A new report by Research!America finds that total public and private U.S. investment in the health needs of developing nations was $9.5 billion in 2003. Industry provided more than half the total ($5.5bn), then NIH ($3.5 billion), with the remainder coming from private foundations.
The full report calls for more systematic collection of data on health research.
President Bush, appearing at the swearing in ceremony of MCC CEO John Danilovich last week, reiterated his support of the MCC as an innovative foreign aid agency and urged greater speed in completing country compacts:
On January 1st, 2006, one of the largest UN peacekeeping operations of its time will quietly depart Sierra Leone, handing over its responsibilities and legacies alike to the first ever UN integrated peacebuilding mission in a post-conflict context, UNIOSIL. I have been following the drawdown of the UN presence in Sierra Leone for some time now, both in my previous role analyzing economic agendas in civil wars and rule of law issues at the International Peace Academy, as well as here at CGD.
Bill Cline has implied the Bank no longer views trade liberalization as important for poverty reduction, that our new numbers involve serious underestimation, and that his 440 million estimate last year is closer to reality. (See Controversy Over World Bank Trade and Poverty Estimates)
The Financial Times has named Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, both 32, "Men of the Year" (subscription required) for the transformative effect their company is having not only on the Internet but on the worlds of business and technology. The FT notes that the Google founders "have never been shy about their outsize ambitions."
The Financial Times recently reported on a rumored shake-up in the way US foreign aid is administered.
The past week has been a good one for nation-building, and not just because of Iraq’s successful election. Less noticed but also important was the creation of a UN Peacebuilding Commission and a new directive from President Bush on interagency coordination of U.S. reconstruction and stabilization efforts
Within days of Paul Theroux's misguided complaining about Bono and Bill Gates (see The Novelist's Burden), they and Melinda Gates were named TIME Magazine Persons of the Year.
Nora Lustig a CGD Board member and an early and effective advocate for combining sound macroeconomic policy with effectively targeted social programs, is the focus of a thoughtful profile in this month's F&D, the quarterly magazine of the IMF.
Nora Lustig a CGD Board member and an early and effective advocate for combining sound macroeconomic policy with effectively targeted social programs, is the focus of a thoughtful profile in this month's F&D, the quarterly magazine of the IMF.