Just like Christmas carols, pennies in the Salvation Army collection tin, loads of booze, turkey experiments in the oven, and presents you never asked for, MSF (or "Doctors without Borders" for the Anglophones) has its annual traditions too: Every year-end, them release theirs "Top Ten Humanitarian Crisis of 2009".
On The Road, we have the tradition of summarizing this Top 10 of "world shame" (see our 2008 and 2007 posts).
MSF began with the "Top Ten" list in 1998, when a famine in southern Sudan went largely unreported in the US media. Maybe due to the CNN effect ("no media attention, no aid pesos"), MSF went a more commercial course last year, converting "the most Underreported Crisis" list, to "the Top 10 Humanitarian Crisis".
This year, MSF reports in their top 10:
Unrelenting Violence Stalks Civilians Throughout Eastern DR Congo (Tell me something new, DRC tops the list every year)
Somalis Endure Violence and Lack of Access to Health Care (been in the top list since.. well, since for ever)
Precarious Situation for People in Southern Sudan and Darfur (tell me something new)
Thousands Injured during the Final Stage of Sri Lanka's Decades-long War (ok, the Sri Lanka government topped themselves this year, I have to admit. They deserved a special mention for nearing genocide this year.)
Civilians Suffer From Violence & Neglect in Pakistan (Mjah... More than last year, I agree. But mostly over-reported news this year.)
Politics of Aid Leaves many Afghans Cut off from Humanitarian Assistance (On the hit list since the 70's, but US violence in Afghanistan definitively increased, I agree. Hardly underreported news, though).
Civilians Trapped in Violent War in Northern Yemen ("North, South, Left, Right:Yemen is always in the Fight. North, South, Left, Right...." Now that the US and Saudis start bombing Yemen rebels, all will be over soon. Rrright.)
Woefully Inadequate Funding Undermines Gains in Childhood Malnutrition Treatment (True. No change.)
Funding for AIDS Treatment Stagnating Despite Millions Still in Need (True. No change)
Lack of R&D and Scale Up of Treatment Plagues Patients with Neglected Diseases (True. No change).
For as far as I am concerned, the 2009 list could just have been a cut and paste from the 2008 list. Except that for one reason or the other, Zimbabwe was dropped from "The List". Maybe it was considered a hopeless case anyway. How about including violence in South Africa, tribal turbulence in Kenya, sexual violence and child labour in many parts of Africa, increased hunger and malnutrition in the US, large scale displaced people in Colombia, the increase of urban poverty, inaccessibility to food rather than unavailability of food....
How about this, why don't we start our own "2009 Humanity's Shame Top 10" list? Stay tuned, will announce it soon.
Update:
1. We kicked off our "Humanity's Shame Top 1o". Accepting nominations on this post.
2. Nominations are closed. You can vote for your "Humanity's Shame" on this post.
3. The poll results are out. Check out this post for our "Humanity's Shame Top 10"
Picture courtesy Jobi Bieber/MSF
Read the full post...
His Holiness is at it again. On his tour to Africa, he stated Aids " cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems." (Full)
Health workers beg to differ with the pontiff.
The UN rather explicitely rebroadcasted their stand: "Condom use is a critical element in a comprehensive, effective and sustainable approach to HIV prevention and treatment. Prevention is the mainstay of the response to AIDS. Condoms are an integral and essential part of comprehensive prevention and care programmes, and their promotion must be accelerated."
Sub-Saharan Africa is the world's most heavily affected by HIV, accounting for 67% of all people living with HIV and for 72% of AIDS deaths in 2007.
December 1st marks the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day.
While the global percentage of adults living with HIV has leveled off since 2000, 33 million people are still living with the virus. Every day, 8,000 people die of AIDS, and 7,500 more get infectioned.
End it is not just a medical issue, AIDS is also the cause of a larger and longer term social problem. Just as an example, by 2010, 18 million children will be orphans due to AIDS. (Full)
Through The Road, I met Becks Hill, a nurse from England who was enthusiastic about a development and awareness project she did in Madagascar. I decided to interview her to know more on what got her into development work, what drove her.
Please meet Becks. Nurse and development worker (Full interview)
In the Vatican's latest update on how God's law is being violated in today's world, Monsignor Gianfranco Girotti, the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, in an interview with the Vatican newspaper "L'Osservatore Romano", cited the new sins. (Full)
For your reference, "Sins Version 1.0" featured as deadly: Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Anger, Greed and Sloth.
"Sins - Version 2.0" now also has (drum roll): "Bioethical" violations such as birth control, "Morally dubious" experiments such as stem cell research, Drug abuse, Polluting the environment, Contributing to the widening divide between rich and poor, Excessive wealth and Creating poverty.
Through The Road, I met Becks Hill, a nurse from England who was enthusiastic about a development and awareness project she did in Madagascar. I decided to interview her to know more on what got her into development work, what drove her.
Please meet Becks. Nurse and development worker...
Q: Where you are from, what you did you study?
Becks: I live in Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, England. I studied BSC Nursing Studies in nearby Brighton. . Last year 2007, I completed a Diploma in Tropical Nursing.
Q: How did you get into development? What was behind it, what was the actual trigger?
Becks: My childhood was colourful and both my parents had been involved in various development projects, paving the way for for my future aspirations. On deciding to do my nurse training, I knew then that I wanted to work in development. Despite my "late arrival" to a formal education in health care, I guess my childhood influences had infiltrated me and I felt compelled to make my mark in some way.
However, it was a longtime coming before I really got my teeth into something I felt truly worthwhile.
Q: How so?
Becks: After finishing my nursing studies, I found myself in a relationship and bound by a different sort of project. My partner and I at the time, had decided on building our own home, in the form of a houseboat. A different sort of challenge: we lived in an old ammunition 70ft barge, bought it in 2004 and a long road followed before its completion into a habitable home. Working, living and building in one's own home and living on a shoestring had its own challenges but always knowing that a life living and working on a building site, really wasn't my calling and a whole world was still awaiting to be reached.
Q: From a houseboat in England to Madagascar... Quite a change!
Becks: Well, the relationship ended. I set about to finish the boat building and attend the course I had always wanted to: the Tropical Nursing. This rekindled my thirst to get "out there" and follow the path that I had set out to do, years previously. Tropical nursing is an amazing and insightful course. It continually provided me with inspiration in the world of development and aid work.
Q: So when did you take "the big step"?
Becks: After finishing the course and not quite feeling like the young spring chicken, that I once was, the idea of working in desperate and worn torn zones of the world was somewhat daunting. But I was on the course I had long dreamt for and scared of where it might take me.
I attended an interview with a well reputed aid agency and disregarded them for being gung-ho and -dare I say- slightly militant. Scouting the Internet, I then found Blue Ventures: A conservation group based in remote South West Madagascar. There began a dream come true; working in conservation but with a health element: I took on the role of expedition medic for an ever developing conservation NGO.
Q: What projects do you do? What does your work consist of?
Becks: My primary role was to fulfil a duty of care to the expedition staff members, their family's and expedition volunteers. An involved role due to the remoteness of its location. It was a diving operation with the nearest hyperbaric chamber being in South Africa. The nearest health facility was some 50km away over treacherous terrain. My role carried with it some considerable responsibility.
In addition to expedition duties, I had the privilege of managing and running a family planning clinic in the village in which we were based.
Q: And this is where your passion really came out?
Becks: Mmm, prior to my departure for Madagascar, I knew there was high prevalence of STI's (Sexually Transmitted Infections). I knew that a state of emergency had been declared in Port Dauphin in 2007, due to the high incidence of syphilis. I knew that there were issues concerning sexual health. I did my homework and naively hoped that I might be able to influence and help bring about some change when I got there.
I had ideas and I had hope in my heart. "Hope" as there was no war. There was no conflict in Madagascar. This, I believed, was an element of hope, that somehow did not exist with employment with many other NGO's.
Q: So you started off your social project on your own, as a "by-product" to your assistance to the Blue Venture expeditioners?
Becks: I was of course my own to begin with. I worked with conservationists, not health care workers. It soon became apparent to me, that given the high incidence of STI's nationally, the fact that oil had been struck in the country, with the consequence of an influx of migrant workers from South Africa, an HIV epidemic was a time bomb awaiting to happen.
Q: And you wanted to do something about it...
Becks: Yes. I set about a slow and tentative campaign. It started with meetings in the village to discern sexual beliefs and practices. Many false beliefs were revealed from these meetings regarding the transmission of STI's and HIV, as were the huge knowledge deficits in this area. The meetings and numerous discussions compounded my belief that action needed to be taken, and it needed to be taken yesterday. It also became clear that condoms were barely used despite sexual promiscuity being the norm. From the research I had done, all HIV awareness programmes needed to be upscaled. Interesting concept in the village of Andavadoaka, where no such programme was even in existence.
Q: So you needed to educate people on STI's, HIV, sexual health. How did you bring that message across? With presentations?
Becks: This is the real interesting bit. We had the idea of using theatre as a medium to convey difficult subjects. That was paramount in my mind. Having managed to de-sensitise the subject over the first four monthes, I then wrote a play and delivered, with the help of expedition volunteers, the first STI/HIV awareness theatre piece in the region. It was a success.
So, I did it again and then advertised in the village for a STI/HIV awareness theatre competition. The first competition left me in awe and two days before I left the village I held another one. The results were extraordinary, the actors/actresses from the village had taken complete ownership of the raising awareness programme and delivered incredibly detailed and fantastically choreographed pieces, with the first songs beautifully sung about condoms.
Important messages had clearly filtered through with a large audience comprised of all members of the village.
Q: How did that feel?
Becks: Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine such an amazing outcome. From the outset, it seemed an uphill struggle, with the subjects causing much embarrassment and in just six months, knowledge deficits had been bridged and the uptake of condoms increased exponentially. Impact, clearly had been made.
Q: What are the challenges now?
Becks: The programme worked. The problem now is to keep the momentum up and to reach a wider audience. Blue Ventures works with 26 villages in the area. The aim is to take the programme to these villages. The main obstacle, however, is getting the funds to continue the work.
Q: Let me get this straight: were you paid for this work, or was it work as a volunteer?
Becks: The job is essentially unpaid. I did receive a nominal wage 6-weekly. My board and lodging was covered and I learnt to dive for free. My main job is still my work as a nurse in the UK. Since my return to England in August, I have worked almost full time as a volunteer on the project.
Q: What drives you to do this work. Even more so: to do it unpaid?
Becks: I am driven by the incredible response by the people of Andavadoaka to the theatre competitions. Armed with the appropriate information and education surrounding STI's/HIV, I firmly believe that a prevention movement could be brought about and a HIV epidemic could be avoided. With that belief I am driven more strongly than I have ever been before to help bring this about. Due to the remoteness of the area, national STI/HIV awareness programmes are not reaching the villages around Andavadoaka. The main challenge I face now is raising sufficient interest here in England in order to get the funding to continue with the project. I am wearing a plethora of interesting hats in order to do this.I am organising a fundraising auction for the project and as I mentioned before, I am writing a proposal for prosepctive funders.
Q: You work on a grass roots project, clearly. Do you ever get demotivated if you look at the scale of issues developing countries are faced with? E.g. you work on STI/HIV awareness, but this issue has now such a gigantic proportion and impact?
Becks: Do I get de-motivated by the scale of the problem? As said, a huge impact was made in just 6 monthes. I can only imagine great things could be brought about with adequate funding and resources. I firmly believe there remains hope in Madagascar: it is not afflicted by war. HIV has not as yet taken root, it has not reached the epidemic proportions that have reached other parts of the world. That is a motivator, far from being a de- motivator.
Q: What would you give as advice to others who 'are thinking of making the step' to get involved in aid or development projects?
Becks: Advice to others? I can only say that this life just isn't a test run. If you've got an idea and you think it's a good one, you better get on and do it, because who knows what tomorrow will bring.
Strange. A day after I posted an introspective blog-entry on the role and usefulness of humanitarian aid, the leaders of the G8 nations meeting in Germany announced to spend $60bn fighting Aids, malaria and tuberculosis in Africa.
Several aid agencies say member nations have not met the commitments they made at their 2005 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, and G8 leaders are acknowledging as much. Rock stars Bono and Bob Geldof were on the spot to remind the world leaders of their 2005 promise. "There is a great crisis of credibility,” said Geldof in this article when he referred to the G8's unfulfilled commitment, “If I sign a contract in my business life and don't fulfil it, I would be sued. I could go to jail. Do these leaders live outside the norms of human behaviour?".
Interesting statement, raising an issue which could also be extended to areas other than commitments of foreign aid. Do we actually have mechanisms to keep our politicians to their promise, other than "not re-electing" them?
(With thanks to Ekram for the news links). Picture courtesy WFP (Judith Schuler). For updated humanitarian news, check out The Other World News
MSF began with the "Top Ten" list in 1998, when a famine in southern Sudan went largely unreported in the US media. Maybe due to the CNN effect ("no media attention, no aid pesos"), MSF went a more commercial course last year, converting "the most Underreported Crisis" list, to "the Top 10 Humanitarian Crisis".
Peter. Flemish, European, aid worker, expeditioner, sailor, traveller, husband, father, friend, nutcase. Not necessarily in that order.
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