In Brief
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There are only six remaining polio-endemic countries in the world: the Islamic State of Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Niger, Nigeria, and Pakistan. A renewed effort to immunize against this crippling disease and eradicate it for good is now being launched by these countries' governments in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Rotary International, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Nigeria poses the greatest risk to global eradication. Immunization was recently halted in Kano state, the last major problem area in Africa, because of unfounded rumors that the vaccine was unsafe. The UN called for an immediate resumption to prevent cases from spreading to neighboring countries.
A one-year-old boy is given polio vaccine drops in Kabul, Afghanistan.
EVENTS COMING UP IN 2004
April 24-25, Washington, D.C.
IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings
April 25
Africa Malaria Day
May 31
World No-Tobacco Day
June 1-17, Geneva, Switzerland
International Labor Conference 2004
June 8-10, Sea Island, Georgia
Group of Eight Summit
June 24, New York
Global Compact Summit
The World Bank has set up a $25 million trust fund to support reform in low-income countries under stress-countries that have very weak policies and institutions. This diverse group of countries ranges from Sierra Leone, which is emerging from conflict, and Haiti, which has very weak government capacity, to "policy-poor" but resource-rich Angola. The trust fund will target countries that are not eligible to receive assistance from the World Bank's soft loan window, the International Development Association (IDA), because they have defaulted on their debt to the global lender.
More information at www.worldbank.org
Former IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus says the dream of providing clean water for all is attainable but requires a doubling of development assistance earmarked for water needs. Speaking at a conference organized by the Asian Development Bank in Manila in January, he called the water crisis "one of the world's worst injustices, perhaps because...
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