In The News

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Paul Kennedy August 6, 2004
One of the worst blows to the fragile system of international law happened recently, writes Yale professor and international security expert Paul Kennedy, and it made no headlines. On June 2, Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan murdered five members of the Nobel Prize winning organization, Doctors Without Borders. The atrocity prompted the withdrawal of remaining volunteers, ending 24 years of aid...

'Bad Press' Causing Headaches for Beijing

Paul Mooney July 22, 2004
Although SARS may have served as a wake-up call to China's leaders on the importance of free speech and openness, over the past year and a half Beijing seems to have been backsliding. Writing from Beijing, Paul Mooney notes that one newspaper was shut down in March 2003 for criticizing Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Jiang Zemin for being autocratic. Another paper's editors were...

Retro-Virals: Major Pact for Cheap Drugs

Arthit Khwankhom July 14, 2004
Thailand, Brazil, China, the Russian Federation, Nigeria and the Ukraine have signed a pact at the 15th International Aids Conference in Bangkok to cooperate in the production of generic drugs, lend mutual support in the improvement of respective health sectors, and pursue further research and development on HIV/AIDS drugs. This group of countries, all of whom have large populations of AIDS...

International AIDS Conference: Prime Minister Heckled at Opening

Phermsak Lilakul July 12, 2004
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was accused of being a liar when he pledged equal medical access for AIDS patients at the 15th International Aids Conference in Thailand. Controversy at the opening ceremonies centered around the Prime minister’s three-month-long, all-out war on drugs last year that resulted in the questionable deaths of more than 2,500 people. In Thailand, intravenous...

In Africa, an Exodus of Nurses

Celia W. Dugger July 12, 2004
Thousands of African nurses have migrated in recent years due to a combination of low pay and difficult working conditions in Africa and increased demand in developed countries with aging populations. Unfortunately, the exodus of African nurses has further deteriorated the already low quality of African health care systems that are strapped by insufficient funding and an AIDS epidemic. African...

Fags and Fiction

Alison Benjamin July 8, 2004
US tobacco company Phillip Morris is trying to be more socially responsible by decreasing the health risks of its product and discouraging underage smoking. Though the fact that much of Phillip Morris’ tobacco is grown in the Third World makes it a candidate for classification as a fair-trade good, the Fairtrade Labelling Organisation has no current plans to consider the market and is instead...

China Seeks Low-Cost Drugs for AIDS Patients

Jason Leow June 30, 2004
HIV-AIDS in China has now infected almost a million people, according to official statistics. With at least 80,000 suffering from full-blown AIDS, the Chinese government is trying to find cheaper ways to treat them. Patented drugs from global pharmaceutical companies can cost up to 40,000 yuan a year – many times the average annual income in China. Under the rules of the World Trade...