The Republic of China (ROC) on Thursday donated 5,000 metric tones of rice to the government of Malawi for distribution to vulnerable people in the country.
Presenting the donation at a ceremony held at Sun Bird Capital Hotel in Lilongwe, ROC Ambassador to Malawi, James Chuang said ROC cherishes the cordial relationship existing between Taiwan and Malawi.
"Taiwan is a good friend of Malawi, and it will remain so. We would like to assist in reducing the plight for the vulnerable and so help in the achievement of the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) that was launched just yesterday," said Chuang.
Local Government and Rural Development Minister, George Chaponda thanked the Taiwanese government for the donation which he described as kind and timely.
He said the government of Malawi would ensure that the rice is distributed to the intended vulnerable groups. Feed the Children Malawi, a Non-governmental Organization, will distribute the rice to beneficiaries throughout the country. Minister of Persons with Disabilities and the Elderly, Clement Khembo said his ministry was pleased with the donation as it would improve on the lives of people with disabilities.
Feed the nation executive director, Grace Maseko said, the southern region will receive 2,484 tones while central and northern regions will receive 1,242 and 1,274 metric tones respectively. She said allocations were based on population distribution as well as the number of vulnerable and needy people in each of the regions.
Friday, 27 July 2007
WHO affirms Taiwan's contribution
A Taiwanese medical mission's efforts to help Malawi control the spread of HIV/AIDS was recognized in the July issue of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported July 16. It marked the first time the WHO acknowledged in one of its official publications the contributions and achievements Taiwan had made to global health since the nation was forced to leave the world health body in 1972, Peter Chang, director-general of the Bureau of International Cooperation under the Department of Health, said July 25.
Titled "True outcomes from patients on antiretroviral therapy who are 'lost to follow-up' in Malawi," the article introduced in detail the procedures, methods and results that the Taiwan Medical Mission in Malawi used to treat local AIDS patients. According to the Bulletin, the medical mission sponsored by the Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Foundation and managed by Pingtung Christian Hospital "is based in Mzuzu Central Hospital in northern Malawi, and is cooperating with staff, peripheral hospitals and Malawi's health ministry to fight HIV and AIDS."
PTCH, which was founded by foreign missionary doctors in Pingtung City in 1953, started operation of the medical mission in Malawi, one of Taiwan's African allies, in July 2002, according to the hospital's bilingual Web site. PTCH claimed to have 700 beds and adequate resources to back up the overseas medical mission.
Chang said the PTCH team provided medical treatment and antiretroviral drugs to Malawian patients at local hospitals. It had extensively mobilized medical staff, volunteers and AIDS patients with controlled conditions to offer treatment in 66 local clinics, which could offer care to more than 40,000 AIDS patients, he added.
This represented a new strategy initiated by the Taiwanese mission to better deal with the epidemic in view of the African country's inadequate infrastructure, Chang explained. Passively waiting at hospitals for patients was not a good way to track long-term patients and was ineffective in preventing and controlling spread of the disease. It was better for medical staff to seek out patients in need by working within local communities, he said.
The mission also launched the first fingerprint-identification system for AIDS patients in Malawi, which was also its first use by a Taiwanese medical mission anywhere in the world, Chang said. Using patients' fingerprints, the system digitized their medical information to ensure follow-up treatment, avoid improper use of medicine and carry out medical monitoring. This was a key point in a country that did not have an ID system, he added.
This use of electronic medical histories, which are common in Taiwan's clinics and hospitals, was a new development in Malawi and greatly improved efficiency in following up on AIDS patients, Chang claimed. The experiences of the medical mission in helping to bring the HIV/AIDS epidemic under control in Malawi could be applicable to other countries, he said.
Titled "True outcomes from patients on antiretroviral therapy who are 'lost to follow-up' in Malawi," the article introduced in detail the procedures, methods and results that the Taiwan Medical Mission in Malawi used to treat local AIDS patients. According to the Bulletin, the medical mission sponsored by the Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Foundation and managed by Pingtung Christian Hospital "is based in Mzuzu Central Hospital in northern Malawi, and is cooperating with staff, peripheral hospitals and Malawi's health ministry to fight HIV and AIDS."
PTCH, which was founded by foreign missionary doctors in Pingtung City in 1953, started operation of the medical mission in Malawi, one of Taiwan's African allies, in July 2002, according to the hospital's bilingual Web site. PTCH claimed to have 700 beds and adequate resources to back up the overseas medical mission.
Chang said the PTCH team provided medical treatment and antiretroviral drugs to Malawian patients at local hospitals. It had extensively mobilized medical staff, volunteers and AIDS patients with controlled conditions to offer treatment in 66 local clinics, which could offer care to more than 40,000 AIDS patients, he added.
This represented a new strategy initiated by the Taiwanese mission to better deal with the epidemic in view of the African country's inadequate infrastructure, Chang explained. Passively waiting at hospitals for patients was not a good way to track long-term patients and was ineffective in preventing and controlling spread of the disease. It was better for medical staff to seek out patients in need by working within local communities, he said.
The mission also launched the first fingerprint-identification system for AIDS patients in Malawi, which was also its first use by a Taiwanese medical mission anywhere in the world, Chang said. Using patients' fingerprints, the system digitized their medical information to ensure follow-up treatment, avoid improper use of medicine and carry out medical monitoring. This was a key point in a country that did not have an ID system, he added.
This use of electronic medical histories, which are common in Taiwan's clinics and hospitals, was a new development in Malawi and greatly improved efficiency in following up on AIDS patients, Chang claimed. The experiences of the medical mission in helping to bring the HIV/AIDS epidemic under control in Malawi could be applicable to other countries, he said.
We'll all be richer for helping Africa's poor
WHAT would you do if you had a billion pounds? The options are endless, from huge yachts and private islands to buying the Big Brother franchise just to make sure it never pollutes our TV screens again. But how many of us would choose to give it all away?
That was the choice made last week by Scotland's richest man, Sir Tom Hunter. After making sure his kids have "enough to do something but not enough to do nothing", the billionaire intends to spend his life using his fortune to combat disadvantage and poverty here at home and in the developing world.
You would think few people could take issue with that, but, this being Scotland, a few nay-sayers emerged from the woodwork to display a particularly unattractive mix of envy and ignorance.
Wealth redistribution is all very well, but the wealth has to be created in the first place.
Those like Sir Tom Hunter, Ann Gloag and Sir Tom Farmer, who have made big money and now seek to put it to good use, epitomise the spirit of 21st century capitalist philanthropy. If they fail, they are the losers. They don't want our cash, so for the rest of us, how can there be a downside?
I've just spent a week in Africa making a documentary about how Hunter's third way for the Third World will actually work on the ground. The day before I left, I walked past a beggar on Lothian Road with a homeless and hungry sign. It is hard to really take that seriously when 24 hours later you are confronted by Aids orphans with no shoes and people forced to burn bits of their wooden shacks to stay warm at night in the African winter.
But alongside the crippling deprivation, Africa is a land of potential and opportunity. Travelling through Malawi and Rwanda, we met tea plantation owners, coffee growers, cotton manufacturers and avocado cultivators who have great products, but lack the support and infrastructure to open their businesses up to the outside world.
The Hunter plan involves going into partnership with those people and offering them business advice and financial assistance which they then repay when the company gets off the ground. A successful business creates jobs and generates tax income which filters down into healthcare and education, helping build a brighter future for the whole country and offering a way out from the cycle of dependency.
It is a simple model, but dramatically different from the traditional approach to aid in Africa.
Like just about every other country on the continent, Malawi and Rwanda are crawling with Western officials from Non Government-related Organisations. (NGOs). Some do good work, but others manage to spend 60 per cent of their operating costs on trappings like expat salaries and gleaming new off-road vehicles.
The Malawian president told me he didn't know what many of the NGOs do. Part of the problem is that the scale of poverty and destitution in Africa makes it easy to pour money down the drain.
Hunter's approach is to set key performance indicators to allow success to be accurately measured. Essentially, it is about helping poor people to help themselves, and we all have a part to play in that.
Most of us drink tea and coffee, but don't really think about where it comes from. A few days ago, I stood in a tea plantation high in the Rwandan hills and listened as the owner explained most of his profit disappears into the hands of middlemen at the giant commodity market in Mombassa. He gets just 30p a kilo for tea that will go on to sell for £3 a kilo in Britain.
The Hunter plan would offer direct access to the high street, cutting out those who siphon off the value. In addition, marketing support would allow the owner to develop the brand, telling the story of the people who grow the tea and maximising the premium nature of the product. Simply by making a choice as a consumer and without resorting to cash donations that disappear into nowhere, we can all help Africa improve.
This approach is untested and Hunter admits there is no guarantee of success, but it must be worth a go. What's the alternative? By sticking with the Western interventionist approach, we are consigning Africa to yet more grinding poverty.
To those who criticise, Tom Hunter has a simple response: "What are you doing?"
Two years on from the G8 Summit at Gleneagles, precious little has resulted for the poorest people in the world. If the politicians have failed and people power didn't make a difference, perhaps Scotland's richest man is the best hope. Whatever the outcome, his attempt to create change by giving away his fortune surely deserves our support.
It would be great to know that Scotland had played a pivotal role in changing the plight of Africa, but there is something more as well. In Malawi, they have a saying which translates as "I am because we are". By making a positive contribution, however big or small, we can all be the better for it.
That was the choice made last week by Scotland's richest man, Sir Tom Hunter. After making sure his kids have "enough to do something but not enough to do nothing", the billionaire intends to spend his life using his fortune to combat disadvantage and poverty here at home and in the developing world.
You would think few people could take issue with that, but, this being Scotland, a few nay-sayers emerged from the woodwork to display a particularly unattractive mix of envy and ignorance.
Wealth redistribution is all very well, but the wealth has to be created in the first place.
Those like Sir Tom Hunter, Ann Gloag and Sir Tom Farmer, who have made big money and now seek to put it to good use, epitomise the spirit of 21st century capitalist philanthropy. If they fail, they are the losers. They don't want our cash, so for the rest of us, how can there be a downside?
I've just spent a week in Africa making a documentary about how Hunter's third way for the Third World will actually work on the ground. The day before I left, I walked past a beggar on Lothian Road with a homeless and hungry sign. It is hard to really take that seriously when 24 hours later you are confronted by Aids orphans with no shoes and people forced to burn bits of their wooden shacks to stay warm at night in the African winter.
But alongside the crippling deprivation, Africa is a land of potential and opportunity. Travelling through Malawi and Rwanda, we met tea plantation owners, coffee growers, cotton manufacturers and avocado cultivators who have great products, but lack the support and infrastructure to open their businesses up to the outside world.
The Hunter plan involves going into partnership with those people and offering them business advice and financial assistance which they then repay when the company gets off the ground. A successful business creates jobs and generates tax income which filters down into healthcare and education, helping build a brighter future for the whole country and offering a way out from the cycle of dependency.
It is a simple model, but dramatically different from the traditional approach to aid in Africa.
Like just about every other country on the continent, Malawi and Rwanda are crawling with Western officials from Non Government-related Organisations. (NGOs). Some do good work, but others manage to spend 60 per cent of their operating costs on trappings like expat salaries and gleaming new off-road vehicles.
The Malawian president told me he didn't know what many of the NGOs do. Part of the problem is that the scale of poverty and destitution in Africa makes it easy to pour money down the drain.
Hunter's approach is to set key performance indicators to allow success to be accurately measured. Essentially, it is about helping poor people to help themselves, and we all have a part to play in that.
Most of us drink tea and coffee, but don't really think about where it comes from. A few days ago, I stood in a tea plantation high in the Rwandan hills and listened as the owner explained most of his profit disappears into the hands of middlemen at the giant commodity market in Mombassa. He gets just 30p a kilo for tea that will go on to sell for £3 a kilo in Britain.
The Hunter plan would offer direct access to the high street, cutting out those who siphon off the value. In addition, marketing support would allow the owner to develop the brand, telling the story of the people who grow the tea and maximising the premium nature of the product. Simply by making a choice as a consumer and without resorting to cash donations that disappear into nowhere, we can all help Africa improve.
This approach is untested and Hunter admits there is no guarantee of success, but it must be worth a go. What's the alternative? By sticking with the Western interventionist approach, we are consigning Africa to yet more grinding poverty.
To those who criticise, Tom Hunter has a simple response: "What are you doing?"
Two years on from the G8 Summit at Gleneagles, precious little has resulted for the poorest people in the world. If the politicians have failed and people power didn't make a difference, perhaps Scotland's richest man is the best hope. Whatever the outcome, his attempt to create change by giving away his fortune surely deserves our support.
It would be great to know that Scotland had played a pivotal role in changing the plight of Africa, but there is something more as well. In Malawi, they have a saying which translates as "I am because we are". By making a positive contribution, however big or small, we can all be the better for it.
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