The November 2011 edition of AEFJN's Forum for Action is now online. It contains articles on the ethical responsibility of the Church on the climate issue, on the clean up of the Ogoniland oil spills, which will take decades, on the spread of Libyan arms in the Sahel, on the production of medicines in Africa and on the EU's attempt to force African countries to sign EPAs.
The national election campaign officially started the 28th October in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), exactly one month ahead of historic presidential and legislative elections, scheduled for November 28 2011. 41 humanitarian and human rights organizations, among them AEFJN, have expressed concern about the high political tension and deteriorating security situation. They have called upon all Congolese and international actors involved to take urgent measures to prevent electoral violence, better protect civilians and ensure credible, free and fair elections.IMF Policies Harm Kenyan Health System
Wednesday, October 2009
According to a report conducted by the Centre for Economic Governance and AIDS in Africa in collaboration with Kenya AIDS NGOs Consortium (KANCO) and Results Education Fund, released last October, "policies set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have restricted government spending on health services, denying sick Kenyans access to drugs and quality healthcare".
The report argues that "expenditure ceilings on public health spending imposed in the ‘90s as part of the conditions for disbursing financial support to Kenya have held back progress in the health sector by restricting the recruitment of medical professionals." Also, the policies have left Kenya "virtually dependent" on donor funds for HIV/AIDS programs, the newspaper writes.
Kenya has more than 10,000 trained but unemployed nurses who cannot get public sector jobs because of the IMF policies. In an earlier response to non-profit groups, IMF said the wage bill condition was being phased out and would henceforth be used only in countries with unstable macroeconomic conditions such as those emerging out of conflict. According to the the non-profit groups, however, the IMF still maintains these conditions only not as directly as they used to" .
This report comes at a time when health experts are demanding the employment of 24,000 additional nurses to stem a biting shortage of staff in public health facilities.
"Billow Kerrow, a former member of the Kenyan parliament who launched the report, said "Kenya needs to decide whether to blindly follow IMF prescriptions and endanger her people’s health, or reject them and pursue policies that enhance access to health" . "Policies such as cost sharing in health facilities are not applicable in a country like ours, in which people die from simple controllable diseases such as cholera," he said.