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Getting Closer to the Finish Line on Polio

April 12, 2013 by Mark Leon Goldberg

Ed note. This is a special guest post from Ramesh Ferris,  a polio survivor, a Rotarian, and author of the book Better Than a Cure, One Man’s Journey to Free the World of Polio. @rameshferris. 

Five years ago today I sat excitedly on my 27-speed hand-cycle, about to embark on one of the most challenging physical, mental and emotional journeys of my life. On April 12, 2008, the Cycle to Walk dream became a reality. I pushed off from mile zero of the trans-Canada highway in Victoria, British Columbia, destined for Cape Spear Newfoundland and Labrador, 7140 km away. As a polio survivor who lost use of his legs as a small child, my dream was to hand-cycle across Canada and wake up our global community to the fight against the horrible but preventable disease.

Cycle to Walk took me 174 days across Canada, where I had the honour of speaking about polio and polio vaccines to thousands of Canadians in public schools, universities, Rotary clubs and churches.  I saw Canadians open their hearts, doors and wallets. People’s generosity spanned from providing meals and places to stay for the enroute team, to donating to their Rotary Clubs to support polio eradication efforts, to telling friends that they should get their children vaccinated. People came to the sides of the roads showing their support for a polio-free world. I even saw my own Government of Canada increase funding for polio eradication in Afghanistan.

Today, the progress being achieved against polio is amazing. India is officially off the polio endemic list because of the will and determination of its people to reach all children with life-saving vaccines. Leaders in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria, the three countries where polio remains endemic, have launched emergency polio action plans. There have been increased funding commitments and new partnerships involving the private and public sectors. Rotarians worldwide, 1.3 million strong, continue to make polio eradication their number one priority A new wave of global citizens and polio eradication champions has been born from the great work of the Global Poverty Project and its End of Polio Campaign.

I’ve always believed that eradicating polio is possible if we truly put our minds to achieving the goal. This week, I was heartened to learn that more than 400 leading scientists, hailing from 75 countries, agree. They issued the Scientific Declaration on Polio Eradication,calling on the world to seize the historic opportunity to end the disease for all time. The world is closer than ever to stopping polio, thanks to two effective vaccines and new efforts to deliver them to all children at risk.

We have much to be thankful this April 12, as we are more than 99.% of the way to seeing the end of polio. But it’s not yet time to celebrate. We must put our energy into finishing this disease forever!

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Not on A-1: How UNICEF Fights Malnutrition in Chad (Video)

by Mark Leon Goldberg

Chad ranks at the the near bottom of every social and economic indicator.  The landlocked country is in a hostile environment, literally and politically. Frequent droughts and persistant political instability make for a dangerous, and deadly, combination for the country’s children.

Fighting hunger in the first 1,000 days of life is key. If children do not receive proper nutrion in the first few years of life they can suffer from cognitive and physical impairments that can last their entire lives.

Here’s a great video that shows in pretty fine detail how to address under nutrition in young children. Even in places as tough as Chad, interventions by international humanitarian groups are making a difference

 

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Top of the Morning: G8 Fights Rape in War; It Gets Better, Uruguay Edition; New Food Security Index

by Mark Leon Goldberg

Top stories from DAWNS Digest

G8 Reaches Landmark Agreement to Fight Rape as a Weapon of War

A London meeting of foreign ministers from the G8 took some concrete steps to end this global scourge of war. “G8 states had agreed on six major steps to tackle the culture of impunity…including nearly $35.5 million (£23 million) in new funding from the G8 for the issue, including more than £10 million from Britain. Declaring war-time rape a breach of the Geneva Conventions–also known as the laws of war–gives G8 nations the responsibility to seek out and prosecute perpetrators regardless of their nationality and wherever they are in the world. The United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia will also back an international protocol setting out ideal standards for investigating rape and sexual violence.” (AlertNet http://bit.ly/10X3rVq)

Why this is so necessary: Truly harrowing reporting from Minova, DRC–the site of a mass rape in November. (Guardian http://bit.ly/16Qa0OM)

It Gets Better, Uruguay Edition

Uruguay became the second Latin American country (After Argentina) to legalize gay marriage. “The ‘marriage equality project,’ as it is called, was already approved by ample majorities in both legislative houses, but senators made some changes that required a final vote by the deputies. Among them: Gay and lesbian foreigners will now be allowed to come to Uruguay to marry, just as heterosexual couples can.” (FoxNews http://bit.ly/10X0lRu)

New Index Ranks 45 Countries on Their Commitments to Food Security

Guatemala is on top and Guinea Bissau on bottom of a new of the ranking index that measures developing countries’ political commitments to taking on hunger and malnutrition. “The Hanci index ranks 45 developing countries for their performance on 22 indicators of political commitment to reducing hunger and undernutrition, using information in the public domain from UN agencies and other bodies. The index looks at policies and programmes (e.g. national nutrition policy, plan or strategy) legal frameworks (e.g. constitutional right to food and women’s access to farmland) and public spending (e.g. spending on agriculture, nutrition budget).” (Guardian http://bit.ly/17tSpNK)

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The Big Fear With North Korea

April 11, 2013 by Mark Leon Goldberg

It looks as if North Korea will “test” fire a missile at any moment. Chances are, the North Korean leadership is not suicidal–and therefore will not deliberately target population centers or military instillations in South Korea, Japan, or even the USA.  But accidents, miscalculations and unpredictable events have caused major wars in the past. That is the real fear.

Experts are less concerned that Pyongyang will preemptively rain hellfire down on Seoul. Rather, they are worried that some sort of limited military provocation would lead to fast escalation on the Korean peninsula. That could be a deliberate attack, or merely an accident of some sort. Two years ago, a North Korean submarine sank a South Korean battleship, killing 46 people. Seoul was restrained in its response to the attack at the time–but may not so restrained this time around.

The good news is that there is growing frustration by non-western members of the Security Council. Yesterday, the Russian Foreign Ministry tweeted, “It is unacceptable that North Korea, a UN member, is boldly and provocatively breaching a UN Security Council resolution.” Then, there is this, from NBC News:

 …President Xi Jinping last weekend told a forum of political and business leaders that no country “should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain.” He didn’t mention the North by name, but it was pretty clear who he was referring to.

Earlier, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi had told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that Beijing would not allow “troublemaking on China’s doorstep,” a line repeated in an editorial in Thursday’s China Daily.

The real question is whether these calls for restraint by Russia and China will have much of an affect on Pyongyang’s calculations. I fear we will find out rather soon.

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Why Aren’t the Sochi Olympics Moderating Russia’s Human Rights Crackdown?

by Joshua Foust

With the Sochi Olympic Games in 2014 approaching, Russia is regressing on human rights. In the last two years, it has increased its rate of harassing human rights activists, declined to prosecute violence against journalists (one of whom recently died from his injuries), and instigated a massive crackdown on NGOs.

In contrast, during the lead up to the 2008 Olympics China adopted a striking ameliorative tone on the issue of Sudan. In 2007, Hollywood celebrities exerted public pressure on the Chinese government, linking abuses in Darfur to the Chinese government. At the same time, Beijing stopped protecting the Sudanese government for a time. No one knows for certain whether it was celebrity pressure or not, but Beijing’s temporarily relenting on the Darfur issue (including abstaining –rather than vetoing — a key Security Council resolution on Darfur) prevented a full boycott of the games.

Russia, on the other hand, seemingly does not care. Celebrities, from Madonna to Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler have announced their intention to boycott Russia in various ways. During the Pussy Riot, tons of Hollywood celebrities condemned their trial and imprisonment. The Russian government did not care.

In a way, Russia has figured out that ignoring celebrity criticism doesn’t really carry any cost. As great an album as Brothers in Arms is, Mr. Knopfler is not going to affect the Kremlin’s anti-NGO campaign, or suddenly inspire them to prosecute horrific acts of violence against journalists.

President Vladimir Putin, too, has a role to play as well. A staunch believer in the idea of “absolute sovereignty,” Putin believes the international community does not have the right to dictate how his country operates. In practice, this means he feels little need to adhere to international precedent or norms, which is why he felt little compunction about unceremoniously pushing human rights groups out of the country.

Paradoxically, complaining about Russia’s crackdown has the potential to make matters worse: a stubborn Kremlin could simply dig in its heels. But that doesn’t mean protest is worthless – an Olympic boycott movement, which would affect Russia’s much-beloved national pride – might actually spur some reconsideration. Absent that movement, it’s likely Russia’s behavior will continue unmodified.

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Top of the Morning: White House Unveils Food Aid Overhaul

by Mark Leon Goldberg

Top stories from DAWNS Digest

White House Unveils Food Aid Overhaul

The White House budget proposal, released yesterday, contains a massive transformation in the way the US approaches food aid. “The budget proposes the most sweeping change in US food aid in decades, with a plan intended to feed more people and deliver food more quickly. It would end a practice of buying food from American farmers and shipping it overseas. Under the plan, Washington would donate $1.1 billion to a disaster relief account for food vouchers that would be used to buy food from suppliers located near areas of need. Shipping can double food aid costs because, by law, supplies must be transported on US-flagged vessels.” The wonky details from USAID can be found here: http://1.usa.gov/154tK34 (AlertNet http://bit.ly/154tlOe)

Amnesty International Report: Getting Closer to a Death Penalty Free World

Only 21 countries were reported to have carried out an execution in 2012. That’s progress, says AI in its annual report. “Only 21 of the world’s countries were recorded as having carried out executions in 2012 – the same number as in 2011, but down from 28 countries a decade earlier in 2003.  In 2012, at least 682 executions were known to have been carried out worldwide, two more than in 2011. At least 1,722 newly imposed death sentences in 58 countries could be confirmed, compared to 1,923 in 63 countries the year before.” (Amnesty http://bit.ly/154svkp)

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