News Round Ups
Sri Lanka Close To Eradicating Malaria, Health Minister Says
No malaria deaths have been reported in Sri Lanka in the past three years and the country is close to eradicating the disease, Nimal Siripala De Silva, the country's healthcare and nutrition minister and the World Health Organization's executive board chairperson, said recently at the Wilton Park conference focusing on malaria, the Daily News reports. He added that the country has seen a 99% decrease in the reported incidence of malaria during the last 10 years (Gunatilleke, Daily News, 4/18).
G20 Must Make Good on Promises To Help Developing Countries, Opinion Piece Says
People in developing countries depend on aid for food, health services and safe water, but unless the world acts, "the global economic crisis could leave another generation without access" to these basic needs-Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, and Brett House, senior macroeconomist at the Earth Institute-write in an opinion piece published Sunday in the Mail & Guardian. The G20 "has done almost nothing for the world's poorest countries," according to the writers. They write that aid money can help fight malaria and provide access to safe water. "Urgent action is needed" to ensure that G20 countries are "living up to its promises to the world's poorest people," according to Sachs and House, who conclude that ensuring that these countries follow through is the "only reliable path to a sustainable recovery from the very deep crisis in which we find ourselves" (Sachs/House, Mail & Guardian, 4/19).
The National Examines "Brain Drain" in Middle East
The National on Sunday examined "brain drain" in the Middle East. Gender discrimination, instability and repressive regimes cause scholars to leave the region, according to Henry Jarecki, the chairperson of the Scholar Rescue Fund. He added that there are a significant number of visa applicants in hard sciences, like chemistry and physics. "Who knows that one of these scholars isn't the microbiologist who goes on to discover a cure for a disease that afflicts us all?" Allan Goodman, president of the Institute of International Education, said (Reinl, National, 4/19).