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‘In most cases, the top brass knew what was going on'
With the cold-blooded murder of Right to Information (RTI) activist Amit Jethwa near the Gujarat High Court in Ahmedabad last Tuesday, the number of whistleblowers killed this year alone has gone up to eight. The Congress-ruled Maharashtra tops the list with four killings, followed by the BJP-ruled Gujarat with two.
The murdered RTI activists were: Datta Patil of Kolhapur (Maharashtra), killed on May 31; Vitthal Gite of Beed district, Maharashtra, on April 21; Sola Ranga Rao of Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh, on April 11; Arun Sawant of Badlapur, Maharashtra, on February 26; Shashidhar Mishra of Begusarai, Bihar, on February 14; Vishram Laxman Dodiya of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on February 11; and Satish Shetty of Pune, Maharashtra, killed on January 13.
Eyewash: RTI activist Krishnaraja Rao said that after every murder the respective State Government gave a standard reply: “Matter is under investigation. We will find the culprits.” He alleged that this is nothing but eyewash. In most cases, the top brass knew exactly what was going on.

NEW YORK — Demaris Muthoni weighed the same at 4 years old as when she was born. When Jane Kinuthia found her, huddled beside a shack in the red light district of Gilgil, Kenya, Muthoni weighed 10 pounds. “In all my years in Gilgil, I had never seen anything like this,” said Jane Kinuthia, who owned a cafe in the area of the Rift Valley, northwest of Nairobi, before she became a child's rights activist.
Muthoni's parents died of AIDS, leaving her to pass the time along the dingy streets of her neighborhood while her 17-year-old aunt and caregiver worked as a prostitute, to bring in about a dollar a client.
That was three years ago. Today, Muthoni is a robust schoolgirl who lives in an orphanage on the other side of town. She has thrived, thanks to a nutrition and education program founded by Kinuthia along with two other women, one a nurse and the other a social worker.

According to Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, the vast majority of countries in the Middle East and North Africa region score very poorly to various degrees. The often oppressive and hostile policies towards activists and organizations that are involved with civil society and governance (including those that promote transparency and accountability) and the mediocre integration of technology in governance, administration, and everyday life in general have resulted in a negligible use of available technologies and the tools and platforms they provide to promote accountability and institutional integrity.

It's time, once again, to speak-up for the Global Fund's replenishment, with the Donors conference come soon to London. Every couple of years, a few health advocates try to influence half a dozen rich governments to increase their support for the GF's continued good work, an excellent model of efficiency among international institutions. As before, the lives of 50 million people struggling today to survive the pandemics of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria are in the hands of a small number of professional health advocates and a few government officials. This practice of lobbying has previously succeeded in finding ways forward to increase the Global Fund's capacity each year to make grants, and to save lives. But this time, the cozy consensus behind closed doors approach is not working - donors are indicating that 'scale-up' is not on the agenda, and that far fewer funds must be used far more effectively. Although we agree with the call for more efficiency and accountability, we recognize, clearly, that the Fund needs its funds, in full.

There are probably more than ten million people who today, just another Thursday, have received their lifesaving treatment, and tens of millions of their family members who see tonight how access to appropriate care keeps their loved ones alive, and in better shape for tomorrow. Furthermore, there are surely many millions of clinicians, nurses and health workers, technicians, consultants, communications and PR specialists, advocates, researchers, pharmaceutical and medical product workers, NGO employees, procurement and shipping agents, ambulance drivers, accountants, and public health managers, to name a few, who make their living through funding that comes from Global Fund programs.

After months of stalling, the World Health Organization (WHO) has finally revealed the names of key pandemic advisors who influenced its decision to declare a phase six pandemic last year -- a decision that resulted in a financial windfall for vaccine manufacturers. As you'll see here, that list includes at least five expert advisors received money from vaccine companies.
Here's who received money from Big Pharma and then influenced the WHO decision to declare a pandemic:

On 6 May 2010, Wan Yanhai, one of China’s most prominent HIV/AIDS activists, fled China to the United States. For over 20 years Wan has been campaigning for the rights of people with HIV/AIDS and other vulnerable groups that are stigmatised and discriminated against. Operating under constant harassment, intimidation and threat of violence from authorities, Wan and the organisation he directed, the Beijing Aizhixing Institute, worked fearlessly to raise national and international awareness about HIV/AIDS in China and combat the discrimination, inequality and human rights abuse that those associated with HIV/AIDS suffer. Since 2007 Wan has cooperated with ERT. He took part in the making of the Declaration of Principles on Equality and is among its original signatories. Here we publish the testimony he provided to ERT about the experience which forced him to flee his home.

Guatemala: An analysis of Obstacles to Universal Access:  Hundreds of PLWA Fall Between the Cracks Each Month, by Lidice Lopez-Tocon* and Richard Stern**, Central America Access Project, Volume 1,#2, 15.O8.10
This is the first of two articles which describe the situation of ARVT access in Guatemala. The second will  focus drug procurement processes, prices, and other related topics.
The response to the HIV epidemic in Guatemala has grown considerably over the past five years. This is not just about national efforts, but also  international assistance, particularly The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria; The response during that period has increased both prevention efforts and medical attention to PLWA . Nonetheless, current data shows the response has yet to reach the required level for halting the spread of the epidemic, particularly in terms of delivering antiretrovirals and comprehensive health care.

Interesting article that shows another way of how Freedom of Information can be beneficial for public health. Sadly, this is just in Europe but maybe one day Freedom of Information will be the norm everywhere.
- BRUSSELS – 11 / 8 / 2010 – Side-effects of medicines? So far a secret on European level, but now soon to be public thanks to a successful wob-request. Important Ombudsman argument on basic right to information, definition of documents and proportional work-load.
Your teenager is embarrassed about pimples. A certain pill is advised for help. But what if exactly the same pill causes your child to be depressive, even suicidal? Would you want to know? Should the public know?

Why is promising a right to food more politically appealing than delivering that food? In India, the system that delivers subsidized food and fuel to the nation’s poor is badly broken. Many people who are supposed to receive the subsidized fuel and bags of grain do not, and “studies show that 70 percent of a roughly $12 billion budget is wasted, stolen, or absorbed by bureaucratic and transportation costs.” This is according to a recent NYT article by Jim Yardley, which frames the current debate about what should be done as a struggle within the ruling Indian National Congress Party between Sonia Gandhi and her “left-leaning social allies” on one side, and “many economists and market advocates” on the other.

It is time again to give an update where the campaign has gone since the beginning of this year.
- Kenya joined the campaign, carried it out in three sites in the country, and is now finalizing the report.
- Djibouti has sent a plan and has not yet been funded since the campaign has been stopped since May, because we are carrying out an evaluation of it. Questionnaires were sent to 20+ countries that have been involved; we got a good response rate and the global secretariat is now carrying out a follow up phone interview with respondents. Preliminary results will be presented at the PHM Steering Committee meeting in Colombo on August 18 and 19. We expect the evaluation to be finished by September and the new directions for the campaign be made public through the phm-exchange by then.
- Togo got funding to hold its workshop to present the assessment results and prepare an action plan; they have not yet reported on it; they report not having been very active this year, but looking to revitalize things. - Cameroun has sent a plan for the same workshop and has reworked its budget for that; they are waiting for their funding to be released by the global secretariat. Benin has promised a plan for the same type of workshop and was waiting for elections to be over. India continues to successfully carry out a community based monitoring of the RTH in several states. Guatemala has completed the assessment and we have received a preliminary report. Bolivia completed the campaign and has just sent in the final report; we just gave them feedback; they will make a national publication of the 74 pp report. The DRC and Congo still owe us a final revised report after long delays**. Mali has not reported on progress despite several emails. We have now uploaded 7 campaign reports in the PHM website (Benin, Uruguay, Zimbabwe, UK, Togo, Burkina, Cameroun); the Bolivian one will be uploaded shortly.