The Nobel Prize affirms intriguing realities.
By Babu Emile
In 1936 a young man was born in Kanyadhiang village, Rachuonyo District on the shores of Lake Victoria, Kenya. At age 23, he fathered a son with a beautiful young lady from Kansas named Ann Dunham. The two, now deceased, would have been very proud to know that their son, Barack Hussein Obama II was last week announced winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
It did not come as a surprise that seven of the 2009 Nobel prize winners are American. What many did not notice is that four of the seven are actually immigrants - born outside of the United States yet hold US citizenship. As newcomer in the country, I have experienced, first hand, the anti-immigration trend that is sometimes blamed on the recession. The rationale being - everyone who is born outside the United States is in the country to take away American jobs.
Among the realities that this year’s Nobel prizes brought to light is the fact that the United States is a nation made up of immigrants who drive its innovation economy. Statistics indicate that foreign-born science and engineering students earn one-third of all Ph.D.s awarded in the United States.
Perhaps no one acknowledges this better than Nobel laureate Barack Obama in his inaugural speech after being sworn in as president, ‘…For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth…’
It is this unifying tone that built on the momentum that led him to win this year’s Peace Prize. While naysayers will cry foul over the irreversible fact that he won the award – and that it was a well deserved win – President Obama is and will continue to be the greatest beacon of hope and the most important human symbol of charismatic leadership and positive change in this decade.
The prize also signals America’s return to global leadership after a Bush era that was defined by rigid adherence to blunders in foreign policy, atrocious human rights abuses, reckless disregard of the international community and a shoe – one that was thrown at the head of state during an official press conference.
As the Nobel prize comes of age, it is also important to note that the world is not the same since the time Alfred Nobel’s will was read in 1896. Being the ironic chemical engineer who invented the dynamite and ballistics only to later create a ‘peace prize’, he would have been cornered to overlook current global problems like greenhouse gases and climate change.
Many fundamental breakthroughs in technology and science do not receive recognition from the Nobel Foundation. In terms of sciences, the Nobel committee only rewards physics, chemistry and medicine: leaving out genetics, engineering, computer science, environment and public health.
It is important for the prize to evolve in a way that enhances the contribution of scientists that are struggling to meet the most important challenges of the 21st century like climate change.
It is equally important for the Oslo committee to wake up to the reality that, years back, Obama would have to wait for a telegraph or handwritten letter to receive notice of his award and world would wait several days for the news to circulate into the print media before knowing.
This year, he, like the rest of the us, caught the event in real time on high definition television while others caught it on cable and internet through new media channels like Facebook and Twitter. By the time the news got to print, it was history.
‘It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.’ W. Edward Deming
Popularity: 73% [?]
A new look at HIV/AIDS in Africa
According to a 1999 World Health Organization (WHO) report, the total number of actual diagnosed AIDS cases on the African continent is about equal to the total for AIDS in America and yet Africa today is cited as the worst example of HIV/AIDS in the world.
In order to successfully fight HIV, it is important to dispel the common myths and negative portrayal of the ‘developing world’ because gives the impression that Africa is world’s away from the west. According to a 1999 World Health Organization (WHO) report, the total number of diagnosed AIDS cases on the African continent is about equal to the total in America and yet Africa today is cited as the worst example of HIV/AIDS in the world.
Last week Rwanda’s National Aids Control Commission (CNLS) conducted a two-day workshop to determine appropriate ways to implement evidence-based HIV prevention measures during which they discussed results of innovative research and programs that have contributed to HIV prevention. As is the norm, the press were reminded by a release that read, ‘Rwanda has a 3 percent prevalence of the epidemic, which remains a major challenge to the entire world, especially sub-Saharan Africa.’
The highest HIV rate in the world can be found in Africa but closer scrutiny indicates, that every country in Africa has its own HIV statistics and some are not as damning as portrayed in the global media. For instance, Senegal has the same rate as the United States while Madagascar’s rate is as low as the rest of the world.
‘[There is] a terrible simplification that there is one Africa and things go one way in Africa. It is not respectful and it is not clever to think like that,’ commented Dr. Hans Rosling, a professor in global health at a May 2009 TED conference in California.
In order to successfully fight HIV, it is important to dispel the common myths and negative portrayal of Africa because gives the impression that Africa is world’s away from the rest of the world. Contrary statistics indicate that most of the third world is on the same trajectory toward better health and many countries in Africa are moving twice as fast as the west did.
This negative portrayal is promoted by corrupt African government officials with an aim to appeal to the sympathy and charity of foreign donors and thus prefer the continent to be defined by hopelessness. The international press has also contributed to this prejudiced perception through its persistently biased coverage of Africa that focuses on civil wars, hunger, famine and epidemics despite the reality that the there are many success stories on the continent.
‘Africa has immense opportunities that never navigate through the web of despair and helplessness that the western media presents to their audience,’ remarked Andrew Mwenda, a Ugandan journalist who addressed the same conference.
Non profit organizations that provide treatments for HIV have reported a dire need for newer HIV/AIDS medications due to a shortfall in funding as a result of the current global economic crisis. HIV/AIDS funding is stagnating and the prospect of universal access to treatment may be withering – millions of people are in immediate need of treatment, but are not receiving it.
More resources are needed but throwing money at the HIV problem may appease the many in the developed world but will not be a solution. While it maybe offensive to the sensibilities of the developed world towards giving aid to “poor Africans”, donors should critically asses the individual nations and communities that are most affected and apportion funds in a way that empowers communities towards self reliance, gender balance and better HIV/AIDS education.
Progressive African leaders, donors and global health experts need to look more closely and track the progress of the epidemic at a micro level and thus apportion help where it is most needed. If this is not done, Africa’s bureaucracies will continue to expand, the prospect of free markets will continue to shrink and we shall continue to diagnose the HIV crisis incorrectly — at the expense of people who really need help.
Popularity: 93% [?]