While Secretary of State Clinton has a grand vision of an “AIDS-free generation” the Global Post reports that the White House 2013 fiscal budget actually slashes global AIDS funding by 11 percent. The cause? The administration recently announced that there is still $1.5 billion unspent from the former budget. To put this in perspective, $1.46 billion is roughly three times the annual amount the US government spent on AIDS globally a decade ago.
[NEWS] 联合国各机构关于关闭强制戒毒和康复中心的联合声明
In March, a joint statement cosigned by 12 UN bodies, including UNAIDS, called for all “States to close compulsory drug detention and rehabilitation centers and implement voluntary, evidence-informed and rights-based health and social services in the community.” The statement noted that many of the compulsory centers violate internationally recognized human rights standards often involving physical and sexual violence or forced labor.
[COMMENTARY] Why Economists Are Jumping on the Jim Kim-Bashing Bandwagon
By Gregg Gonsalves
Lant Pritchett–a Professor of the Practice of International Development at the Harvard Kennedy School–has been leading a campaign against the election of Jim Kim to the World Bank presidency. While he isn’t the only critic of Dr. Kim’s nomination, he is among the most vocal and well-known. Though his views are his own, they have been amplified by other leading development economists, such as William Easterly at New York University and people associated with the Center for Global Development in Washington, DC.
Over the past few weeks, Pritchett has publicly questioned Kim’s qualifications, saying a lack of training in economics and experience in world finance should disqualify him from the post. He has further suggested that Kim’s nomination shows the arrogance and hegemony of American power over the institution. He has called for Kim to step aside for a merit-based election, in which the Nigerian candidate for the post, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (a World Bank, Harvard and MIT alum, also finance minister of Nigeria) would presumably sweep to victory.
A few days ago, Pritchett wrote an article in the New Republic (TNR) which comes clean about the real reasons for the escalating, grasping campaign of opposition to Jim Kim. The piece is called “Why Obama’s World Bank Pick Is Proving So Controversial.” The title is an overreach: It should really read “Why Obama’s World Bank Pick Is Proving So Controversial to Me and My Friends.”
[UPDATE] January – March 2012
Celebrating our fifth anniversary
This year, Asia Catalyst celebrates five years of helping to build grassroots groups in East and Southeast Asia. As part of our 5th Anniversary Campaign, our board has promised to match donations to help Chinese rights advocates come to the International AIDS Conference in Washington D.C. in July. That means $100 donation is worth $200, and $500 is worth $1000. Please make a tax-deductible gift here.
A gift of $100 or more gets you a lovely gift book — with photos and background on our inspiring partners in China and Southeast Asia.
[NEWS] Asia Catalyst Report Cited by Local Chinese Health Officials
The Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention has picked up China’s Blood Disaster: The Way Forward, a report jointly prepared by Asia Catalyst and Korekata AIDS Law Center .
While government officials maintain only 65,100 people contracted HIV through blood sales and transfusions, AIDS activists have long argued the true number is much higher. The report finds that still few of the thousands affected have been able to get compensation.
