Monday, April 09, 2007

Save children from suffocation

Following my talk in Swedish radio news on how to avaoid child deaths in pneumonia I get requests on where to donate. What is needed is steady funding over many year so that poor families get access to diagnosis and antibiotics. I judge that UNICEF is most competent to provide long-term support for child survival. The reason is good track record, that the present Director Ann Veneman understands how health service system in low income countries need long term support and that UNICEF base their policy on best available research. To save children now donate to http://www.unicef.se/stod_oss/ge_en_gava_har/ if not in Sweden look up UNICEF in your country. To support research for better care for infections of the poor donate to World Infections Fund http://www.vif.se/mallar/donatewwallit.aspx?SidID=10186 . Keep donating regularly to a good cause, and learn about progress and challanges. The underfunded needs are the continious majora challanges for poor families; pneumonia, malaria and diarrhea, education and the daily bread, i.e. agriculture in rula areas and job in urban areas. Water and sanitation also get less attention than emergency relief and HIV; the two worthy causes that presently receives almost sufficient funding.

Perestroika in the Soviet Republic of Texas!

Cotton farmers in Texas earn their wealth from Soviet-like government subsidies. The annual 4 billion US dollar tax subsides to 25 000 US cotton farmers are of concern for global health! The reason being that this obstacle to free trade kill so many children.
1. Subsidies hamper economic growth in cotton producing west African countries. This keeps millions of hardworking farmers in poverty and hinder them to care well for their children. http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/trade/bp30_cotton.htm
2. If only parts of the 4 tax billions were re-directed tovAnn Venneman at UNICEF, she can avoid 600,000 child deaths from pneumonia by using 0.6 billion USD to provide care and antibiotics. http://www.unicef.org/childsurvival/index_35937.html
3. The soviet cotton economy of Texas is a major obstacle for successful agreements on free world trade. And a fair global trade system will save thelives of so many children’s .
http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/sppl_e/sppl57_e.htm

The world is waiting for a US president with the guts to implement a cotton Perestroika in Texas!