Nigeria

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January 30, 2013 | 2:47 PM | By  | 

Gates Foundation CEO describes how measuring polio is key to ending it | 

Bill Gates issued his annual letter for 2013 today, in which he makes the case for measurement as a critical tool to fighting poverty, disease and inequality.

The call for better measurement and evaluation within the aid and development community is popular, but hardly new. And, as we noted earlier in the week when Gates spilled the beans on what he was going to say this year, it’s one thing to measure something and quite another to be certain you’re looking at the right variables, getting meaningful numbers and coming up with an answer that actually provides you with a useful new course of action.

Jeff RaikesThat’s why I wanted to tell Jeff Raikes, CEO of the Bill& Melinda Gates Foundation, the story of the drunk under the street light.

You know, this guy sees a drunk guy crawling around under a light looking for his car keys. He asks the drunk where exactly he thinks he dropped the keys. “Over there in that dark alley,” replies the inebriate. So the guy asks, why look here? Drunk guy: “The light is better.”

“…” said Raikes, blankly looking like he thought agreeing to this interview maybe wasn’t such a good idea.

My point was that measurement and evaluation are fine, but as Albert Einstein said: “Some things that are worth doing can’t be measured; And some things that can be measured aren’t worth doing.”

The eradication of polio is a top priority right now for the Gates Foundation, as Gates notes in his 2013 letter and has said many times over the years — saying so again in a speech this week  in London. He thinks it can be done by 2018, a fairly bold prediction because it’s been made by others so many times over and has, so far, never happened. Said Gates:

“The number of global polio cases has been under 1,000 cases for the last two years, but getting rid of the very last few cases is the hardest part.”

Yeah, so how can measurement help? Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Basics, annual letter, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Jeff Raikes, metrics, Nigeria, polio
September 27, 2012 | 11:55 AM | By  | 

We must end polio – if only so Bill Gates can talk about something else | 

That sounds flip. But it’s not meant to undermine the global campaign to eradicate polio or (continue to) irritate the media folks at the Gates Foundation. It’s meant to underline the frustration I assume Bill Gates and many other advocates of this important global health goal must feel, even if they don’t say so.

News analysis (of sorts)

Today, at the United Nations, Bill Gates, heads of state from the polio-plagued countries Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan, the head of the UN, the fiesty chief of the World Health Organization and other ‘global luminaries’ today repeated the call to push on with the ongoing effort to rid the world of polio.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the world is at a decisive moment and that he has made polio a “top priority” for his second term.

“Failure to eradicate polio would be unforgivable…. Failure is not an option,” said Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization. India was recently declared polio free, a major achievement for the campaign.

Gates Foundation

Bill Gates and Jeff Raikes in Nigeria for polio vaccination

“The evidence is clear: if we all do our part, we can and will end this disease. But we must act quickly and give ourselves the very best chance to succeed,” said Gates, who had earlier explained on his personal blog why he flew 3,000 miles to speak for three minutes at this somewhat predictable event. “When we defeat polio, it will motivate us to aim for other great health and development milestones.”

Yeah, yeah. Same old stuff. But that last statement by Gates is key.

Chances are, this particular dog-and-pony show among all the other UN dog-and-pony shows — despite the alleged luminaries — may get only passing notice because, well, most people don’t really care about polio. That’s why they bring out luminaries – to get you to pay attention.

(NOTE: The first news report I saw on this gathering of luminosity was an AP story in which the reporter at the polio event asked Gates what he thinks of the new Windows 8 operating system. Gates said, “Very exciting.” No word if the journalist asked about polio….) Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Health, Afghanistan, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, eradication, Nigeria, Pakistan, polio, United Nations, World Health Organization
April 16, 2012 | 10:59 AM | By  | 

Counterpoint: Economist takes on NYTimes ‘Malthusian’ tendencies | 

Flickr, nch05

Lotsa Nigerians

Last week, the United Nations’ predicted which countries can expect to see the biggest increases in urban populations – China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and … the United States.

I’m still waiting for someone to provide a more detailed analysis of what this all means, since the US is included in a list of other “emerging” countries that many see as having problems with managing population growth.

But until that happens, let’s consider the New York Times’ close look at population growth in Nigeria, which is already the world’s 6th most populous nation with something like 167 million people.

As the Times’ Elizabeth Rosenthal writes in her report Nigeria tested by rapid rise in population:

In a quarter-century, at the rate Nigeria is growing, 300 million people — a population about as big as that of the present-day United States — will live in a country the size of Arizona and New Mexico. In this commercial hub, where the area’s population has by some estimates nearly doubled over 15 years to 21 million, living standards for many are falling.

The gist of the Times’ story is that it is population growth which is causing hardship for so many Nigerians.

Chris Blattman, an aid expert and Yale economist, thinks this is just hogwash. He criticizes the newspaper for reverting to the archaic theories of population doom along the lines of 18th century Rev. Thomas Malthus in his rejoinder to the Times’ story dubbed Mr. Malthus goes to Nigeria:

Ever year or so the Times likes to run a Chicken Little story, warning us of the impending demographic and youth time bomb. I’m willing to bet the tradition goes back several decades. The bomb, oddly enough, is still ticking. What about Asia and Latin America, where previous demographic crises have been predicted?

The point many like Blattman, and Michael Clemens at the Center for Global Development, want to make is that population growth, per se, is not the problem. Lack of economic growth is the problem. And, as Blattman notes implicitly, as communities prosper their birth rates decline.

FILED UNDER: Chris Blattman, Michael Clemens, Nigeria, population
February 28, 2012 | 10:12 AM | By  | 

On human rights, U.S. pursues ‘global governance’ on its own | 

The Council on Foreign Relations has produced an interactive “Global Governance” monitor to, as they say: “Track, map and evaluate international efforts to address today’s global challenges.”

Council on Foreign Relations

One of the categories monitored by CFR is international human rights (go to link for map, above is just a screen grab) which as you can tell upon a quick glance at the map is one issue in which the U.S. takes a minority stance.

I point this out because international human rights, as NPR reports, was a big issue before the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday.

The first case is brought by Nigerians with political asylum in the U.S. who are seeking to sue Shell Oil for complicity in government abuses and atrocities they suffered in Nigeria. The other regards an American citizen allegedly abducted and murdered by the Palestinian Liberation Organization:

Human rights are front and center at the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday in two cases testing how American law intersects with international law. At issue in both cases is whether foreign nationals in the United States can sue corporations or other entities in U.S. courts for alleged violations of human rights.

Given this, it’s worth taking a closer look at CFR’s Human Rights map. It’s interactive, full of lots more information (and better resolution at their website).

As the map shows, the United States is among a minority of countries to have not agreed to adhere to the statutes of the International Criminal Court. I’m not an expert on international law, but I wondered if these cases going to the U.S. Supreme Court next week should not more appropriately be heard at the International Criminal Court.

Why is the U.S. legal system in charge of deciding if Nigerians can sue Royal Dutch Shell Oil? Why is the U.S. Supreme Court trying a case, the one against the Palestinian Authority, which perhaps should be more a matter for the International Criminal Court, or maybe the U.S. State Department or diplomats?

These cases are all being brought on the basis of some obscure 1789 law called the Alien Tort Law, which was originally passed to fight pirates. NPR reports:

Shell Oil counters that corporations cannot be sued in the United States under the Alien Tort Statute because international law doesn’t recognize corporate liability for human rights crimes.

Well, why doesn’t it? Again, I am not at all knowledgeable when it comes to international law. Are these cases being tried here because of the gaps in international law governing corporate behavior — or because the U.S. refuses to recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court? Or both?

In any case, the CFR map indicates how the U.S. often tends to avoid participating in  established ‘global governance’ mechanisms and, instead, often ends up trying to govern the globe on its own.

FILED UNDER: Justice, Politics, Council on Foreign Relations, human rights, International Criminal Court, law, Nigeria, Palestine, Shell Oil, Supreme Court
February 1, 2012 | 12:42 PM | By  | 

Guinea Worm in Nigeria, 2001 | 

In 2001, photographer Mike Urban and I went to Nigeria as part of a report we did for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on the early days of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation global health program.

One of the world’s biggest health problems is dirty water. One of the most horrific illnesses you can get from drinking dirty water is guinea worm, aka dracunculiasis. We visited a village where Carter Center health workers combined treatment of the affliction with prevention education and water supply improvement projects.

Here’s a link to the story on guinea worm we did back then and a slide show of Mike’s photos:

FILED UNDER: Health, guinea worm, Mike Urban, Nigeria
February 1, 2012 | 12:42 PM | By  | 

Grace: Nigeria’s last case of guinea worm | 

After my first visit to Nigeria in 2001, when I saw more than my fair share of guinea worm infections, I returned to Nigeria for a book project I claimed to be working on. It was 2009 and I was a freelancer.

Since I was in the neighborhood, I asked the Carter Center if I could go meet the last person — a woman named Grace Otubo — to have guinea worm in Nigeria. After a long and frequently bumpy drive from Abuja, we arrived at the village of Ezza Nkwubor, outside of Enugu.

Based on the greeting I received, I think they must have assumed I was someone more important.

Here, in their own words, and song, they celebrate no longer having guinea worm to deal with. They still have health problems, emphasizing that they still need basic health services such as maternal and child care. They still deal with malaria and pneumonia. But they do have one thing to get up and dance about. I later decided I had to join in the dancing, but deleted that part from the video:

FILED UNDER: Health, Carter Center, guinea worm, Nigeria
September 28, 2011 | 11:05 AM | By  | 

Meanwhile, Bill Gates is in Nigeria to boost the polio eradication effort | 

Mike Urban

Children disabled by polio begging in Abuja

The global campaign to wipe out polio is 99 percent complete, but that remaining one percent has become a frustrating game of whack-a-mole.

China just this week has reported polio cases — the first since 1999. Health experts say the virus spread to western China from Pakistan, and threatens to spread even further.

Eradicating polio is one of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s top priorities and Nigeria is one of four countries where the virus continues to spread. So Gates is now in Nigeria, urging government leaders and community organizations to whack this mole for good.

Gates yesterday visited Kebbi state in northwestern Nigeria where, according to AllAfrica.com, he signed a “memorandum of understanding” with officials there to commit to finally getting rid of polio. Yeah, that should do it.

The agreement doesn’t mean much, of course, if Nigerians themselves aren’t already committed to ridding the disease themselves. Part of the problem has been the conflict between north and south, between different political factions, in Nigeria. And there is some deep (and somewhat legitimate) mistrust of government and government-endorsed programs, especially in the north.

Still, I think Gates visit will help. His willingness to go to northern Nigeria, to use his star power (yes, he has star power) will show Nigerians that the world’s richest man cares about the health of some of the world’s poorest people. That’s a good thing and will make a difference. Even if that memo doesn’t.

FILED UNDER: Health, Bill Gates, Nigeria, polio
August 3, 2011 | 8:52 AM | By  | 

Will Uganda avoid, or succumb to, the oil curse? | 

Flickr, Stefan Gara

Nigeria is not a poor country, yet it is full of a lot of very poor people.

Nigeria has lots of oil, and oil money, but little of this money ever makes it to regular Nigerians. As this entry in Wikipedia about Nigeria’s economy says:

Economists refer to the coexistence of vast wealth in natural resources and extreme personal poverty in developing countries like Nigeria as the “resource curse”…. the World Bank has estimated that as a result of corruption 80 percent of energy revenues benefit only 1 percent of the population.

It’s not just homegrown corruption around oil that causes problems, as evidenced by this (little-known, at least in the U.S.) episode involving former Vice President Dick Cheney.

Now, it appears that Uganda is becoming a major oil-producing nation. This could be a good thing, or not so good.

Todd Moss at the Center for Global Development asks Could Uganda be the Next Niger Delta? What Moss is really asking by comparing Uganda to the southern oil-rich part of Nigeria is if Uganda will also see massive corruption, human-rights abuses, murder, terrorism and institutionalized kleptocracy.

A wall of new oil money—coupled with new projections that Uganda’s oil reserves might actually be double previous estimates— could very well accelerate the country’s disappointing decline in governance. Oil revenues that could in theory build up the sorely needed infrastructure and social services could instead end up fueling conflict, wasted on white elephant projects, or used to further consolidate President Museveni’s grip on power.

The potential damage of the “oil curse” is not limited to aspects of money and power. As The Guardian’s John Vidal writes today, in Shell oil spills in the Niger Delta, the reaping of oil profits at the expense of the local community has had broad environmental impacts that adversely affect all Nigerians living there:

The Niger delta is one of the most polluted regions in the world, with more oil spilled across the region each year than spilt in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. According to Nigerian government figures, there were more than 7,000 spills between 1970 and 2000, and there are 2,000 official major spillage sites, many going back decades, with thousands of smaller spills still waiting to be cleared up.

Uganda has rich farmland, and has long been regarded as a potential major breadbasket for Africa. Will oil support its overall economic development or just lead to another curse?

Here is a documentary about the many issues surrounding Nigeria’s oil production, Sweet Crude, done a while ago by Seattle film-makers (who got arrested while filming it).

FILED UNDER: Justice, Politics, Nigeria, oil, Uganda