By Jeremiah Norris
7 Mar 2008
CLICK HERE FOR FULL ANALYSIS at the Campaign for Fighting Diseases   In the global fight against HIV/AIDS, there is perhaps no greater single contribution to public health than the US FDA Fast Track Process: the World Health Organisation had been giving “prequalification” approval to untested medicines on the grounds that it was better to give poor drugs to the poor than nothing. In fact, those drugs could be harmful to patients as well as helping the disease mutate.     As the prequalification scandal broke in 2004, the FDA offered free testing to any foreign drug being sold as a generic: this meant better drugs in general for the poor but also meant that the huge US PEPFAR programme could buy these approved drugs in the sure knowledge they were getting the right products. Now, 70% of PEPFAR beneficiaries, or about half of all HIV/AIDS patients, get these FDA-approved generics.   What the FDA and the reformed WHO prequalification system have achieved is only an indication of what more can be done for the benefit of poor patients. Jeremiah Norris Center for Science in Public Policy, Hudson Institute, Washington DC.

By Barun Mitra
29 Feb 2008
A long article in The Economist (21 Feb. 2008) analyses the premature reports of the death of Hollywood, saying it can overcome piracy and adapt to  new media.  Barun Mitra comments:- The Gutenberg press did not make handwriting obsolete but actually contributed to expanding literacy...

By Hannah Stone
19 Feb 2008
This Wall Street Journal news analysis argues that current high global food prices could prompt countries to cut import tariffs on agricultural products, thus making an agreement in the Doha trade talks easier – although there is no prospect of a cut in EU or US farm subsidies. The EU has temporarily removed all tariffs on cereal imports, while countries as diverse as Russia, India, and South Korea have cut tariffs on various agricultural imports...

By Philip Stevens
18 Feb 2008
A new report from British pressure group Save the Children claims that economic growth does not necessarily translate into a healthier population. The report cites examples such as India, which still suffers high rates of child mortality despite having undergone a prolonged period of economic growth. This report saysnothing new. Reading between the lines, it is a fairly standard call for governments to redistribute wealth and intervene more heavily in the economy, in order to iron out the inequalities which they perceive to perpetuate ill health. However, economic growth certainly does improve health of the individuals who are able to benefit from it, not least because it enables people to afford better sanitation and living conditions, which are the key to reducing most of the disease burden in less developed countries.  The point is that not everyone is able to share in economic growth, largely because of counterproductive governance.  For example, if the poor do not have property rights, it makes it impossible for them to borrow capital to invest in their own businesses and education and climb up the economic ladder.  Meanwhile, the poorest countries erect massive, costly regulatory obstacles to entrepreneurship, meaning that only the politically well-connected and rich can start businesses and create wealth.  And so on. Save the Children are right to point out that the poor are still suffering unacceptably poor health as a result of poverty.  Their diagnosis is way off the mark, because the redistributory measures they advocate would stifle economic growth and cut off the one mechanism that is vital for improving health. It would be more constructive for Save the Children to talk about empowering the poor instead of clobbering the rich.

By International Policy Network
12 Feb 2008
Foreign aid programmes suffer from the curse of good intentions: while billions pour into high-profile drug-focused programs targeting malaria and Aids - in the US, 43% of foreign health assistance funds HIV efforts - less glamorous but more widespread problems such as maternal care and the public health infrastructure are overlooked. Dr. Santa comes to town, by Jon Entine:   It is the curse of good intentions...