Briefs
FrontLines - September 2009
Zinc Seen as Breakthrough Cure for Diarrhea
Sogola, Mali—Generations of residents have watched their children fall ill each rainy season with diarrhea, which kills an astonishing 1.6 million children under 5 every year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)—more than either malaria or AIDS. It also stunts growth, and forces millions—adults and children
alike—to spend weeks at a time off work or school.
But USAID, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and other groups have begun distributing zinc supplements to villagers in Bangladesh, India, Mali, and Pakistan, Time magazine reported. Zinc pills appear to halt diarrhea in its tracks.
“Before, we were terrified when children’s stomachs began running, because we knew some of them would die,” says Sata Djialla in the Malian village of Morola. “Now our children are not dying of diarrhea.”
In Sogola, tablets with 20 mg of zinc daily are provided
for about two weeks
to children suffering from
diarrhea. Throw in oral-rehydration therapy (ORT), which has been the main weapon against diarrhea for the past few decades, and
a treatment costs less than 30 cents.
“Since zinc arrived, we have had no deaths from
diarrhea,” said one resident.
Exactly how zinc stops diarrhea is not entirely clear. Olivier Fontaine, a diarrhea specialist for WHO, believes that since the mineral is an essential ingredient in about 300 enzymes, boosting zinc levels
strengthens the body’s immunity, thus preventing
diarrhea from turning deadly. A single course apparently also staves off further bouts of diarrhea for about three months.
Aid Groups Highlight Growing Threats
Geneva—Aid groups joined together Aug. 19 to highlight the growing danger their staff members face in crisis zones around the world, where kidnappings
and killings of humanitarian
workers are on the rise.
As many as 122 aid workers
were killed in 2008, the Associated Press reported. Only 36 aid workers were killed in 1998, according to the United Nations’ humanitarian coordination
office.
“We are targeted more and more,” U.N. spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said in an interview
before World Humanitarian Day, held on the sixth anniversary
of the bombing of the United Nations’ main offices in Baghdad.
The rapid increase is blamed partly on a growth in aid operations
in the most lawless parts of the world, with Afghanistan, Darfur, and Somalia accounting
for almost two-thirds of all attacks.
IMF Hikes Crisis Aid to $17 Billion by 2014
Washington—The International Monetary Fund said July 29 it will sharply increase funds it lends to low income countries to help them deal with the global financial crisis, the Associated Press reported.
The IMF said it expected to provide up to $17 billion to these countries through 2014, including up to $8 billion over the next two years. In addition, the fund said low income countries would not have to pay interest on any outstanding
IMF loans through 2011. The resources to increase lending will come in part from the sale of IMF gold, the fund said.
Bonded Labor Haunts Bangladesh
Dhaka, Bangladesh—Tens of thousands of people are working
as bonded laborers in rural Bangladesh, activists told the U.N. news agency IRIN.
Even though it is illegal, entire families, including children, are bonded to their employers while they struggle to pay back loans, IRIN reported Aug. 7.
“Thousands of children are being forced into bonded labor every day because of poverty and their parents’ unemployment,”
Sumaiya Khair, a human rights activist and researcher into child labor in Dhaka, the capital, told IRIN. “The biggest tragedy is that it all seems to go unnoticed,” she said.
According to Anti-Slavery International, bonded labor—or debt bondage—is probably
the least-known form of slavery and yet the most widely used method of enslaving
people. Although banned by international law, millions worldwide are affected, particularly
in South Asia.
Some take out a loan due to a temporary financial crisis, often caused or aggravated by a poor harvest or family emergency. Once bonded, the laborer is then forced to work long hours for little or no pay, often seven days a week. Many, mostly women and children, end up as domestic servants, working in conditions
that resemble servitude. Many suffer physical abuse, sometimes resulting in death, activists say.
Sept. 15 Is Day of Democracy
The U.N. General Assembly declared Sept. 15 the International Day of Democracy and called upon governments to promote democracy.
Freedom House recently reported that global freedom suffered its third year of decline in 2008 due to suppression of political opposition and civil society and growing obstacles to international assistance to reformers.
U.S. government programs in fiscal year 2009 for governing
justly and democratically rose by $411 million to $2.67 billion. For more information on the International Day of Democracy, visit www.un.org/events/democracyday.
★
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