bush. From now on,
NGOs had to do a better job of linking their humanitarian
assistance to US foreign policy and making it clear that
they are "an arm of the US government." If they didn't,
InterAction reported, "Natsios threatened to personally
tear up their contracts and find new partners."
For aid workers, there are even more strings attached to US dollars. USAID told several NGOs that have been awarded humanitarian contracts that they cannot speak to the media --all requests from reporters must go through Washington. Mary McClymont, CEO of InterAction, calls the demands "unprecedented," and says, "It looks like the NGOs aren't independent and can't speak for themselves about what they see and think." Many humanitarian leaders are shocked to hear their work described as "an arm" of government; most see themselves as independent (that would be the "non-governmental" part of the name). The best NGOs are loyal to their causes, not to countries, and aren't afraid to blow the whistle on their own governments. Mr. Natsios himself embraced this independence in his previous job as vice-president of World Vision. During the North Korean famine, he didn't hesitate to blast his own government for withholding food aid, calling the Clinton administration's response "too slow" and its claim that politics was not a factor "total nonsense." Don't expect candor like that from the aid groups Mr. Natsios now oversees in Iraq. These days, NGOs are supposed to do nothing more than quietly pass out care packages with a big "brought to you by the USA" logo attached--in public-private partnerships with Bechtel and Halliburton, of course. Source: Globe and Mail |
| Weak Laws Allow Charity Fraud |
|
New Jersey faces two problems with respect to cheating
charities: weak laws and weaker enforcement. Enforcement
officials concede that fines and license suspensions are
extremely rare and that the state lacks the staff to verify
information presented by charities.
But even if the state were more energetic, it is hobbled by weak laws. Federal court rulings block states from requiring that charities devote most of the money they raise to the cause they are advertising. It is up to the charity to divide its money as it sees fit, and some are not particularly choosy. That means a donor must be careful. Financial information on charities licensed in New Jersey is available by calling the state's charities hotline at 973-504-6215 or by checking the division's Web site at www.state.nj.us/lps/ca. A private watchdog group organized by the Better Business Bureau offers a guide that is far easier to use at its Web site, www.give.org. A bill wending its way through the legislature would require more information of fund-raisers. For now, though, the most reliable guard against sleazy charities is an educated consumer. Source: Newark Star-Ledger |
| AIDS Program Defies Naysayers |
|
Babalwa Tembani was diagnosed as HIV-positive after being
raped by her uncle. She was only 14 years old at the time
and knew nothing about AIDS. After being admitted to Cape
Town's Groote Schuur hospital, a nurse told her she had
four days to live and must "look for a place to die".
Addressing a group of journalists at an event marking the two-year anniversary of the Medecins Sans Frontieres' (MSF) antiretroviral (ARV) therapy pilot program in a Cape Town township, 21-year old Babalwa is nowhere near ready to die. She's a bubbly, ambitious young woman, planning to study medicine. Tembani is one of 400 people receiving ARVs from the MSF project in Khayelitsha, a poverty-stricken township just outside South Africa's second city. Findings from the project have demonstrated that treatment campaigns are possible in poor communities. MSF has established three dedicated HIV clinics inside the township's existing public health facilities, where most HIV patients are treated for opportunistic infections. A limited number of these have been placed on the ARV program. Patients with HIV/AIDS receive treatment only after careful selection based on medical criteria, their clinical status, as well as a "patient-centered adherence approach" in which patients take responsibility for their treatment. This approach requires patients to have been on time for their clinic appointments for the past three months and have a supportive home environment, including a treatment assistant. The beneficiaries receive a triple cocktail of generic drugs and visit the clinics every week during the first month, followed by monthly visits. The cost of the treatment is around US $0.50 per patient per day. High levels of treatment adherence have been attributed to the support structures in place. However, Miliswa Galada, a counselor at one of the clinics, admits that patients find it difficult to stick to their treatment regimen, particularly in the first month. When Babalwa went back to school, even her teachers would remind her when it was time to take her tablets. She carries her pillbox and some fruit "everywhere I go, so that I don't forget." Source: Plusnews (IRIN) |
| Tribals Take Part In Constitutional Debate |
|
Hunter-gatherer and pastoralist peoples are playing an
active part in the conference which is debating Kenya's new
constitution. That they are able to do so is a
breakthrough and a sign of hope for tribal peoples' rights
in Kenya. The Maa Pastoralists Council and other
pastoralists' organisations have sent delegates, and a
pastoralist representative has been elected Vice-Chairman.
As the conference debated the issue of community land, Ogiek delegate Ezekiel Kesendany pointed out that his people, the Ogiek hunter-gatherers, should be allowed to live peacefully in their forest or be resettled on their original lands. The Ogiek are one of the few remaining hunter-gatherer peoples of East Africa. Ever since colonial times there have been attempts to evict them from their ancestral forest, usually on the pretext that they are degrading it. But when the Ogiek are removed, their forest is not protected but rather exploited by logging and tea plantations--some owned by government officials. In some parts of the Mau forest, groups of Ogiek are now resisting eviction, while in others they face influxes of settlers onto their land. The most serious threat currently facing them all comes from the government's plan to open up around one tenth of Kenya's forests--most of it in Ogiek territory --to outsiders. This will open the way for more settlers, loggers and tea plantations. The constitutional conference reconvenes on August 17. Source: Survival International |
| Fishing Village Sets Cleanup Example |
|
In a joint community effort Saturday, local schoolchildren
and fishermen started a one-week cleanup campaign in the
small fishing port of Pucusana, Peru. The first day of
this campaign was finished with six tons of garbage and
toxic waste being collected from the harbor's beaches and
ocean floor.
After weeks of preparation and community meetings the three fishermen associations of the artisan fishing port of Pucusana, Peru, the cities administration, the "Roundtable for the Fight Against Poverty in Pucusana", local public and private schools, as well as the administration of the fishing dock joined with "Mundo Azul", a Peruvian non- profit NGO for the conservation of marine and coastal habitats, in order to realize the first day of a one-week clean up campaign of Pucusanas beaches and ocean floor. "This cleanup campaign", explained Stefan Austermuhle, Executive Director of Mundo Azul, "is only one of several elements of our common project "Nuestro Puerto Limpio" (Our Clean Port). Other activities are a massive awareness campaign on the local level, the creation of an educational wall-painting at the fishing pier and the installation of a special collection system for toxic waste like batteries, old oil and used oil filters." The idea to implement the project was born in 2001, when Mundo Azul members realized a survey with local tourists visiting Pucusanas beaches during summer months, in order to find out how tourism services had to be improved and how poor local fishermen, suffering increasingly from overfished marine resources, could be involved in tourism as an alternative income source. "We found," resumes Austermuhle, "that more than 40% of the visitors were not happy with the lack of hygienic conditions and the large amount of garbage on the beaches and decided together with the city government that we had to give priority to clean up Pucusanas marine environment, before even thinking of the development of additional eco-tourism products." At the end of the campaign's first day all participants, the local organizers, and the hundreds of locals watching for hours the unloading of garbage were of the same opinion: It was a full success. "With this result", resumes Austermuhle, "the fishing community of Pucusana has demonstrated to the rest of the Peruvian coast that it is possible to come together and to start changing the tide." Source: Stefan Austermuhle |
| Life-Net News Extras |
|
Art in the Ballpark
by Ret Z. |
|
Funny how when I exited the Camden Transportation Center
and walked just a few blocks toward the Delaware River, the
city started looking sharp, with mixed-brick sidewalks and
former-rowhouse office buildings. I stopped in a
bar-and-grill for a glass of wine and was surprised
at the up-to-date, oakey feel of the place. On the wall, I saw
a framed front page of the City Paper, headlined, "The
Camden Nobody Knows" and subtitled, "Why the Waterfront
Isn't Helping Camden Businesses".
My walk seemed to exemplify what some city residents cite, a disparity between the gorgeous, well-funded waterfront and the neglect apparent on back streets. Trekking across block after block of newer buildings and pavements, I said to myself, "Is this really Camden?" I was on my way to the Fifth Annual Camden Neighborhood Renaissance Arts Festival--the opening gala, that is. CNR chose for the evening's venue the relatively new minor league ballpark, Campbell's Field, home of the Camden Riversharks. Since I hadn't entered that place before, I had as much fun exploring it as I did viewing the many fine examples of local art. The ballpark lived up to my expectations. CNR couldn't have picked a better site, in my estimation. The local artwork didn't disappoint, either. I also picked up a CNR newsletter there. Inside, I saw evidence that the Weed and Seed program (weed out the drug dealers and seed neighborhoods with restoration projects and social services, like afterschool programs) is having at least some success. I read another article about a large number of trees planted by organized residents in the Cooper Lanning district. Another article showed a pretty gal standing beside the new "Angel of Peace" sculpture in a Cramer Hill park. For one night I found it easy to believe that Camden is on the rise. In fact, I've felt a cautious optimism for months. If facts ever eclipse my prior knowledge of Camden citizen cynicism borne of unfulfilled promises, I'll declare hope outright. |
| Vieques: Navy Gone, Problems Remain |
|
After six decades of struggle, the irresistible force of
the people of Vieques, Puerto Rico, and their allies
succeeded in pushing out a seemingly immovable military
installation. On May 1, 2003, the US Navy officially left
Vieques. Since 1941, Viequenses--as the island's people
are known--had lived with the Navy's military exercises
that rocked the island with an ongoing barrage of
explosive bombs, napalm, and depleted-uranium munitions,
among other weapons tested.
The people of Vieques are facing a number of serious problems left behind when the Navy stopped its military tests:
Original Article with Photos |
| Who Is Failing Indigenous Australians? |
|
A recent review into the role and functioning of the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission has
concluded that the peak Indigenous representative and
advisory body is seriously failing its responsibility to
Aboriginal Australians.
It points to the high levels of violence in Aboriginal communities, and a worsening health crisis. The report's findings and recommendations have been enthusiastically taken up by Indigenous-affairs minister Philip Ruddock as yet more justification for his moves to take power away from ATSIC. There are, however, aspects of the report that are getting less coverage. It finds, for example, that ATSIC is often unfairly blamed for problems which are not under its jurisdiction. The well-documented Indigenous health crisis, for example, has worsened over the last decade, despite responsibility for Indigenous health services going back to the federal government in the mid 1990s. One shouldn't, however, let the facts get in the way of a good round of blame the victim. While ATSIC is receiving such negative publicity, it has been fairly easy for the press and the government to highlight all things wrong with Aboriginal Australia, and link them to ATSIC and its apparent failure. ATSIC, as a government-funded national bureaucracy, is not immune to corruption and other problems. Some of the problems might be the fault of individuals, or bad administration. But some of the problems might also have nothing to do with, for example, who is in the top job and what the journalists can find in their past if they dig deep enough. ATSIC has been around for 12 years, and in that time hasn't managed to undo the damage that more than 200 years of racism did. This is news? That will take time, money, and a real commitment from society and government on all levels. If ATSIC really is meant to solve all these problems, it needs more funding, more power, not less. But one organisation will never be able to fix systematic, institutionalised racism. The issues facing Aboriginal people are vast and complex. Simplistic scapegoating "solutions", such as taking away what little say Indigenous Australia has, will not address the cause of or solve the problems. ATSIC, as an elected Indigenous organisation, must be defended, not be replaced by a government-appointed group of public servants. Source: Green Left Weekly |
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