Posted on 10/05/2007 7:19:04 PM PDT by grey_whiskers
LONDON - A polio outbreak in Nigeria was caused by the vaccine designed to stop it, international health officials say, leaving at least 69 children paralyzed.
It is a frightening paradox in a part of the world that already distrusts western vaccines, making it even tougher to stamp out age-old diseases.
The outbreak was caused by the live polio virus that is used in vaccines given orally — the preferred method in developing countries because it is cheaper and doesn't require medical training to dispense.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The claim is made by UN officials *AND* the WHO. So it isn't a bunch of rent-a-mob leftists just trying to blame the US.
Unfortunately, this event will only give credence to all the leftists who *do* just blame the United States.
NO cheers, unfortunately.
Buffett, Gates, Rick Warren, and “Bono” are precisely to blame for things like this.
Soros too, although his “charity” is more intended to plague Europe rather than Africa.
The Kenyan economics expert James Shikwati, 35, says that aid to Africa does more harm than good. The avid proponent of globalization spoke with SPIEGEL about the disastrous effects of Western development policy in Africa, corrupt rulers, and the tendency to overstate the AIDS problem.Shikwati: "Such intentions have been damaging our continent for the past 40 years. If the industrial nations really want to help the Africans, they should finally terminate this awful aid. The countries that have collected the most development aid are also the ones that are in the worst shape. Despite the billions that have poured in to Africa, the continent remains poor."
That’s because farmers can’t compete with free food from the aid groups.
Everytime a bag of free food arrives, some local farmer goes out of business. Thus, every year Africa has fewer farmers than the year before.
A similar thing is happening with health care in sub-Saharan Africa. There is so much misery, so little pay, such poor infrastructure, that those few Africans who do receive medical training often emigrate to improve their own prospects, leaving the front-line of care to traditional healers and Western Aid organizations.
NO cheers, unfortunately.
Cheers!
"Everytime" is a bit extreme. When there is NO food, Western aid food is a lifesaver. Many, if not most, famines in Africa are triggered by drought, but local government policy, tribalism, etc. are the root causes.
But, somewhere, a politician can speak about all the good things they're doing to help out those in need...
And all the feel-good liberals can pat themselves on the back for their cheap gesture of throwing money at a problem instead of doing something constructive. And all the farmers get a break by unloading surplus commodities.
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