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Don't knock the system: politics caused this crisis of capitalism
Eamonn Butler
2008-10-06
Everyone has something to say about the credit crunch but very few can explain simply what it’s all about and where to go next: this well-published economist does that. Read More »
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Good move on bad drugs
Roger Bate
2008-10-03
The US FDA’s ban on 30 drugs from India’s Ranbaxy has now extended to PEPFAR’s purchases of Ranbaxy ARVs for AIDS programmes but many other aid donors are still buying sub-standard drugs for poor countries from many manufacturers, in line with the WHO’s shoddy “pre-qualification” list. The poor deserve the same standards of medicines as rich people – not just because of human decency but also because bad medicines encourage resistance to HIV and malaria, endangering many more people. Donors must demand quality-control from the WHO. Read More »
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Malaria - Killing With Kindness
Julian Harris & Jasson Urbach
2008-09-30
Following the failure of the UN’s Roll Back Malaria programme, the name has changed and more billions have been promised this week in the hope of eradicating the disease by 2015. But Band-Aid measures cannot make any sustainable change until African governments allow their people to improve their own lot, by lifting the economic (and political) repression that keeps them poor.
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Unleashing African Growth
Alec van Gelder
2008-09-22
Despite the collapse of the Doha trade talks, some countries are making unilateral reforms to speed up trade: a World Bank report and recent reforms in Africa show there are huge benefits available without any international negotiation or agreeement. Compare this progress with the damage done by aid, perpetuating poverty, corruption and protectionism. Read More »
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The WHO blueprint for increasing global poverty
Philip Stevens
2008-09-06
The WHO's report on the "social determinants of health" claims that inequality is responsible for huge numbers of deaths worldwide. But by rejecting economic growth, its recommendations would do far more harm than good. Read More »
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UN Climate Plans vs. The Poor
Franklin Cudjoe & Bright Simons
2008-09-01
Despite the breakdown of UN climate-change talks in Bali last December, the same themes were still being pushed at the late August week’s meeting in Ghana--but now developing countries have begun to question the effects on the world’s poorest. They must fight for greater realism in the climate debate: their livings and even their lives depend on it. Read More »
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Environment and health: keep it real
Philip Stevens
2008-08-29
Ministers gathering in Libreville for the first African ministerial meeting on environment and health should avoid getting distracted by ill-defined problems like "climate change" and focus on the real environmental killers: dirty water and fuel. Read More »
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Attacking patents halts progress
Tim Wilson
2008-08-27
The UN’s latest climate talks, in Accra, heard much talk about waiving patents on “green”, low-carbon and renewable products which will, somehow, magically, help fight climate change. The real barrier to new technology in most developing countries, however, is high tariff barriers – and these barriers are generally higher the poorer the country. What is worse, countries that ignore intellectual property rights chase away the foreign investors so badly needed for growth and for the transfer of technology.
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GM is a matter of life and death, not lifestyle
Caroline Boin
2008-08-15
Prince Charles claimed GM crops could be "the biggest disaster environmentally of all time" in an interview with the Daily Telegraph. IPN Environment Director Caroline Boin's response gave the Telegraph letters page its top headline. Read More »
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AIDS: Away With Political Correctness
Professor James Chin
2008-08-13
The biennial AIDS conference ended in Mexico on 8 August with calls for more money and promises to spend it better but UC Berkeley’s James Chin explains why much of that money will be wasted until the AIDS industry honestly accepts the facts: by targetting general populations at extremely low risk, AIDS programs are wasting money that should be spent on high-risk groups.
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Zimbabwe: Justice vs. Reconciliation
Rejoice Ngwenya
2008-08-12
Zimbabwe peace talks in Pretoria are due to reach a conclusion this week but will probably drag on a bit longer, even if they turn out to be just another cunning manipulation by Mugabe. One major problem is that international law now makes it impossible for dictators to retire peacefully, either at home or on the Côte d’Azur. Read More »
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A false threat of epidemics
Roger England
2008-08-07
UNAIDS has at last admitted its world AIDS estimates were wildly inaccurate but it wanted yet more money at the biennial jamboree in Mexico (3-8 August). In an apparently unconnected development it is also looking for a new Director so this British health systems consultant has decided to throw his hat in the ring on a platform of closing down UNAIDS in order to allocate funds according to the real impact of diseases. Read More »
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"Romantic" AIDS cause diverts needed funds
Karol Sikora
2008-08-05
AIDS advocacy has taken money from diseases that kill more people and are easily cured: we need to redress the balance for the benefit of all poor countries and poor patients. Although average global prevalence is much lower, this imbalance applies even in South Africa and other African countries hard-hit by AIDS. Read More »
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Economics can set you free
Eamonn Butler
2008-07-29
Adam Smith discovered the economics that make people better off but he is not a household name, unlike Newton or Einstein: this very accessible article explains why Smith’s basically simple tenets work so well and still matter every day, especially in poor countries seeking growth. Eamonn Butler is a Director of the Adam Smith Institute that campaigned for the very first public statue of Adam Smith in the country, unveiled on 4 July (he was sympathetic to American independence) in Edinburgh. Read More »
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Weep not for Doha
Daniel Ikenson
2008-07-25
The Doha Round has staggered to a slow death, with dire predictions of what will befall us, but this research shows the cheerful news that trade is expanding massively without the WTO and that unilateral bureaucratic reforms can be even more valuable to trade than tariff reductions. Read More »
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Trusting the African private sector with aid
Philip Stevens
2008-07-03
Because it is channeled through corrupt and dysfunctional ministries of health, most foreign aid for health never makes it to patients. Donors should abandon this model and instead take advantage of Africa's massive private sector. Read More »
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Aiding poverty: the G-8's role in Africa's progress
Caroline Boin & Alec van Gelder
2008-07-02
The G8 meeting Hokkaido from 7 to 9 July will inevitably culminate with more calls for more aid to Africa, where US$2.3 trillion over the last 40 years has failed to remove poverty or improve production: there must be a reason that makes poverty perpetual.
Caroline Boin and Alec van Gelder argue that bad policies create bad economies and that aid supports corrupt and incompetent governments as they keep the poor in serfdom - Ethiopia being a particularly nasty example.
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Health tourism can be healthy
Fredrik Erixon and Lucy Davis
2008-06-23
The benefits of trade have for too long been driven away from healthcare by ring-fenced nationalised systems and vested interests. Now evidence suggests that trade can slow the rise in healthcare costs and be a valuable source of revenue for developing countries. Read More »
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How surveys twist rankings on health care
Glen Whitman
2008-06-11
Proponents of nationalised healthcare systems frequently refer to the WHO ranking the US system a lowly 37th in the world. Yet how reliable are these rankings? Glen Whitman reveals their faults and underlying, ideological bias. Read More »
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Twelve step programme to poverty
Kofi Bentil
2008-06-06
World Environment Day on 5 June offers the poor a tempting formula: developing countries must slow economic growth to avoid becoming eco-vampires like the industrialized economies. Its "Twelve Steps to Help You Kick the CO2 Habit" mean we Africans should be content to live quaintly in our mud huts lit by solar and wind power. Read More »
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How bad government caused the food crisis
Julian Morris
2008-05-30
Recent shortages and price rises of staple food in Asia and Latin America have been caused as much by parasitical politicians as by poor harvests. Read More »
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UN’s Russian roulette for poor patients
Jeremiah Norris
2008-05-26
Sub-standard AIDS and malaria drugs can cause parasite resistance and clinical failure. Yet the Global Fund has been procuring such drugs for millions of low-income patients. Read More »
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The Food Crisis and Restrictive Trade Practices
Thompson Ayodele
2008-05-19
The food crisis in Nigeria and Africa can be linked to inappropriate agricultural policies that have stifled the continent’s great agricultural potential. Over the years nothing has been done to address low yields--on the contrary, it seems as though government has gone out of its way to stifle production: governments remain part of the problem, not part of the solution.
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Myths behind AIDS might lead to billions in misspending
James Chin
2008-05-18
Global and regional HIV rates have remained stable or have been decreasing during the past decade except in sub-Saharan Africa; HIV continues to be concentrated in populations with the highest levels of HIV risk behaviors; and HIV is incapable of epidemic spread in the vast majority of heterosexual populations. Let's face the data and put the money where the real problems really are.
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Poor medicine for poor people
Roger Bate
2008-05-16
New field research by Africa Fighting Malaria shows that a third of anti-malaria drugs collected in six African cities fail at least one quality test - yet aid agencies continue to fund untested, substandard drugs. Read More »
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Funding for sub-standard drugs
Jeremiah Norris
2008-05-15
Sub-standard AIDS and malaria drugs can cause parasite resistance and clinical failure. Yet the Global Fund has been procuring such drugs for millions of low-income patients. Read More »
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Why I am bothered by Neo-Colonialist NGOs
Temba A. Nolutshungu
2008-05-03
Soon after the real colonialists left Africa, a new breed of Western colonialists emerged: the statist Non-Governmental Organisations that want to save us from everything from genetically-modified food to globalisation - and growth. They have enormous influence even though their ideologies have failed in their own countries: before taking the neo-colonialists' medicine, we must carefully read the label or suffer nasty side effects.
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Threat to Modern Medicines
Philip Stevens
2008-04-28
The WHO’s plans to push subsidised local drug production in Africa threaten to worsen the problem of substandard generics, placing the most vulnerable at risk. Read More »
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Mugabe overstretches voters’ patience
Rejoice Ngwenya
2008-04-16
The 18th of April is Zimbabwe’s Day of Independence but, after throwing off white rule, we have still not overthrown one-man rule. Read More »
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Attack on patents hurts the poor
Franklin Cudjoe & Alec van Gelder
2008-04-09
The “patients not patents” campaign has a simplistic appeal but will only make things worse for the poor, as well as distracting attention from the real causes of ill health: poverty and corruption. Africans must not let their health and growth be damaged by populist propaganda.
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What's killing the poor is poverty, not climate change
Nonoy Oplas
2008-04-08
There is a growing idea that rich countries should slash imports from poor countries whose antiquated factories are heavy carbon emitters: this eco-protectionism is in fact good old-fashioned protectionism and would hit the poor hardest. What hurts the poor right now is not climate change but poverty: growth is the only way out.
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In Africa, it's death by leadership
James Shikwati
2008-03-30
Kibaki and Odinga are being hailed as great leaders for the political settlement in Kenya and there is even talk of a similar settlement in Zimbabwe - but leadership is part of our problem: Africa suffers from strong leaders and weak institutions. Read More »
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Rising food prices, protectionism and the poor
Caroline Boin and Alec van Gelder
2008-03-20
Food prices have drastically risen over the past year, causing street protests from Mexico to India to Senegal; it is the poorest countries that will benefit most from dropping their own tariffs in response to this. Read More »
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Cuba needs economic as well as political freedom
Andrés Mejía-Vergnaud
2008-02-26
The only important question right now is whether Fidel Castro's resignation means any real change to the life of ordinary Cubans after decades of economic and political oppression. Economic freedoms and private property are the keys to any economic development and the debate must start now.
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Report Finds Property Rights Essential for Economic Growth
Tendai Maphosa
2008-02-26
Alec van Gelder discusses how sound property rights can stimulate economic development in the world's poorest countries. Legal protection for property rigths should not just be a luxury for the rich, but are a necessity for the poor. Read More »
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A dose of reality needed on climate change issue
Philip Stevens
2008-02-16
Britain’s Department of Health says we face killer heatwaves and the Royal College of Physicians president says "the effects of global warming on health could eclipse those of smoking, alcohol and obesity." But more people in the UK routinely die of cold than from heat. And the cure for diseases is not cool temperatures but prosperity. Read More »
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End failed healthcare in Africa
Thompson Ayoldele
2008-02-08
Despite massive increases of donor funding for health in Africa, things on the ground are not improving. It's time to examine new methods of delivering healthcare in Africa, in particular harnessing the power of the private sector. Read More »
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Subsidies for the rich in poor countries
Roger Bate
2008-02-06
Champions of local production see it as a way of decreasing transport costs, providing local jobs, increasing expertise, cutting dependence on foreign suppliers--thus lowering prices and magically improving access to drugs. But subsidies, protectionism and political criteria open the door to all sorts of bad policies and all sorts of bad medicines. Read More »
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Protectionism harms consumers and the environment
Kendra Okonski and Caroline Boin
2008-02-03
Proposals to restrict imports from countries which do not reduce greenhouse gas emissions are simply protectionism. They would decrease world trade, disproportionately harming poorer countries, and favour the status quo by rewarding inefficient producers and thus delaying the adoption of cleaner, resource-saving technologies. Read More »
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Medicines for the poor: not the Oxfam way
Roger Bate
2008-01-17
The registration of new medicines fell sharply in the last year in the USA, while Oxfam calls for a compulsory pricing structure and backs the compulsory licenses sought by Thailand and threatened by Brazil and Indonesia. There are indeed other problems facing pharmaceutical companies but the campaign against patents is a major one: when Big Pharma gives up investing in innovation, where will new medicines come from? The price of punishing Big Pharma is to punish the poor harder.
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Lessons from Kenya’s stolen election
David Coltart
2008-01-14
Amid the reams of reporting and speculation about the Kenyan elections, this Zimbabwean opposition figure shows how his party’s experience can be used in a practical way to avoid violence and to shame and pressure governments which have manipulated elections. Outsiders and even Africans are often prone to despair about Africa’s future, but David Coltart points to progress in peaceful regime change in a number of countries. Read More »
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An Open Letter to the People of Kenya:
Isolate Extremists, Protest Peacefully, and Save Our Country
James Shikwati
2008-01-04
People are dying. The economy is faltering. If we wait for much longer, what started as political discontent will assume its own life and there will be no country to govern. Above all, we must safeguard democracy and lives of our fellow Kenyans. Read More »
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Counterfeit drugs
Roger Bate
2008-01-02
It's not just the criminals who are threatening health with counterfeit or substandard drugs, but also the questionable procurement practices of international aid agencies. Read More »
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World Trade Begins at Home
Alec van Gelder
2007-12-17
The rhetoric about who is to blame for failing to conclude trade agreements between Europe and Africa obscures a far more important point: Africa is never going to get rich while its governments restrict trade between its own countries, EU deals or not. Read More »
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Eradicate malaria with growth, not nets
Carlos Odora
2007-12-13
Aid donors’ single-minded determination to give everyone mosquito nets is just not going to eradicate malaria. Without economic development, Africa will always depend on donors and their nets to fight malaria.
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Hot air, human health
Philip Stevens
2007-12-13
The cost of cutting greenhouse gas emissions would have drastic implications for human health, causing worldwide recession. If the WHO is serious about improving the health of the poor, it should stop trying to push emissions caps and focus on the real barriers to good health, such as taxes on medicines imposed by governments of poor countries. Read More »
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In Awe Of Mugabe
Kofi Bentil
2007-12-04
African Union leaders meeting their European Union counterparts in December are supposed to represent our future but when it comes to Robert Mugabe they are stuck in an ideological time-warp: Mugabe is a freedom-fighter and Zimbabwe is a victim of Western depredations, including threats to boycott the meeting. Read More »
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Adaptation not emissions cuts is policymakers' best approach
Kendra Okonski
2007-12-01
Current climate change talks in Bali are focussing on a "Kyoto-2" with global caps on emissions of greenhouse gases. But such a treaty would harm the poor, hampering their adaptability to climate change, while doing little to prevent it. Read More »
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WHO's Got its Facts Wrong?
Jeremiah Norris
2007-11-03
The World Health Organisation makes great sport of taking the pharmaceutical industry to task for its inability to provide everyone in the developing world with the drugs they need. This so-called market failure is being used at negotiations in Geneva this month to bring research and patents under official control, managed by the WHO--but the WHO has trouble managing itself.
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Fully socialized medicine: a warning from the United Kingdom
Philip Stevens
2007-11-01
Britain's NHS has tested to destruction the notion that centrally-provided, taxpayer-financed healthcare is the most equitable and efficient. So why is the British government not questioning the model?
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How to cause hunger
Caroline Boin
2007-10-26
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation celebrated its annual World Food Day with the slogan “The Right to Food.” But the FAO should have paid more attention to the rights that matter most for “landless farmers, urban slum dwellers…and the extremely poor”--the right to own and exchange property and the right to trade freely, both locally and internationally.
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Patents - protecting your money and your life
Nonoy Oplas
2007-10-25
Downloading pirated songs from the internet is cool. Dying from counterfeit medicine is not. But the pirates and the slack law enforcement that give you the first also give you the second. And many Governments and humanitarian groups will tell you this is a good thing. Read More »
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Pesticides are good for you
Colin Berry
2007-10-14
A scare story about pesticides and prostate cancer in the Caribbean made big headlines with little or no proof: in fact, Nature offers more fatal threats than pesticides do. This sort of alarmism undermines trust in science and in chemicals and it causes real damage to health and the environment. Read More »
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There's no cure for AIDS
Alec van Gelder
2007-10-11
Breaking patents that protect existing medicines and provide incentives to develop new ones is the wrong prescription if we are to help people living with AIDS in the world's poorest countries. Read More »
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Patents help the sick, poor globally
Bibek Debroy
2007-10-10
The WHO is proposing a global treaty to weaken patents and put research under official control. This diverts attention from the real problems of healthcare, such as poor water and electricity services, and allows governments in poor countries to continue to blame their appalling healthcare on international factors - avoiding the politically difficult reforms that really would improve health. Read More »
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Spare us from new colonialist ‘saviours’
Temba Nolutshungu
2007-10-08
Unaccountable western NGOs have great influence over the way African governments manage their affairs. The only problem is, they normally get things wrong. Read More »
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Globalization's nasty bite
Paul Reiter
2007-10-02
An outbreak of chikungunya in Italy has been blamed on global warming but this cold-weather mosquito is actually carried by the trade in used tyres. As world leaders discuss far-reaching climate policies, it is time to stick to the science and nothing but the science. Read More »
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Economic Progress, Stability are key to Pakistan's future
Khalil Ahmad
2007-09-30
Pakistan's political debate is focussed on the personalities but all our leaders have already let us down before. The only way to save Pakistan is to allow sound economic policies to create growth: the Economic Freedom of the World index shows how. Read More »
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Montreal Protocol and ozone crisis that wasn't
Ben Lieberman
2007-09-13
Governments and activists are celebrating from 12-21 September the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol that saved the ozone layer - or did it? This analyst shows how other factors in real life up in the stratosphere had more effect than the CFC ban. He fears similar hype will lead to radical and expensive policies in the attempts to alter climate change - and the cost will hit the poorest hardest.
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Philippines: Enlarged market key to lower medicine costs
Katrina Mennen A. Valdez
2007-09-05
The Manila Times covers IPN's recent symposium on IP, innovation and health in Manila. Read More »
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Free water!
Kendra Okonski and Caroline Boin
2007-08-22
Poor management and inefficiency plague government water programmes but the oil market may provide examples for improvement. Read More »
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India's flood of corruption
Kendra Okonski
2007-08-16
Kendra Okonski sets the record straight on why 3,600 villages have been inundated, millions have fled and hundreds have died yet again in the northern Indian state of Bihar. Read More »
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Ideology hinders water supply for the poor
Alex Nash
2007-08-14
Before arguing that selling water for profit is unethical, anti-privatisation ideologues should consider how many poor people all over the world depend on entrepreneurs and small businesses for clean water. Read More »
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IP fixation is bad for health
Philip Stevens & Alec van Gelder
2007-08-13
International NGO campaigns in India have given the misleading impression that patents are the single most important barrier to good health in less-developed countries. This fallacy is drawing attention away from the real causes of disease. Read More »
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Cap and Blockade
Julian Morris
2007-08-13
A seventh EU member state has decided to take legal action against the Commission, highlighting the absurdity of the growth-retarding Kyoto Protocol and similar "cap and trade" schemes, which would be enormously expensive and relatively ineffective at addressing climate change. Read More »
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Taxing the sick
Alec van Gelder
2007-08-09
Like many of its neighbours, Tanzania has condemned its poor to paying higher prices for medicine in order to help the prosperous owners of inefficient local drug companies: this is the true face of protectionism and it is a major obstacle to international trade agreement in the Doha “Development Round.” Read More »
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The Real Threat to European R&D
Alec van Gelder
2007-08-05
It is governments, who undermine property rights and drive investment and business out of Europe, that are to blame for the falling levels and quality of European R&D, not new competition from the fast-growng countries of Asia. Read More »
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Africa needs its own Green Revolution
Douglas Southgate
2007-07-25
Agricultural technologies that could save millions of lives are being held back from Africans because of the opposition of environmental NGOs and other interest groups. Read More »
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A United States of Africa: AU chasing a mirage...
Franklin Cudjoe
2007-07-16
ACCRA - The African Union summit here has issued a road-map to a federation of African States (Accra Declaration) without mentioning a single idea on political or economic freedom for African citizens. Read More »
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A deadly double standard on AIDS treatment
Philip Stevens
2007-07-14
Increasing patient resistance to ARVs and anti-malarial drugs pose a huge threat to the health systems of poorer countries - yet drug resistance is being encouraged by the short-sighted policies of multilateral organisations and NGOs. Read More »
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UNAids, beware of crying wolf
James Chin
2007-07-14
THE UN agency coordinating global action against AIDS is wiping egg off its face after reluctantly admitting it had overestimated India's AIDS figures by more than half - following numerous similar exaggerations worldwide. Crying wolf is neither good science nor good politics.
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TRIPping Up Property Rights
Alec van Gelder and Philip Stevens
2007-07-11
After years of campaigning, activists have narrowed the debate about health care in poor countries to a single premise: intellectual property rights restrict access to medicines. But this discussion takes energy away from the things that really matter: infrastructure, doctors, nurses. Read More »
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It’s Live Earth versus Africa
Kofi Bentil
2007-07-08
Few people in Africa will get to see Al Gore and his troupe of rock-star ecologists strutting their stuff during the series of Live Earth concerts this weekend --because most have neither television nor electricity. Schemes that bar us from technology and undermine economic growth will prevent us adapting to change. What will the ageing politicians and rock-star ecologists do for us then?
 Click here for the Portuguese version
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Beware the population alarmists
Nicholas Eberstadt
2007-06-30
This week's U.N. "State of World Population" report warns that by 2008, more than half the world's population will live in urban areas. Shock, horror! But there is a serious point to the U.N. report: it wants to slow down urbanization by reducing birth rates. The only problem is that it provides no compelling reason for so doing.
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Save The Tiger: Sell It
Priya M Menon
2007-06-28
The Sustainable Development Network, an international coalition of think tanks and NGOs, argues that trade in certified farmed tiger parts could meet existing and future demand, thereby reducing pressure on wild tigers.
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What Michael Moore left on the cutting room floor
Helen Evans
2007-06-27
The quality of Britain's single-payer healthcare system has been entirely misrepresented by Michael Moore in his latest film, according to Helen Evans, a registered nurse from London. Read More »
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Slum dwellers need rights not projects
Caroline Boin
2007-06-23
India’s slum population has doubled to 61.8 million in 20 years and more than half the world’s population will live in cities by next year. UN Habitat has called for more plans to “stabilise the unplanned and chaotic aspects of urban growth.” But grandiose schemes simply ignore the underlying problems — and will probably make them worse. Read More »
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Hidden costs of Canadian health care system
Brett Skinner
2007-06-22
Michael Moore's latest film portrays Canada's healthcare system as a utopian combination of equity and efficiency. The reality is quite the opposite says Brett Skinner of Canada's Fraser Institute. Read More »
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Health: Is grass greener in Canada?
2007-06-15
UPI reports on the recent IPN/Galen Institute healthcare symposium in Washington DC, in which speakers from overseas told Americans about the realities of life under different forms of healthcare systems. Read More »
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Mugabe is not Zimbabwe
Rejoice Ngwenya
2007-06-08
Either we Africans are blind, selfish and greedy or something worse is holding us back. As a Zimbabwean, I have seen my country turned from breadbasket to basket case and I can tell you that our educated and hard-working people are not fools, but victims.
Although we are an extreme case, these oppressive economic and political policies are not exclusive to Zimbabwe. Read More »
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The elephant in the dining room
Alec van Gelder
2007-06-06
With much of the pre-G8 talk devoted to Africa and climate change, this year's agenda should really be about Russia's undeserved place in a gathering of industrialised democracies. Read More »
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Drug-resistant AIDS: The next tsunami
Jeremiah Norris & Philip Stevens
2007-06-04
Although billions were pledged for AIDS at the recent G8 meeting, the neglected issue of drug resistance is now starting to simmer — and it will soon make current financial commitments seem puny, while damaging the economies of countries already ravaged by HIV/AIDS.
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Enfriando la globalización [Cooling globalisation]
Juan Carlos Hidalgo
2007-06-01
Kyoto-style caps on emissions can only slow down economic growth everywhere but the poorest countries will be hit hardest, without actually achieving the alleged aim of slowing climate change, says IPN's Juan Carlos Hidalgo in Venezuela's daily 2001. Read More »
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Economic development in Thailand: In search of the right signals
UMESH PANDEY
2007-05-25
The Bangkok Post discusses key messages presented during a seminar on property rights, the rule of law and economic development hosted by IPN in Bangkok. Read More »
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Thailand violates drug patents for its own profit
Philip Stevens
2007-05-05
Thailand claims that its decision to issue compulsory licenses for several western-owned medicines is in the public interest. However, this policy risks increasing already serious resistance to AIDS medicines, with terrible implications for public health. Read More »
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Jeffrey Sachs is wrong once again: rising population isn't going to destroy the planet
Dominic Lawson
2007-04-13
This column in the UK's Independent cites IPN's latest book Fighting the diseases of poverty to address the idea that a rising world population will result in apocalypse. Read More »
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Thailand's new drugs war
George Wehrfritz
2007-04-09
IPN's Philip Stevens comments on the 'compulsory licenses' for several drugs recently issued by the Thai military government. Read More »
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Colombia FTA: Free trade good for both nations
Andrés Mejía-Vergnaud
2007-04-06
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Net Loss
Alec van Gelder
2007-04-05
In spite of its harmless name, "Net neutrality" would damage important innovation and hamper investment into broadband across Europe and possibly elsewhere, warns Alec van Gelder. Read More »
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Thailand's new drugs war
Newsweek International
2007-04-02
IPN's Philip Stevens comments on the Thai government's recent decision to issue 'compulsory licenses' for several drugs. Read More »
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Baptists and bootleggers
Philip Stevens
2007-03-25
Thailand's recent decision to "compulsory licence" a number of drugs has been applauded by health activists and "consumer" groups, in a coalition that looks a little like the 'bootleggers and Baptists' of Prohibition days. Except this time, the quality of vital medicines is at stake instead of moonshine. Read More »
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Myths about AIDS pandemic must stop
Professor James Chin, University of California at Berkeley
2007-03-05
Based on first-hand experiences, Prof Chin argues that the story of HIV has been distorted by organisations such as UNAIDS and AIDS activists in order to promote their own agendas. Read More »
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Policy threats to health progress
Philip Stevens
2007-02-21
South Africa has defied conventional wisdom to achieve success in its AIDS and malaria programmes. But this good work may be undone by its wider health reforms, which appear to be based more on ideology than commonsense. Read More »
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Populism versus the poor
Roger Bate
2007-02-19
Innovation by India's internationally competitive scientists suffers because of protectionist policies of the Government, says Roger Bate Read More »
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Thai licensing policy fatal for HIV/AIDS sufferers
Philip Stevens
2007-02-14
The Thai military government has recently decided to expropriate the patents of a series of drugs. Although these 'compulsory licenses' have been applauded by populist NGOs, this development poses a very grave risk to patient safety. Read More »
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Cheap medicine, costly treatment
Jeremiah Norris
2007-02-13
Activists claim that a case at India's high court could spell the end of cheap medicines for the poor. The reality is far different: a victory for the government would undermine health and the economy. Read More »
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Take control of your own streets
Julian Morris
2007-02-02
Julian Morris advocates a more rational approach to road pricing in the UK. Read More »
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Food aid and the roots of scarcity
Luther Tweeten
2007-02-02
Luther Tweeten analyses a recent report by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation. He writes, "THE United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has at last admitted that food aid can distort local markets, helping to perpetuate the conditions that demand food aid in the first place. But it does not go far enough in addressing the root causes of famines, which persist amid plenty." Read More »
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Medicines for the poor: not the Oxfam way
Roger Bate
2007-01-17
The registration of new medicines fell sharply in the last year in the USA, while Oxfam calls for a compulsory pricing structure and backs the compulsory licenses sought by Thailand and threatened by Brazil and Indonesia. There are indeed other problems facing pharmaceutical companies but the campaign against patents is a major one: when Big Pharma gives up investing in innovation, where will new medicines come from? The price of punishing Big Pharma is to punish the poor harder.
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Starbucks, Ethiopia and Oxfam
Alec van Gelder
2007-01-15
Oxfam is wrong to criticise Starbuck's in a coffee trademark dispute involving the Ethiopian government. Coffee growers need the rule of law, not the rule of Oxfam, explains Alec van Gelder. Read More »
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Lessons from Kenya’s stolen election
David Coltart
2007-01-14
Amid the reams of reporting and speculation about the Kenyan elections, this Zimbabwean opposition figure shows how his party’s experience can be used in a practical way to avoid violence and to shame and pressure governments which have manipulated elections. Outsiders and even Africans are often prone to despair about Africa’s future, but David Coltart points to progress in peaceful regime change in a number of countries. Read More »
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"Ethical" drugs miss heart of matter
Philip Stevens
2007-01-08
Scientists at Imperial College claim to be able to save millions of lives with their cheaper 'ethical pharmaceuticals'. But the fixation on the cost of medicines is diverting attention away from far more pressing issues. Read More »
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Death in the shade of world’s attention
Jeremiah Norris
2006-12-15
Millions of cancer and cardiovascular deaths could be cheaply averted in poorer countries, but it seems sometimes that HIV/AIDS is the only thing on the radarscreen of politicians and journalists. Read More »
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Freedom of expression in Turkey
Atilla Yayla
2006-12-07
What is the defining line between a civilized and uncivilized country? In my own experience in Turkey since Nov. 19, it is freedom of expression: I have been accused of treason in the press and suspended from my university for defending the common values of civilization and re-evaluating Turkey's history. Read More »
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Obsession with lower cost leads to deadly mistake
Bibek Debroy
2006-12-06
Bibek Debroy challenges the Thai Government to get its act together if the country is to come to grips with its HIV/AIDS problem. A strategy based on cost-containment in the procurement of medicines can and already has led to more problems than it has solved. Read More »
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AIDS: more money, less impact
Jeremiah Norris
2006-12-01
In the belief that the price and supply of drugs is the greatest barrier to care for HIV/AIDS patients, certain countries have set up a new financing mechanism named UNITAID. But this is duplicative and does not address the real problems of delivering high-quality treatment. Read More »
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The Milton Friedman I remember: Inspirational
Linda Whetstone
2006-11-24
"Milton Friedman has been -- and will continue to be -- an inspiration to those of us who were lucky enough to know him, or who have learnt from him. History will no doubt see him as one of the great minds of modern times." Read More »
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Drug price debate needs a dose of reality
Philip Stevens
2006-11-17
Certain NGOs claim that intellectual property is the root cause of the health crises faced by many poor countries. This is entirely bogus and is diverting attention from more important issues. Read More »
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Why the 10/90 gap is still 100% fiction
Philip Stevens
2006-11-14
Certain NGOs still talk about correcting the '10/90 gap' in health research, even though it demonstrably does not exist. Read More »
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20/20 vision for policy makers
Leon Louw
2006-11-08
"Economic performance is in a country’s direct control, not dependent on variables such as natural resources, climate, size, race, culture or arable land, nor on external factors such as colonial history, foreign aid or tariff barriers. Poor countries do not face any special barrier to growth: the poor get poorer only when they have poor policies..." Read More »
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Fear of flying: why green alarmists are wrong
Kendra Okonski
2006-11-02
Will cheap air travel inundate the Earth’s atmosphere with dangerous greenhouse
gases unless curtailed by punitive taxes? Read More »
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Free trade and health: a virtuous circle
Brendan Grabau and Alec van Gelder
2006-11-01
Scaremongers and anti-trade activists have been conjuring up apocalyptic scenarios if Malaysia and the United States agree on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). But an FTA with the US would improve Malaysian growth and all the other good things associated with prosperity: better medicines, higher investment and more jobs. Read More »
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Pay up ... or the planet gets it
2006-10-30
Julian Morris comments on the UK government's proposals for green taxes Read More »
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If the Internet ain't broke...
Alec van Gelder
2006-10-27
Alec van Gelder explains why putting the UN in charge of the Internet is a bad idea. Read More »
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Africa can feed itself, if allowed
Douglas Southgate
2006-10-18
FAMINES are created by policies, not by pests or droughts. Hunger plagues hundreds of millions of Africans, even though they are capable of feeding themselves. The solution is the right sort of policies. Agricultural production has surpassed population growth and reduced hunger everywhere except in sub-Saharan Africa. Poverty and malnutrition are widespread. Environmental hardships such as soil erosion are omnipresent and are only worsening with primitive techniques of subsistence farming. Read More »
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Wealth equals health?
Rina Jimenez-David
2006-10-10
What is it that makes wealthier countries healthier? Why is healthcare so expensive for many poor people? Philip Stevens & Barun Mitra discuss these questions with one of the Philippine's top columnists. Read More »
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Response by Julian Morris to "Pundits who contest climate change should tell us who is paying them", by George Monbiot, The Guardian, 26 September 2006
Julian Morris
2006-09-28
Read More »
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Turn your eyes to Zimbabwe
Douglas Southgate
2006-09-20
Robert Mugabe is in New York this week to attend the meeting of the U.N. General Assembly. Perhaps the other representatives might like to ask Mugabe about a report that last week his followers violently attacked 15 representatives of the political opposition, including the leader of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and senior officials of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. The beatings were just the latest attack in the war Mugabe is waging against his own people, whom he has ruled since 1980. Read More »
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Overpopulation: Nothing to do with numbers
Caroline Boin
2006-09-12
Every generation has doomsayers who claim that the world is overpopulated -- usually with images of mass famine and starvation, generalized warfare and the decline and fall of civilizations. Long before the Reverend Malthus declared in the late 18th Century that the human population would inevitably increase faster than we could produce food to feed it -- resulting in wars, famine and pestilence -- the Greek philosopher Aristotle urged legislators to calculate and enforce a “convenient number of citizens.”
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Critics ignore progress on AIDS
Jeremiah Norris
2006-09-11
THE 60 international scientists who called this week for the resignation of Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang for her “inadequate” and even “lunatic” AIDS treatment programme ignore that SA is now one of the leaders in the developing world in providing antiretroviral (ARV) treatment. Read More »
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The Role of Market Institutions in Enabling Adaptation to Climate Change
Julian Morris
2006-09-08
The best solutions to climate change enable people to prosper and avail themselves of all the adaptive measures that the wealthy can afford Read More »
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Health warning: a long and prosperous life kills
Philip Stevens
2006-09-08
It would be a mistake to respond to the increasing burden of chronic diseases in poorer countries by banning "unhealthy" products. Instead, economic development should be encouraged so that populations can educate themselves and afford better health interventions. Read More »
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Bridge the digital divide
Alec van Gelder
2006-09-08
Use of ICT along with an open economy will help developing economies to grow faster and catch up with developed ones. Read More »
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After years of neglect, the UN is finally focused on Aids prevention
Philip Stevens
2006-08-22
After three years of throwing money at AIDS treatment programmes while ignoring the vital task of prevention, the head of UNAIDS said this week that prevention was the key to defeating the AIDS pandemic. This switch of strategy is welcome, but raises serious questions about the competence of the UN high command. Read More »
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The 'right' to AIDS treatment?
Kristen Veblen
2006-08-20
AIDS is a tragic disease, killing millions and impoverishing millions more. But should people living with HIV/AIDS have a "right" to treatment, as was claimed by many at this year's International AIDS Convention?
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Fight the radicals from common ground
Mustafa Akyol
2006-08-17
"Islam needs to be saved from medieval traditions and modern political hatreds, and to be reunderstood as a God-centered civil faith that will have no trouble being a part of the open, pluralistic modern society."
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La ONU no pasa la prueba del Sida
Philip Stevens
2006-08-15
El historial de la organización de naciones unidas en la lucha contra el sida es uno de dinero dilapidado y políticas sumamente dañinas que muestran que esta organización no está en capacidad de lidiar con esta pandemia. Read More »
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WHO’s ’3 by 5’ not the answer
Jeremiah Norris
2006-08-15
ACTIVISTS at this week’s world AIDS conference want us to believe that the United Nations’ inefficient and expensive treatment programmes can defeat the AIDS pandemic in Africa. But the single-minded pursuit of these targets has taken the focus away from the only thing which really can defeat it: prevention. Read More »
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AIDS: Fantasy figures and poor delivery
Barrie Craven and Gordon Stewart
2006-08-15
When activists gather in Toronto for the 2006 AIDS summit to demand yet more money for the UN goal of treating 10 million sufferers, no-one will be admitting this figure is an educated guess, at best. This simple but avoided truth has massive implications for the way we fight the disease. Read More »
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Let citizens tackle powerful producer lobbies to get free trade back on track
Wolfgang Kasper
2006-08-08
Doha was not defeated by intransigent trade negotiators. Rather, the culprits were self-seeking domestic interest groups on all sides, which hinder national governments from making further trade “concessions”. These producer lobbies exert growing control over sovereign governments, with the consequence that they prevent other, less well-organised, groups of fellow citizens from reaping the considerable benefits of freer international trade and investment. Read More »
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Health warning: A long and prosperous life kills
Philip Stevens
2006-08-07
It would be a mistake to respond to the increasing burden of chronic diseases in poorer countries by banning "unhealthy" products. Instead, economic development should be encouraged so that populations can educate themselves and afford better health interventions. Read More »
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Rice versus reason as farmers protest against FTA
Philip Stevens and Alec van Gelder
2006-08-03
Asian countries stand to gain great benefits from opening up their markets to Free Trade Agreements with the United States. Progress is threatened by all kinds of vested interests, however. Read More »
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Doha's failure was triumph for vested interests
Andrés Mejia-Vergnaud
2006-07-31
The failure of the Doha Round was a victory for anti-trade lobbies throughout the world, but a betrayal of the poor. Read More »
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High tariffs on drugs breed counterfeit medicines
2006-07-27
Franklin Cudjoe tells the Ghanaian minister of health how high tariffs and taxes on imported medicines in Ghana are driving people to traditional quack cures or to cheap counterfeit medicines. Read More »
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G7 plus 1: the elephant in the dining room
Alec van Gelder
2006-07-14
Ahead of the St Petersburg G8 meeting, taking place on 15-17 July, Alec van Gelder questions Russia's presence in a club of industrialised democracies. Read More »
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MMR scare 'may cause epidemics abroad'
Rosie Murray-West
2006-07-10
British scare stories over the safety of the combined MMR injection could cause deadly epidemics in poorer countries, experts believe. Read More »
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'Aid only feeds Africa's corruption'
Carl Mortishead
2006-07-10
The outspoken Ugandan journalist and radio host Andrew Mwenda spoke at International Policy Network about the damage foreign aid is wreaking upon Africa. The Times of London picks up the story. Read More »
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Bad science, bad health: Health fads kill the poor
Mark Weston
2006-07-03
Unscientific western scaremongering has cost millions of lives in low income countries by limiting the use of GM crops and DDT for malaria control. Will western anxiety undermine the use of the MMR vaccine? Read More »
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Mexican vote choices: Boom or bust
Alberto Saracho
2006-06-30
Alberto Saracho, Executive Director of Fundacion IDEA in Mexico discusses the implications of the July 2nd Mexican Presidential elections. Making sure the right policies are put in place is a matter of "boom or bust" for Mexico. Read More »
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A plague of planners
Randal O\'Toole
2006-06-23
This article critiques centralised urban planning by government bureaucrats, as this week's World Urban Forum, held in Vancouver, Canada draws to a close. Read More »
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More aid will not prevent more AIDS
Philip Stevens
2006-06-05
The recent UNAIDS conference in New York ended with a plea for more cash to help fight the disease. But all the aid money in the world won't address the root causes of the plague - political and economic oppression Read More »
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Politicians: hands off our water
Kendra Okonski
2006-06-05
Does Southeast England really have a "water crisis" -- and if so, what is the solution? Read More »
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Europe's junk science risks African lives
Richard Tren
2006-06-01
"Europe is out of step. Instead of helping Uganda save lives, the EU threatens to ban agricultural imports from Uganda, relying on junk science and protectionism to shape its public health policy. The EU has not issued any official statement on its DDT policy, preferring to issue vague threats via the media. While the EU may not be as bold as USAID by actually buying DDT, it should stop its malicious attacks on efficiency and good science."
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Drug delusions at the WHO
Andres Mejía-Vergnaud
2006-05-20
In Geneva on May 22 to 27 Brazil and Kenya will ask representatives of most of the World’s governments to set up a new “Global Framework on Essential Health Research and Development.” They claim too little money is being invested in drugs for the diseases of poverty: their scheme would make sure this myth became reality.
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Kenya's drug plan would be bitter pill
Thompson Ayodele
2006-05-18
Kenya is proposing to next week's World Health Assembly a scheme that would see much medical R&D shifted from the private to the public sector. Thompson Ayodele takes a critical look at the plan, and concludes that it would be bureaucratic, messy and counterproductive. Read More »
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Self-interest works wonders
Alec van Gelder
2006-04-25
Alec van Gelder explains that while intellectual property rights encourage innovation and creativity, the growing presence of domestically-owned knowledge-based industries in China is the most significant reason why local authorities have begun to respect rising numbers of patents, trademarks and copyrights. Read More »
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Education Aid: Ask the Poor What They Want
James Tooley
2006-04-19
The poor are taking education into their own hands in spite of obstacles put in their way by governments who claim to provide free primary education. Read More »
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Let the poor have water
Kendra Okonski
2006-04-09
This article discusses the Fourth World Water Forum in Mexico City, which was "marred by a series of logistical nightmares". The situation is the same in many poor countries, where governments prevent millions of poor people from obtaining clean water. Read More »
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Fashion and foreign aid; a realistic look at the "digital divide"
Alec van Gelder
2006-04-01
The most recent edition of the Institute for Public Affairs quarterly journal includes an contribution from Alec van Gelder on the misguided effort to close the so-called "digital divide" by foreign aid transfers. Governments should concentrate less on specific innovations and technology and more on the fundamentals of economic growth that encourage their development and distribution in the first place. (Download PDF) Read More »
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'Nanny state' targets barriers to healthy life
2006-03-26
IPN's Philip Stevens comments on the dangers of attempting to improve public health by regulating our lifestyle choices. Read More »
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Water: Scarcity in plenty
Barun Mitra
2006-03-22
Individuals, entrepreneurs and communities are not waiting for government to fulfil empty promises and fill empty water pipes. Private initiatives in India, Africa, Latin America and Asia are already sustaining local markets and improving access for millions Read More »
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Trickle-down theory
Barun Mitra
2006-03-22
It is customary to cry over poor implementation of water policies. But little thought is given to the institutional arrangements and incentive structures that almost doom these public policies from inception. Many individual entrepreneurs and communities are, however, refusing to wait for political promises to be fulfilled. People are increasingly rising to the challenge and creating a market for water to ensure better and more efficient allocation of the precious resource.
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Paying for our water would make us value each drop
2006-03-19
"One practical way forward is charted in a new booklet, The Water Revolution, from the International Policy Network, a London-based think-tank. Its editor, Kendra Okonski, has collected a series of narratives from around the world that show that if there is ownership of water in some form, then it will be better used. These examples include small dams in villages in Gujarat, designed to catch run-off, and informal "illegal" entrepreneurs who put in water systems in African cities to solve the water and sanitation problems left by government."
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Market forces stir up water debate
BBC News Online
2006-03-16
An online news article which discusses The Water Revolution and how we might use markets to address water scarcity. Read More »
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Thirst for Justice
2006-03-13
In a typically biased news story about water issues around the world, The Guardian provides a somewhat out-of-context mention of The Water Revolution, published this week by the Sustainable Development Network. Read More »
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Water policy 'fails world's poor'
2006-03-09
The UN has launched a new report today, entitled "Water - A Shared Responsibility". Barun Mitra says on BBC News Online that "Nobody wants to wait around for somebody else to solve their problems, because water is a prime necessity. Where governments are failing is by not recognising these informal initiatives and putting them into a formal framework."
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Tamiflu or Tamifake?
Philip Stevens
2006-03-05
Bird flu is on the wing in Asia, Africa and Europe. It is only a matter of time before it arrives in North America. Yet the supply of effective drugs everywhere is undermined by a plague of counterfeits for which governments are to blame. Read More »
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The poor are just like everyone else
Franklin Cudjoe
2006-02-23
Franklin Cudjoe responds in the Financial Times to Christian Aid's claim that development in Africa can only be achieved by the redistribution of wealth. Read More »
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Free Trade for Health
Ritu Raj Subedi
2006-02-16
Is there any link between trade and health? On first sight, they have no similarity at all. But some economists are of the conviction that trade has tremendous impact on human health. Read More »
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Governments are to blame for the counterfeit drugs pandemic
Philip Stevens
2006-02-16
Bird flu is on the wing in Africa. It is wiping out poultry stocks in Nigeria, while neighbours nervously await its inevitable arrival - yet the supply of effective drugs everywhere is undermined by a plague of counterfeits for which governments are to blame. Read More »
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Question of life or death in Africa
Temba Nolutshungu
2006-02-08
The World Trade Organization was expected to rule Tuesday against European Union barriers to GM foods. But this will not help millions of starving Africans get cheap and reliable crops: EU regulation-creep will keep them firmly in their place. Read More »
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Biotechnology: How to set African women free
Dr Margaret Karembu
2006-02-07
A trade dispute between rich nations could unlock or tighten the chains on the world’s poorest farmers – meaning most African women. The World Trade Organisation’s forthcoming ruling on GM foods could keep them scratching at the soil for subsistence or help them conquer famine.
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How not to conserve the species
Julian Morris
2006-02-03
India and Brazil are hoping to put a stop to "biopiracy" but their heavy-handed approach would be counter-productive and would undermine species conservation. When negotiators meet this week in Spain to debate the issue, they should follow South Africa's successful conservation policies based on empowering local people. Read More »
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Measuring the unmeasurable
Oliver Marc Hartwich
2006-01-30
Science requires measurement. But not all measurement is scientific. The newest example is the Environmental Performance Index (EPI), released at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland -- a compilation of data on the alleged state of the environment in 133 countries.
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Bono out of tune with poverty campaigners on branding plan
2006-01-27
IPN's Philip Stevens argues that Bono's new "Red" branding plan does not provide the answer to Africa's AIDS problem. Read More »
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Avoiding 'climate control'
Professor Wolfgang Kasper
2006-01-11
Wolfgang Kasper argues that the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate "promises a more constructive, forward-looking and humane approach [to addressing climate change]. And one that might just enable more people in poor countries to attain wealthier, healthier and cleaner lives." Read More »
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Not working for the Yankee dollar
Rigoberto Stewart
2006-01-08
from the Washington Times
The sweeping victory of Evo Morales in Bolivia's recent presidential election marks another step back in Latin America from slow liberalization and free trade toward socialism and anti-Americanism: a few U.S. corporations may suffer a little but the real victims, as ever, will be the poor. Read More »
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'Ethical' drugs miss heart of matter
Philip Stevens
2006-01-08
Scientists at Imperial College claim to be able to save millions of lives with their cheaper 'ethical pharmaceuticals'. But the fixation on the cost of medicines is diverting attention away from far more pressing issues. Read More »
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Prevention better than cure, UN realises
Philip Stevens
2006-00-22
After three years of throwing money at AIDS treatment programmes while ignoring the vital task of prevention, the head of UNAIDS said this week that prevention was the key to defeating the AIDS pandemic. This switch of strategy is welcome, but raises serious questions about the competence of the UN high command. Read More »
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IPN responds to defamatory claims made in The Times
2005-12-21
IPN has been in the news a great deal in the past few weeks. Mostly the coverage has been very positive. However, on Tuesday The Times of London published a commentary that is full of false claims about IPN. We have responded to these allegations with a letter to The Times requesting that they make a retraction and an apology, which can be seen below. Read More »
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The Future of World Trade
Julian Morris
2005-12-20
IPN's Executive Director, Julian Morris, writes about the future of world trade,
"It is time to rethink how multilateral liberalization proceeds. Since the WTO does a good job of administering the agreements within its ambit, it might be best to limit its role to such administrative tasks. The failure of its recent Ministerial meetings means that multilateral liberalization is, in any case, slipping out of its grasp. Instead we are witnessing an explosion of bilateral and regional agreements, as countries seek other ways of pressing forward with trade liberalization."
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Suits and ties demonstrate on opposite side of divide
2005-12-16
The Guardian writes about the Freedom to Trade demonstration in Hong Kong at the World Trade Organization meeting. Read More »
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Free trade supporters hit back
2005-12-16
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Unshackling Africa
Franklin Cudjoe
2005-12-14
Franklin Cudjoe writes about Africa's self-inflicted barriers to trade. (Link for non-subscribers) Read More »
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The Music Trade
Alec van Gelder
2005-12-09
Alec van Gelder responds to an opinion article by a rockstar in the International Herald Tribune, and calls for the respect of contracts and author's rights that are the foundation of all flourishing creative industries. Read More »
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WHO’s in Charge?
Philip Stevens
2005-12-01
The strategic documents coming out of the WHO lay bare the power the big NGOs now have in shaping its agenda - and it is an agenda that promotes the failed redistributory economics of the past. Read More »
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Answers to wrong questions on AIDS
Philip Stevens
2005-11-30
The idea that AIDS in Africa and other poor countries can be reversed only with large sums of aid money is certainly politically attractive. After all, only someone with a complete disregard for humanity could argue against it. But this tin-rattling is not providing answers to the AIDS problem. Instead, this year’s World AIDS day should be looking at some more effective approaches.
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The shady climate salesmen
Kendra Okonski
2005-11-24
Some say that the Kyoto Protocol and other forms of climate control are an 'insurance policy' against climate change. Yet this form of insurance comes with a high premium -- effectively wasting resources that could otherwise be used to solve problems today. Read More »
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The Internet: Why it isn't a panacea for poor countries
Alec van Gelder
2005-11-16
Alec van Gelder argues that barriers to technological development are the same barriers that hold back economic development in poor countries generally: an absence of the enforceable contracts and property rights, excessive duties on imported goods, and burdensome market restrictions. This week's UN World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis is a good opportunity to draw attention to these real barriers to development.
Click here to read a Spanish-language version of this article in La Nacion, Argentina. Read More »
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WHO must take side of malaria victims
Philip Stevens
2005-11-10
The WHO has finally agreed to use DDT as a main part of its strategy to combat the worsening malaria problem. But the demonised pesticide will have to overcome many vested-interests and political hurdles before it can start saving lives again. Read More »
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Development, not climate control
Kendra Okonski
2005-11-04
The world's poorest people suffer most because of climate -- not climate change. This article argues that restricting greenhouse gas emissions in poor countries would be misguided and counterproductive. Read More »
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Markets are still only way forward
Claudio Djissey Shikida
2005-11-04
Claudio Shikida argues that previous methods of economic development in Latin America based on protectionism have created more poverty and corruption and that policymakers should support free trade during the Summit of the Americas. Read More »
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ALCA: La iniciativa debe venir de Latinoamérica
Juan Carlos Hidalgo
2005-11-02
Spanish-language article about the Fourth Summit of the Americas, November 2005 Read More »
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Patent nonsense on avian flu
Alec van Gelder
2005-10-31
Alec van Gelder argues that it would be counterproductive to break the patent on a medicine to treat human cases of avian flu in the Boston Globe. This article was published again on the 1st of November in the International Herald Tribune. Read More »
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Unprincipled Precaution
Gary Marchant
2005-10-13
Gary Marchant, author of IPN's new book Arbitrary and Capricious, discusses how the European Union's courts have used the precautionary principle to justify all manner of unprincipled decisions. Read More »
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No Copyright? No Thanks.
Alec van Gelder
2005-10-13
Alec van Gelder rebuts an article in the International Herald Tribune - "Imagine a world without copyright" (8-9 October, 2005). He argues that "artistic ideas are scarce resources like any other" -- and that artists' ideas - their intellectual investments - must be protected from theft. A longer version of this response is available on IPN's website Read More »
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Creativity versus Culture Tax
Alec van Gelder
2005-10-13
Alec van Gelder's original response to “Imagine A World Without Copyright” (International Herald Tribune, 8-9 October 2005, by Joost Smiers and Marieke van Schijndel). A shorter version was published in the International Herald Tribune (13 October 2005) Read More »
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Lesson for UN from the slums
James Tooley
2005-10-06
SOME of the poorest parents in the world are paying for their children’s education rather than accepting bad, but free, state schooling. Parents strive to educate their children — and the poor are no exception. But, like many parents in rich countries, African, Indian and Chinese parents have discovered that free education often means failed education. Evidence suggests private education is both cheaper and better, even for the poorest of the poor. Read More »
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NGOs on Drugs
Alec van Gelder
2005-10-05
Alec van Gelder writes in the Wall Street Journal Europe that the proposals to circumvent property rights made by the self-styled "friends of development", a group of NGOs and Governments from poorer countries, are misguided in their attempts to improve access to medicines, among other things. Read More »
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Climate change summit postponed
2005-10-05
IPN's Executive Director Julian Morris comments on an upcoming climate change summit in Australia Read More »
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Compulsory social responsibility
Martin Krause
2005-09-27
Martin Krause, dean of ESEADE Business School in Argentina, writes in The Washington Times that Latin American governments are undermining the market for new AIDS medicines with their populist policies of price controls and compulsory licences. Read More »
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Economic growth is good for health
Philip Stevens
2005-09-14
Philip Stevens argues that India's growing economy is allowing it to buy significant improvements in population health. However, this process could be undermined by well-meaning policies that seek to prioritise income equality and equity. Read More »
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UN Plan to Keep Poor in their Place
Philip Stevens
2005-09-14
"Inequality" is the latest buzzword at the UN, which it plans to iron out wherever possible in pursuit of its Millennium Development Goals. But will this quest undermine economic growth and keep the poor poor? Philip Stevens investigates. Read More »
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Why Aid Doesn't Work
Fredrik Erixon
2005-09-11
Fredrik Erixon, author of IPN's study Aid and development, takes on Jeffrey Sachs in a BBC online feature article, around the UN's Millennium Development Goals meeting in New York this week. Read More »
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Prevention still key to fighting AIDS plague
Franklin Cudjoe
2005-08-15
Franklin Cudjoe argues that obsessively focusing on the treatment of AIDS sufferers is not enough to stem the AIDS epidemic, especially in African countries that have weak health infrastructure. What is needed instead are coherent prevention strategies combined with the economic freedom that will allow Africans to help themselves. Read More »
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Africa's Elite Set to Blow G-8 Windfall
Franklin Cudjoe
2005-08-11
"ALL across Africa, politicians and bureaucrats greeted with glee the Group of Eight commitment to debt relief and aid. Not because it would finally lift their countries out of poverty -- their reasons were far more self-interested. They even started planning how they were going to spend the loot." Read More »
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La burocracia sanitaria mundial
Dr Javier Vilosio
2005-08-08
Un autor argentino opine que la Organizacion mundial de salud (OMS) no esta representando los intereses de los paises pobres, sobre todo en la guerra contra los tres enfremedades que son las mas importantes, el sida, el malaria y tuberculosis. El problema principal es que la mayoria de los rescursos del OMS son gastados en la burocracia en vez de dirigirles a los problemas verdaderos es los paises mas pobres. Read More »
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Protecting patents safeguards patients
John Kilama
2005-07-29
John Kilama argues that "Attempting to replace IP protection with government funding of applied R&D is likely to be about as successful as the Soviet Union's record of innovation; i.e. poor." Read More »
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Finding a better way for Africa
Franklin Cudjoe
2005-07-25
Franklin Cudjoe analyses why protectionism won't enable Africans to be healthier or wealthier: "A major problem is that in most African countries, the health infrastructure is simply too poorly developed to be able reliably to deliver Aids medications to great numbers of people...
"For us in Africa, the real nuts to crack are excessive government regulations, poor education, punitive local taxes on drugs and poor health infrastructure both in terms of personnel and resources."
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Empowerment to Reduce Poverty in Africa - Mbeki
2005-07-18
An article discussion Moeletsi Mbeki's paper, Perpetuating Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa Read More »
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The challenge of developing new drugs, but cheaply
Jaqui Pile
2005-07-17
South Africa's Financial Mail reports on IPN's publication, "Diseases of poverty and the 10/90 gap", which argues that the most pressing health problem in poor countries is how to ensure access to readily available, cheap medicines. Read More »
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Protectionism won’t save Africa from AIDS
Franklin Cudjoe
2005-07-08
"In the long term, governments of African countries such as Ghana should broaden access to economic opportunities through institutional reforms. The economic well being of Ghanaians remains the bulwark against the spread of HIV/AIDS." Read More »
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Time for Bono to Shut Up and Sing
2005-07-05
An article discussing IPN's study Aid and development Read More »
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A Decade of WTO
2005-07-05
Discusses Looking Back to Look Beyond, a new book by Bibek Debroy and Mohammed Saqib: "Julian Morris raises the subject of environmental protection, including the rather dubious |
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2008 Bastiat Prize Dinner, Wednesday October 22, New York City
