At this week’s AU Summit in Kampala, the Heads of State spoke about maternal and child health during the plenary session, reflecting the theme of the 15th Summit, which was “Maternal, Infant and Child Health and Development in Africa.” I was particularly impressed by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s comments on the subject. He began by urging partners to put “their money where their mouth is” and expand resources to reach the health-related Millennium Development Goals. He pointed out that there is an unfair distribution of limited health resources, and that women get “the short end of the stick.” He suggested that in order to improve maternal and child health, countries should focus on strengthening primary health systems and sponsoring interventions with a “big bang for the buck.” Continue reading
Tag Archives: Uganda
Reshaping the African Health Agenda with Innovative Leadership and Country-Driven Programs
Melvin P. Foote
27 July 2010
OPINION
Washington, DC — This week Uganda is hosting the AU Heads of State Summit, with a focus on “Maternal, Infant and Child Health and Development in Africa.” At a time when most health news showcases the efforts of major western donors like the Gates Foundation, the AU Summit shows African leaders’ commitment to developing priorities and programs that strengthen both national and regional health systems. Continue reading
Maximizing Capital Flows to Africa: Some brief comments on sovereign bonds, hedging instruments, private equity and carbon finance
More African countries than ever have entered the international financial system through the international bond market in 2009/10. Whereas before only countries like South Africa had credit ratings sufficient to enter, now places like Tanzania and Togo are considering how best to enter. Continue reading
World Bank: 50 Things You Didn’t Know About Africa
Selected statistics from the World Bank’s Regional Brief on Africa:
7. Between 1990 and 1999 PPP GDP per capita growth was 15 percent ($1,158.9 to $1,327.8) for Sub-Saharan Africa; in between 2000 and 2008 it was 54 percent ($1,372.9 to $2,113.9).
8. Exports rose from $319.0 billion in 2007 to $413.7 billion in 2008, a 29.7 percent rise; conversely, imports rose less than exports, from $305.3 billion in 2007 to $372.1 billion in 2008, a 21.8 percent rise. Continue reading
Uganda Update Fall 2009
In this issue:
- World Bank president hails Uganda as a leader in regional integration
- Reforestation project targets global warming
- Farming program lets thousands return home
- Trade capacity programme opens way the exporters
- MTN Uganda to invest $100 million in upgrades
- UWA turns to social media to save gorillas
- Nile Breweries to double capacity at new plant Continue reading
Congress Daily – Reaction to McDermott Bill Harsh, Muted
By Peter Cohn
Congress Daily
November 20, 2009
African nations and domestic textile interests wasted no time slamming the first serious legislative attempt in the 111th Congress to overhaul U.S. trade preferences, while Bangladesh, a key player on the opposite side of the debate, was lukewarm. Continue reading
UNCTAD Reports $88 Billion Foreign Investment in Africa in 2008
The United Nations Conference on Trade Development (UNCTAD) released its World Investment Report 2009 on September 17, subtitled “Transnational Corporations, Agricultural Production and Development.” The Report finds substantial decreases in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) around the globe due to the recession, but shows impressive pre-recession FDI growth in Africa in 2008 that positions the continent to be a strong investment destination once global economies begin to recover. Continue reading
Nuclear Power for Energy Security in Africa
by Adanma Osakwe
Due to crippling energy shortages and power blackouts in homes and businesses, African nations are facing the question of energy security. As a result, an increasing number of African countries are taking an interest in the development of nuclear power energy. Continue reading
Africa Health News July-August 2009
- African Institutions to Lead Global Health Consortia
- Wyeth Launches Final Trial of Drug to Prevent Blindness
- International Network Established to Combat Malaria Resistance
- Malaria Vaccine One Step Closer
- Rockefeller Foundation Unveils Groundbreaking Initiative to Improve Health in Africa and Asia
- Ethiopian Health Minister to Chair Global Fund Board
- Global Business Coalition Announces 2009 Awards for Business Excellence
- Dr. Sam Zaramba, Director General of Health Services, Uganda — a Leader in Health Continue reading
Buy Local in Africa
By Meg Dallett
According to a recent GAO report on US food aid, Congressional restrictions on that aid make it much more costly and time-consuming to get the food to the people who need it. Currently, the government buys most of the food from heavily-subsidized US farmers and then transports it to the developing world to distribute it-it’s not hard to see that this is pretty inefficient. Not only do our subsidies distort the global market for major crops by keeping prices low enough that African farmers struggle to make a living, we then put many of the remaining farmers out of business by giving our excess crops to their neighbors, the only potential customers they have. Furthermore, the GAO’s results now show that in addition to all this, we’re getting less food aid for our money and it takes longer to get to the developing world. Instead, we ought to be buying food aid directly from those farmers in Africa. Continue reading
Focus on Food Security
Last week, the US announced that the G8 countries would contribute $15 billion over the next three years to help the world’s poorest farmers grow enough food to feed themselves. The initiative marks a new approach to hunger alleviation for the US government – instead of sending food grown in the US to the developing world, the US and the G8 will invest in agricultural inputs like seed and fertilizer and devote funding to research new plant varieties. Continue reading
Uganda Update Spring 2009
In this issue:
- Uganda set to be among Africa’s strongest economies in 2009
- Uganda secures African Development Bank funding to improve local markets
- MTN Uganda launches mobile money transfer service
- Computer education initiative wins Intel award
- Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa launches African Seed Investment Fund
- GroFin to invest $20 million to support small businesses
- Uganda poised to become business outsourcing hub Continue reading
Trade-Led Growth and Development, Even in a Recession
By Meg Dallett
Amidst the omnipresent news stories about countries and industries suffering in the global economic crisis, there’s good news coming out of East Africa: according to the African Development Bank’s African Economic Outlook 2009, growth for the region is expected to be about 5.5% for this year. This is much, much better than almost every other region in the world is expected to do. Continue reading
Ugandan Economy to be among Africa’s Strongest in 2009
Coffee is Uganda's top export, earning $348 million in 2008.
Uganda’s economy is expected to be among Africa’s strongest in 2009 with a growth rate of around 6% thanks largely to strong regional trade and continued demand for its agricultural exports, according to the African Economic Outlook 2009, published in May by the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). Continue reading
African Finance Officials Outline Strategy to Weather Global Economic Crisis
Tanzanian Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs, Mr. Mustafa Mkulo
African Finance Ministers and central bankers in Washington last week for the spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were cautiously optimistic that with careful fiscal policies at home and support from multilateral institutions and international donors, many African countries will be able to weather the global economic downturn and even emerge from it stronger than before. Continue reading
Multimodal Technologies for Africa
As new social phenomena, like Twitter, combine one technogical platform (SMS – short message service) with another (the internet), the feasibility of communicating has increased. This has particular relevance for Africa, which has the world’s most dense cell phone usage. (With three out of every four people using cellular numbers as their primary number, cellular numbers in Africa are the closest thing to national ID numbers in most countries). And, as the highly anticipated fiber optic cable in East Africa comes online, Africa will be well-equipped to advance these multimodal technologies. Continue reading
African Health Delegation Presents Leadership Award to Carter Center at Capitol Hill Reception Hosted by Global Health Progress and ONE
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A delegation of senior health officials from 11 African countries and the African Union presented a leadership award on April 22, 2009, to President Jimmy Carter and The Carter Center for their work over the past 25 years in combating neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in Africa. The delegation was in Washington to promote public-private partnerships in health and to directly advocate for continued US support and funding for African health initiatives. Continue reading
Foreign Aid: Time to Start Listening
Jeff Sachs has a great op-ed in the New York Times this week about President Obama’s ambitious plan to double financial support to promote agricultural growth in developing countries. The African countries to receive the bulk of this money are Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Malawi. Continue reading
Powering Africa
By Meg Dallett
It’s no surprise that Africa’s chronic power supply problem is bad for business. The World Bank has started adding up just how bad it is, though, and the results are staggering-Uganda alone loses $50 million annually from distribution and transmission problems on its electrical grid. Continue reading
Washington Celebrates Rosa Whitaker & Her Company on Capitol Hill
Just hours before President Barack Obama addressed a joint meeting of Congress on February 24 to publicly disclose details of his economic rescue plan, U.S. Congressional leaders, representatives of African Embassies, World Bank President Robert Zoellick and American business, policy and nongovernmental organization leaders gathered on Capitol Hill to pay tribute to Rosa Whitaker on her birthday and the sixth anniversary of The Whitaker Group (TWG), the company she founded in 2003. More than 150 people, including distinguished American and African political and business leaders, paid tribute to TWG for driving more than $1 billion in trade, investment and revenue streams to Africa during the past six years. Continue reading
