News

Over a third of Yemenese are now food insecure. The problem is worst in rural areas, where most meals consist in just tea and bread, and 62.1% of children are stunted due to malnutrition.

Several explanations have been offered for Yemenese food insecurity: the decline in grain production due to internal conflict; decreasing water resources (Yemen has a “per capita water consumption of about 125 cubic metres a year, against a global average of 7,500 cubic metres”); high fertility rates (6.7 in rural areas); poor education and, perhaps most staggeringly:

…the increased cultivation of ‘qat’ [also written as ‘khat’-GWWC], a mildly narcotic, water-thirsty plant chewed by many Yemenis... 70 percent of Yemen’s arable land is used for growing ‘qat’, while the country “annually imports 2.5 million tons of wheat”

See here for the very interesting report from IRIN.

IRIN have produced an excellent article summarising recent changes in our understanding of global health.

It highlights some unexpected findings. For example, “lifestyle” diseases (those due to tobacco, alcohol intake, physical inactivity, poorly balanced diet etc) are causing far more deaths in developing than developed countries. The number of people expected to die from diabetes this year is twice the number that died from AIDs in 2008. In addition, rapid testing for malaria is revealing that its prevalence, though great, is far less than expected:

After the Senegalese government started using rapid diagnostic tests in September 2007, the number of reported malaria cases decreased from 1.5 million in 2007 to 174,339 in 2009. Only one-third of the fevers suspected to be malaria in 2009 turned out to be so. 

The whole article is very worth reading, and contains lots more important information. Please find it here.

On 1st July, the IMF agreed to a $12.3bn debt relief package for the Democratic Republic of Congo. The package could reduce the DRC’s debt by 90%; the Democratic Republic of Congo currently pays $300m each year in debt relief. The debt relief package was offered because:

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank said the country had made good efforts to reform its economy and governance in recent years. -BBC

The DRC has, however, suffered continued violence and poor governance since the official end of the Congo War (in which 5m people died) in 2003. The BBC reports that:

…[T]he deal was opposed by representatives from Canada and Switzerland, who voiced concerns about governance reform… But on Thursday the international finance organisations voted the measures through, with Canada and Switzerland abstaining.

See here for the full BBC article.

Relief Web has lots of really good information on the DRC here.

IRIN has reported that, for the first time in half a century, fewer than 10,000 cases of sleeping sickness were reported in 2009. The fall is attributed to increased screening and partnerships with drugs companies. The 9,877 cases reported in 2009 compare with 17,600 in 2004 and 38,000 in 1998.

Though 72 percent more people were tested from 2000-2009 than during the previous decade, scientists say lack of low-tech, rapid testing and safe drugs has prevented the elimination of the disease. The highest number of cases were reported in Democratic Republic of Congo (80 percent), followed by Central African Republic (11 percent).

See here for the full article.

Bill and Melinda Gates, along with Warren Buffet, are encouraging America’s super-rich to give 50% of their net worth over their lifetimes.

The Forbes 400 richest people in the US are the campaign’s first targets. Their combined net worth of $1.2 trillion, so that $600 billion would be raised by each giving 50%. This sum would be a hugely significant driver of development; to put the it into context, the GDP of Switzerland in 2008 was just under $500 billion, and that of Malawi was under $4.3 billion.

Warren Buffet (the world’s third richest person, and Gates comes in second) has been the first to make the “Giving Pledge”. He has pledged to give away 99% of his life’s net worth (see here for his pledge). The Gateses and Buffet hope that other billionaires will also be encouraged to give more than 50%. This figure was set as a ‘low bar’ to encourage greater participation. And a Forbes article reports that:

Already committed to at least a 50% pledge are the Broads, the Doerrs, the Lenfests, and the Morgridges… [M]oreover, the three principals [the Gateses and Buffet] will send e-mails and make calls to other billionaires judged likely prospects. A bit later, all of the pledgers may join in sending a letter to a large number of other billionaires, asking them to join the growing crowd. In the fall there may even be a Great Givers conference.

It is unclear how far the Gateses and Buffet will encourage philanthropy to be directed to the most cost-effective charities. Gates himself is passionate about cost-effective giving, and we hope his commitment here will help to shape the campaign.

See here for the full Forbes article.

In rural Chad, “cattle are currency, the down-payment on ceremonies, a savings plan during sickness and emergency food in lean times”. But recent severe drought there has caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of these cattle, and approximately a third of livestock overall.

One farmer, who lost 70 of his 100 cows in 2009, explained, “There used to be trees the animals could rest under; now there is no more shade… I live from these animals.”

The government has begun planting a 40km belt of trees to hold back the desert (many cattle deaths are attributable to the increasing lack of shade as trees wither in the drought), and the UN will be distributing 615 tonnes of food for 45,000 animals. 45,000 is, however, a tiny proportion, given that 780,000 cattle (worth $460m) died in 2009 alone.

See here for the full IRIN article.

Andrew Mitchell is the new secretary of state for International Development. He has affirmed the government’s commitment to increase aid spending to 0.7% of GDP by 2013 (a target initially set by Labour). Mitchell has highlighted maternal and infant mortality, women’s empowerment and combating malaria as key priorities. Mitchell also wants the private sector to play a far greater role in development projects.

Mitchell has also, promisingly, stressed the importance of accountability, transparency and value for money. In an opening speech, he stated, “British aid pays for 5 million children in developing countries to go to school every day. That’s roughly the same number as go to primary school in Britain, yet it costs only 2.5% of what we spend here. That is real value for money.” An independent aid watchdog is to be set up, £100 million is to be diverted from less to more cost-effective projects, and a UKAid Transparency Guide will aim to ensure DFID publishes accessible, detailed information about its aid spending.

Aid agencies are generally supportive of these changes. There is some worry, however, about Mitchell’s ‘coherence agenda’, which may involve more aid money being spent by the Foreign Office on military-humanitarian projects such as those in Afghanistan. Patrick Watt from Save the Children commented, “We’d be concerned by any long-term trend in reduction of overseas development aid going to DFID. We’ve seen this taken to an extreme in the US where one-third of USAID money goes through the State Department or Pentagon.” Kathleen Chapman from Oxfam added, “We’ll push for the government to avoid militarizing aid,” said Chapman. “The top message needs to be that aid is focused on people who most need it.”

There’s a very good IRIN article about the outlook for UK aid here, while DFID has its own short article, and video of Mitchell’s speech, here.

The Irin website contains this video bank. Some of their short films provide an excellent, brief, insight into important issues in development, so do check them out if you’re interested.

TED online have recently posted this interesting video, in which Esther Duflo discusses the role of social experiments in fighting poverty.

And if such things interest you, the GWWC website also highlights some excellent essays, books and videos on the subject of development, just here.

Toby and Will will be giving a presentation on the most effective ways to combat poverty after tomorrow’s  “1.4 Billion Ways” presentation.

The presentation is run by Global Poverty Project and has been seen by thousands of people all across the world. It’s meant to be extremely powerful, and we hope Giving What We Can’s message will complement its call to action. If you’d like to see the presentation, it’s at 7:30pm on Tuesday May 4th (tomorrow) in Exeter’s Saskatchewan Room. You need to visit this link:

http://www.globalpovertyproject.com/events/attend/203

to let them know you’re coming, so they can keep track of numbers.

We hope you enjoy the talk! Best wishes,

GWWC