In The News

Merck Seeks Wider Coalition on Aids

James Lamont September 12, 2002
US pharmaceutical Merck is following in the foot steps of other multi-national corporations like Anglo-American and DeBeers, who have decided to provide anti-retroviral drugs used to combat HIV/Aids to their workers. While Merck has partnered with Botswana and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to provide treatment, the company’s chief executive is calling for a “larger coalition” of UN...

Between Famine and Politics, Zambians Starve

Henri E. Cauvin August 30, 2002
The debate over the use of genetically modified foods in the developing world has reached a critical point of urgency – life or death. While 14,000 tons of corn meal sit untouched in Zambian warehouses, lodged between political and economic concerns, millions starve daily. The President of Zambia, Levy Mwanawasa, fears that the influx of GM corn will cause mutations in corn grown in the region...

Brussels Refuses to Back GM Food For Africa

James Lamont August 22, 2002
As globalization extends its reach, the use of technology becomes an issue that affects both advanced and developing nations. The United States has been supplying southern African countries with genetically modified (GM) crops as famine relief. But some NGO’s believe that the US is trying to use southern Africa’s poverty to push for global acceptance of genetically modified food. Although the WHO...

War On ‘Blood’ Diamonds Ramped Up

Ursula Owre Masterson August 21, 2002
Civil war has ravaged countries like Sierra Leone and Angola for decades. These conflicts, as much about money as about politics, often center around one of the African continent’s most precious resources: diamonds. Rebel groups often sell the gems to developed countries and use the profits to fund their fighting. After years of benefiting from the cheaper stones, Western governments, led by...

Mining Company to Offer H.I.V. Drugs to Employees

Henri E. Cauvin August 7, 2002
AIDS has had a devastating impact on the mining industry in southern Africa. Anglo American P.L.C. estimates that 28 percent of its workers are afflicted, and after months of indecision, the company has finally decided to provide them with antiretroviral drugs. This is a significant step in the fight against AIDS; the influence of a major company may provoke governments in Botswana and South...

Aids to slash South African savings funds

James Lamont August 5, 2002
The Aids crisis in South Africa is presenting new challenges to the pension fund industry. As death rates increase – life expectancy for males is expected to fall to age 38 by 2010 – the costs of death benefits and taxes will halve many pension funds. These predictions have led some portfolio managers to limit contributions to death benefits. South African companies still don’t see Aids as...

To Fuel the Mideast’s Grills, Somalia Smolders

Marc Lacey July 25, 2002
When a bag of charcoal fetches US$10 in the Middle East, and a full ship’s worth is valued at US$1 million, there is no wonder that charcoal is called Somalia’s “black gold.” But what might be good for individual citizens living in a war-torn county is hardly good for the country and its environment. The U.N. estimates that forestation in Somalia has shrunk from 14% of the land to 4% in a decade...