Maybe I should call this blog the Fuel Security update instead.  The big news this past week was the elimination of the government gasoline subsidy which drove fuel prices up to over six dollars a gallon.  With limited funds and infinite needs, the government decided to focus its attention on agriculture and other programs to fight poverty.  However, transporting food and other commodities (or oneself if seeking health care) is less affordable now and out of reach for many. The tap-taps are all charging more. Also, the price hike is eating into the budgets of the international and non-governmental organizations which are active throughout the country.  More money on fuel means less for programs.

In the wake of the “food riots” the details of subsidies and international aid are still being hammered out and parliament still can’t get past determining if the prime minister elect’s grandmother’s birth certificate is in order as everyday Haitians go on living.

There a number of new items on the Partners in Health Website worth looking at.  Watch (or read) an interview with Paul Farmer and Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!  Paul traces the history of Haiti, discusses how a country with agricultural roots came to be tremendously food insecure, and explains how social justice and public health reinforce each other.  As he puts it, "We need a movement that’s not just run by people who are experts, but the citizenry. Be part of a movement to push forward social justice, and that will lead us on healthcare, as well."

Strike two. Preval’s second nominee for the position of Prime Minister was rejected.  While food insecurity continues, politicians squabble.  I have a modest proposal - Give the politicians concerned one meal a day until a Prime Minister has been selected and a new goverment can be formed.  This is, after all, the reality for many in Haiti.  I suspect officials would work out a solution rather quickly.

Haiti is the country most affected by HIV/AIDS in the Western Hemisphere.  That having been said, Haiti is also one of only a handfull of countries to have halted and reversed a generalized epidemic.  This is something to be proud of.  Credit mainly goes to Haitian civil society but also to national and international non-governmental organizations as well as commited government officials.  The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria have, in different ways, both helped accelerate progress.

I hardly contemplate the number of times I turn on a water tap in a day or barely appreciate the fortune of flushing the toilet after each use. After spending just a few days in Haiti you come to see water as the "blue gold". Access to safe water for drinking and hygiene prevents disease and dehydration and allows for economic and social growth. The RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights, Partners in Health, and NYU Center for Human Rights and Global Justice are partnering together to assess the right to water in Haiti. The launch of the Right to Water report will take place in NYU School of Law on June 23rd.

Malnutrition is a major problem throughout the developing world including Haiti.  It saps the immune system, making it easier to get sick with and die from an infectious disease.  It slows cognitive development reducing the contributions a person can make to his or her country.  After years of business as usual, there have been several very promising developments such as the Ready to Use Therapeutic Food called Plumpynut.   There is another important intervention called Sprinkles - a easy to use nutritional supplement that has proven effective in Haiti and elsewhere.

Attached is the Haitian Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.  Within it, the Haitian Government has set priorities and identified steps that need to be taken to make progress against poverty. This document provides the framework that allows international partners to calibrate their programming in order to synchronize their efforts with the government.  Any plan worth its weight in paper must be ambitious, flexible, and achievable.  Let's take a look at the document and see if it holds up.

Copied below is a good article in Reason Online concerning the results of the 2008 Copenhagen Conference.  The purpose of the conference was to bring together the world's leading economists to  concentrate the attention of policymakers, charitable foundations, and members of the public on the relative urgency and costs of the world's big problems.  You might be surprised by the number one solution - suppplying Vitamin A and zinc children who lack them in the developing world.  The price tag is $60 million a year but the cost is dwarfed it by the benefits - stronger immune systems, less sickness and death, and improved cognitive development.  Read their proposed solutions and then vote whether you agree or disagree with their findings.

Urgent Advocacy Alert from Jubilee USA (June 6): Please sign the petition to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. to urge him to support accelerated debt cancellation for Haiti and, in the meantime, an immediate moratorium on the country's debt service payments at this meeting. Jubilee USA will deliver this petition before he leaves on Wednesday, June 11. The finance ministers of the G8 countries — the world’s richest nations — meet on June 13 and 14 in Japan to discuss the food crisis. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. will be attending the G8 meeting. By canceling debts they could help alleviate the suffering of Haiti and other affected countries.