AFRO-NETS is about malaria (11)
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Dear Colleagues
Come on everyone... it's Christmas.
AFRO-NETS is about HEALTH, and in this context malaria ought to
be center stage, and so should global policy and practice that
ends up making it difficult to improve the health status of Af-
ricans because of 'issues' that are not very important in the
larger scheme of things, and certainly damaging in the context
of very resource poor communities and their available health
care.
As many of you know I am an accountant, and in my corporate ca-
reer I was an advocate for results based decision making...
something that is very much absent in the international relief
and development industry and especially so when it comes to the
health sector. Why is this? Going back to my corporate career,
it was usually the case the results based decision making was
most feared by powerful managers whose actual performance was
not so good... and I am afraid the same thing is going on in the
international relief and development industry and in the health
sector. My gut feel suggests that a huge amount of the available
money is being used for activities that do NOT deliver much in
the way of tangible benefits to the needy. Sadly I cannot yet
prove this... but with better management information for the re-
lief and development industry it will one day be done.
For Christians, this time of the year is about being festive and
joyous... but also a time to remember those that are less fortu-
nate. This is a time when we should be remembering the huge num-
ber of people who are in poverty, hungry, in need of health
care... in a world that is potentially so very wealthy. And
frankly, it is a good time to look in a mirror and think about
how can what "I" am doing be improved so that the world is just
a bit more, a better place. In this spirit... Best wishes for
Christmas and for the New Year.
Peter Burgess
Tr-Ac-Net in New York
Tel.: +1-212-772-6918
mailto:peterbnyc@gmail.com
The Transparency and Accountability Network
With Kris Dev in Chennai India
and others in South Asia, Africa and Latin America
http://tr-ac-net.blogspot.com
http://www.tr-ac-net.org