Health as a Human Right
This page updated on-line at
http://www.africafocus.org/intro-health.php.
About these pages|Continent-wide and Global Issues|Climate Change and the Environment|Economy and Development|Peace and Security|Food and Agriculture
Talking Points on Health as a Human Right
We All Must Respond to Ebola
Statement by US-Africa Network, September 19, 2014
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Ebola center in Sierra Leone. National and international efforts to stop the spread of the epidemic have been insufficient to contain it. Photo credits: ©EC/ECHO/Cyprien Fabre.
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Recent bulletins on Health
November 12, 2018 Africa: Why Mining is Hard to Tax
http://www.africafocus.org/docs18/tax1811.php
"In Africa as elsewhere in the world, while energy companies might be somewhat undertaxed,
mining companies typically are greatly under-taxed. Indeed, it is only a
slight exaggeration to say that, with a few significant exceptions, notably
Botswana’s diamond mines, mining in Africa is barely taxed at all. One reliable
source indicates that contemporary African governments collect about 55% of the total
value of energy production in tax revenue, but only 3% of the value of mining
production." - Taxing Africa
November 12, 2018 Africa: Africa Mining Vision
http://www.africafocus.org/docs18/amv1811.php
The Africa Mining Vision (AMV) was adopted by Heads of State at the February 2009
African Union summit following the October 2008 meeting of African Ministers
responsible for Mineral Resources Development. An action plan was adopted in December
2011, and the African Minerals Development Centre (https://www.uneca.org/amdc)
launched in December 2013. The lead role in developing the vision was taken by
African professional staff at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
(UNECA), in consultation not only with African governments but also with civil
society organizations and specialists on the mining sector.
October 16, 2018 Africa/Global: Drug Company Profits vs. Public Health
http://www.africafocus.org/docs18/drug1810.php
"Oxfam examined publicly available data on subsidiaries of four of the largest US
drug companies and found a striking pattern. In the countries analyzed that have
standard corporate tax rates, rich or poor, the corporations’ pretax profits were
low. In eight advanced economies, drug company profits averaged 7 percent, while in
seven developing countries they averaged 5 percent. Yet globally, these corporations
reported annual global profits of up to 30 percent. So where were the high profits?
Tax havens. In four countries that charge low or no corporate tax rates, these
companies posted skyrocketing 31 percent profit margins." - Oxfam, September 2018
June 20, 2018 Congo (Kinshasa): Ebola Response Shows Lessons Learned
http://www.africafocus.org/docs18/eb1806.php
The Democratic Republic of Congo has extensive experience in successfully containing
Ebola outbreaks (the one which was reported in May is the ninth since the first in
1976). But this one, with cases in Mbandaka, a river-port city of over one million
people on the country's western border, raised the nightmare scenario of spreading to
other river-port cities such as the capital Kinshasa (over 11 million people), as well
as Brazzaville in the Republic of the Congo, and Bangui in the Central African
Republic. But, although victory is not assured, so far the response by national and
international health agencies has been a model of applying lessons learned.
October 9, 2017 Africa/Global: Tobacco Industry Targets Africa Markets
http://www.africafocus.org/docs17/tob1710.php
"British American Tobacco (BAT) and other multinational tobacco firms have threatened
governments in at least eight countries in Africa demanding they axe or dilute the
kind of protections that have saved millions of lives in the west, a Guardian
investigation has found. ... The giant tobacco firms hope to boost their markets in
Africa, which has a fast-growing young and increasingly prosperous population." - The
Guardian
August 23, 2017 USA/Africa: No Policy? Bad Policy? Or Both?
http://www.africafocus.org/docs17/usa1708.php
"Africa is terra incognita for the Trump Administration: a continent it cares
little--and understands even less--about. With no dyed-in-the-wool Trumpian Africa
hands available, the administration appears ready to cede Africa policy making to
career civil servants and a few mainstream Republican appointees." - Matthew T. Page
July 10, 2017 Africa/Global: Following the Money
http://www.africafocus.org/docs17/iff1707.php
"As an important tool in our fight against corruption, tax evasion, terrorist
financing and money laundering, we will advance the effective implementation of the
international standards on transparency and beneficial ownership of legal persons and
legal arrangements, including the availability of information in the domestic and
crossborder context." - G20 Summit Communiqué, Hamburg, July 8, 2017
May 30, 2017 USA/Africa: "Pro-Death" Health Agendas Advance
http://www.africafocus.org/docs17/health1705.php
"3.3 million more abortions. 15,000 more mothers dying. 8 million more unplanned
pregnancies. ... Those grim numbers from the Guttmacher Institute show the potential
real-world impact of the Trump administration's unprecedented proposed cuts to global
family planning efforts; the budget the White House released Tuesday would basically
eliminate those programs." - Sarah Wildman, Vox, May 24, 2017
October 4, 2016 West Africa/Europe: Toxic Fuels for African Markets
http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/dd1610.php
European commodity trading companies in Switzerland, using petroleum
'blending' plants in the Netherlands and Belgium, are exporting
toxic fuels to Africa in large quantity. "Their business model,"
according to a new report from the Swiss organization Public Eye,
"relies on an illegitimate strategy of deliberately lowering the
quality of fuels in order to increase their profits. Using a common
industry practice called blending, trading companies mix cheap but
toxic intermediate petroleum products to make what the industry
calls 'African Quality' fuels."
July 26, 2016 Africa/Global: Not Yet "End of AIDS"
http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/hiv1607.php
At the 21st International AIDS Conference in South Africa last week,
"optimism faded as delegates arrived to news that donor countries
had reduced global HIV funding by more than $1 billion from 2014 to
2015. ... Nearly 20 million people are [still] in need of
antiretroviral therapy. [and] nearly half of the $44 billion cost
could be unfunded between 2016 and 2020." - Washington Post, July
25, 2016
June 30, 2016 Africa/Global: Air Pollution Threats & Solutions
http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/air1606.php
"Around 6.5 million deaths are attributed each year to poor air
quality, making this the world’s fourth-largest threat to human
health, behind high blood pressure, dietary risks and smoking.
Without changes to the way that the world produces and uses energy,
the ruinous toll from air pollution on human life is set to rise.
... Household air pollution, closely linked to a lack of access to
modern energy services, causes around half a million premature
deaths annually in sub-Saharan Africa, where four-fifths of the
population rely on the traditional use of solid biomass for cooking,
and candles and kerosene lamps are extensively used for indoor
lighting." - International Energy Agency (IEA)
June 22, 2016 Africa/Global: "Stop the Bleeding" Updates
http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/stb1606.php
"A new report by Tax Justice Network-Africa and ActionAid says that
East African countries (Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda) are
losing approximately $2 billion a year of revenue each year by
granting tax incentives to multinational companies. ... According to
Yaekob Metena, ActionAid Tanzania's country director, 'Though there
have been improvements in recent years in addressing the issue,
governments in East Africa continue to give away domestic resources
in tax incentives, funds that could pay for the regions' education
and health needs and meeting the development objectives.'"
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