Pandemic priority

As I sit at my computer trying to write this post I am overcome. I plan on discussing AIDS and the global action/inaction to respond to a pandemic. I stare at the poster of Stephen Lewis that is hung up before me and I turn to the opening line of his book Race Against Time, "I have spent the last four years watching people die."

HIV Statistics	Total	Adult	Children
People with HIV/AIDS in 2004	39.4 millions	37.2 millions	2.2 millions
Newly infected people with HIV in 2004	4.9 millions	4.3 millions	0.64 millions
AIDS deaths in 2004	3.1 millions	2.6 millions	0.51 millions

When someone first develops AIDS it feels like a flu. However, there is also swelling in the glands of your neck and armpits. If you go to get tested you might not even test positive because it takes a while for it to appear in the blood stream.

I wish to avoid describing how AIDS is transmitted and what the syptoms are so I will direct you here for more information. I wish to focus on the global (specifically the Canadian) response to AIDS.

San Francisco studies show that in developed countries, without use of the latest therapies:

• 50% with HIV develop AIDS in ten years
• 70% with HIV develop AIDS in fourteen years
• Of those with AIDS, 94% are dead in five years

Total number of AIDS deaths between 1981 and the end of 2003: 20 million.

Number of children orphaned by AIDS living in Sub-Saharan Africa at the end of 2003: 12 million.

AIDS affects the lives of millions and millions go without treatment (1 in 10 people who are infected do not receive treatment).

Why the injustice? Money (or a lack thereof).

Prices taken from the Medecins Sans Frontieres Website

Price of AZT/3TC (Combivir, a drug taken twice a day)

- GlaxoSmithKline (proprietary company), special discount price: US$ 2 per day
- FarManguinhos (generic): US$0.96 per day (52% cheaper)

Price of Nevirapine (a drug that when given to both mother and child reduced the rate of HIV transmission by almost 50%)

- Boehringer Ingelheim (proprietary company): US$1.19 per day (3)
- FarManguinhos (generic): US$0.59 per day (50% cheaper)

Price of AZT (The first anti-HIV drug approved for use in the United States)

- GlaxoSmithKline (proprietary company): US$1.6 per day
- FarManguinhos (generic): US$0.09 per day (94% cheaper)

Price of 3TC: (It mimics a nucleoside base, which blocks further construction of the virus.)

- GlaxoSmithKline (proprietary company): US$0.64 per day
- FarManguinhos (generic): US$0.41 per day (36% cheaper)

With prices so cheap it's a wonder why nothing has been done. Stephen Lewis told CTV Newsnet that Canada continually falls short in implementing existing legislation for providing generic drugs to African countries, passed nearly three years ago.

"Not a single tablet has gone out from that day to this," he said. Only one in 10 Africans infected with HIV receives treatment.

Why is so little being done? Why is Canada waiting so long to take action? Thousands die every day and they do not have to suffer as much as they do.

Action Items:
- Get involved with your local AIDS committee to spread awareness and education in your community
- Get tested if you think you are at risk
- Write to your member of Parliament or the Canadian International Development Agency and tell them you want them to do more. Or you can write to Bev Oda again.

"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope."
- Martin Luther King Jr

We are just scratching the surface

With global warming issues on the rise, temperatures are skyrocketing and the bugs are staying out for much longer.

Here in North America our major concern comes from West Nile virus. No big deal though, slap on some bug spray, avoid dark colours, and get a new bug zapper.

Another major problem however, also stems from mosquitoes. Malaria is a disease that kills 3,000 children every day and more than one million each year. The majority of these deaths occur among children under five years of age and pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa.

Malaria is a major issue for people who live in Africa, Asia and sub-tropic Americas. A tiny mosquito ruins the lives of thousands when it releases a parasite that multiplies with the red blood cells, this usually happens in your liver.

Anti-malarials exist that do not cure the disease but provide sufficient treatment to lessen the effects. Instead of throwing up, having diarrhea, a fever, the chills, nausea, and potentially lapsing into a coma you will feel ill for 3-4 days. A friend once told me that having malaria "feels like you're going to die."

Anti-malarials can be quite costly. The Clinton Foundation has been working to reduce the cost of the drugs. "The foundation, along with UNITAIDS, a global organization that fights AIDS, has also reached a deal with pharmaceutical companies to decrease the cost of antiretroviral drugs for poor countries. Prices will drop from about $200 per person per year to $25 to $60." (http://philanthropy.com/news/philanthropytoday/2744/clinton-foundation-works-to-decrease-price-of-malaria-drugs)

The decrease in cost is amazing, especially considering that some people, such as Zambians, make only one thousand dollars a year and 86% live below the poverty line.

Generic pharmaceuticals are crucial in this fight against needless deaths. Patents prevent companies from producing cheaper versions of life saving medicines. Canada has passed many bills and laws about selling generic pharmaceuticals but very few pills have left the country. Direct funding for malaria by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has in fact fallen from $20 million in 2005 to $9 million in 2006. Economic adviser Jeffrey Sachs estimates that malaria can be controlled for US$3 billion in aid per year.

"Malaria causes lost income, missed school, lower harvests due to untended fields, and the depletion of family savings for medicines. In Africa alone, US$12 billion in lost productivity occurs annually, up to 1.3% of the continent's GDP." (http://www.results-resultats.ca/action/actions/2006/2006-07-en.aspx)

Malaria can be successively fought with insecticide treated bed nets. These bed nets cost 10 Canadian dollars and can save lives.

Something can be done. Actions are being taken. However, these actions are not numerous enough.

Action Items:
- Write to your Member of Parliament or email Bev Oda (Oda.B@parl.gc.ca), telling them you want Canada to increase its funding for anti-malarials
- go to Spreadthenet.org and donate ten dollars and save a life (Rick Mercer mentioned it in his blog)
- protect yourself from mosquito borne diseases by eliminating standing water, staying covered, using bed nets, and educating yourself about how diseases are spread by insects

"If you think you're too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito."
- Anita Roddick

A choice between haven and hell

I was recently a part of an anti-poverty panel at the University of Windsor. OPIRG was hosting it and had asked me to speak because of my experience with international development issues. I happily agreed and spend about 30-40 minutes in front of nine people (the biggest crowd all week) answering questions about fair trade, what the government needs to do, and comparing poverty in Canada to poverty in developing countries.

The woman sitting next to me spoke about her work in Chile but also about her experience as a homeless youth in Canada. I was struck. At the end of the presentation I asked her, "how did you become homeless?" Her reply was, "just like everyone else."

"Absolute homelessness refers to people living on the streets with no physical shelter, while relative homelessness refers to those who live in spaces that do not meet basic health and safety standards. The broad definition of homelessness includes those who live in sub-standard housing, or in overcrowded or undesirable conditions. For instance, a woman may live with an abusive man as the lesser of two evils, thereby avoiding being on the streets." (Taken from Share International)

Anyone can become homeless. An article in Maclean's stated that one in three homeless teens still attend high school. If these youth are not getting an education then breaking the cycle of homelessness will become increasingly difficult.

Immigrants, single parent families, ex-mental patients, and Natives are most likely to be thought of as homeless. However, more often women and children are found on the street as well. People are more susceptible to this than we think.

One thing that shocked me when I first went to Toronto was the sheer number of homeless people I saw. Living in Windsor it wasn't something I had really experienced. The summer I lived in Toronto one thing that always got to me was when I would see "the regular" homeless people on my nightly walks home from work.

What are some of the problems that cause homelessness?
A lack of schooling, illiteracy, job loss, job closures, family break ups, addictions, tax cuts, and a lack of long-term solutions from the government.

What are some things that don't help solve homelessness?
Inadequate low income housing, shelters turning away people because they don't have the capacity to maintain it, and having to pay first and last month's rent when it may have taken long enough to get that first month.

While homelessness seems to be more of an issue of hopelessness we must remember that there are actions, big and small, that need to be done.

One of the things that struck me most about the aforementioned panel was that I was explaining my reasons for helping out with poverty issues overseas instead of issues in Canada. But one person or organisation can't focus on everything and my passion and dedication lies with those who have fewer opportunities. I don't want to say that to be elitist or superior. I say this because I have compassion for my fellow people, not just my fellow Canadians.

I hope in reading this blog you'll find something that strikes a chord inside so that if you don't become a person of action you will at least become a more knowledgeable person.

Action Items
- volunteer at a homeless shelter or soup kitchen
- volunteer your time with an organisation like Habitat for Humanity
- support legislation/by-laws/laws that will protect homeless people, increase affordable housing, and promote long-term solutions
- vote

"How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong -- because someday you will have been all of these."

George Washington Carver

A thirst for knowledge

An important issue with poverty is health in relation to access to clean water and sanitation. Adequate sanitation is defined as someone who has access to a latrine (aka a toilet or contained area for human waste). This is something that 2.4 billion people lack.

When someone doesn't have clean water they will get sick. At this time they'll need medicine. However, they won't always have money for medicine as it may take away from money spent on food, education, or rent. Also, the sick person is working less and their family now has less income, And some families have up to six children. With less money they become more impoverished. It's quite the cycle.

With a complex problem like this there are many steps that need to be taken.

There are some organisations like WaterAid who focus on education and implementation. It's important that these projects involve all community members because a project is more likely to succeed if people are involved in all processes and know the risks and benefits of sanitation, not just of clean water.

One particular project at WaterAid is "community-led total sanitation." Their site describes the key to success as "convincing communities to take action themselves. Neighbouring communities then see the difference sanitation makes to village life and so the learning spreads. It can be provocative, and it's certainly not subtle, but it works." (Bold is mine.)

This technique is similar to participatory methods developed by Robert Chambers, such as participatory rural appraisal.

"Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) is a label given to a growing family of participatory approaches and methods that emphasize local knowledge and enable local people to make their own appraisal, analysis, and plans. PRA uses group animation and exercises to facilitate information sharing, analysis, and action among stakeholders. Although originally developed for use in rural areas, PRA has been employed successfully in a variety of settings. The purpose of PRA is to enable development practitioners, government officials, and local people to work together to plan contextappropriate programs."

To see a slideshow of WaterAid's project click here.

If you want a good read (and some great pictures) about a WaterAid project read Trevor Freeman's blog. Trevor is a U of Windsor grad working in Zambia as a volunteer with Engineers Without Borders.

Action Items (what you can do)
- watch your water consumption, don't be wasteful
- fix leaky taps
- turn off the water when you brush your teeth or shave
- get involved volunteering for an organisation that works with Water and Sanitation projects
- tell your friends what you learned and spread the knowledge


"Man - despite his artistic pretensions, his sophistication, and his many accomplishments - owes his existence to a six inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains."
- Unknown author

One, Two, Three...

By the time you finish reading this sentence two people will have died from preventable, poverty related issues.

Malaria, tuberculosis, diarrhea, starvation, unclean water, or the measles. Diseases that are no longer issues in North America or Western Europe because of millions of dollars in research and vaccines. But issues that are matters of life and death in developing countries. And there are a lot more developing countries than you thought.

So why should you care? Because Bono said so?

Not exactly.

Because 1.2 billion people live on less than one dollar a day? (less than a price of a cup of coffee)
Because 2.4 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation? (and you thought the school bathrooms were gross)
Because 77 million children are not in school? (do you still want to skip class?)

You're getting warmer...

These are people, like anyone else anywhere else, who are dying when they do not have to.
It does not matter that we are that we're Canadian.
It does not matter that they're from another country.
It does not matter that we have our own problems.

I have a passion for people.
I have the potential for change.
I have opportunities.
I have more money than half the people in the world.
I have no good reason to say "no" and let apathy be sufficient.

This is not about rants, anarchy or charity. This is about injustice and the ability (and will) to act. Join me as I highlight some global poverty issues and the people who are trying to make a change.


"Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is human-made, and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings."
- Nelson Mandela