Polio is on the way to complete eradication all over the world. AFAIK the only place where it remains endemic is Baluchistan in Pakistan where the warlords are suspicious of vaccination agents.
Victory on polio is a fantastic story that doesn't get the attention it deserves.
In 2017 there have been 13 wild cases in Afghanistan, 8 in Pakistan and it's still considered endemic in Nigeria (last known case in August 2016)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poliomyelitis_eradication#2017
The CIA doing what it did should have never happened obviously. That simultaneously doesn't excuse non-vaccination, which is extraordinarily inexpensive and could be performed by Pakistani government persons as a compromise.
Political opponents still can frame anyone associated with "being an US puppet"... and for the chemtrail-lovers with an addition of "they're not vaccinating you, they're putting tiny microchips into you". Do note I didn't make up that last one, it literally flew somewhere over my Facebook feed today.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jul/11/cia-fake-vacci...
The leaders being suspicious of vaccination efforts is a direct link to this activity, please stop making a cheap "THOSE CRAZY KOOKS BELEIVE ANYTHING" style dismissal.
No. Of course this is real. What I meant was that even using Pakistani staff would not help to restore trust. The CIA really did the world a service...
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-cia-fake-vacc...
You don't mess with vaccinations. Ever.
Just as much HN style, where top comments frequently bring up old discussions completely unrelated to the article's content (e.g. js article -> js is a mess, blockchain article -> blockchain is a bubble, megacorp article -> this is why i never use megacorp's products)
The answer lies in that it's always a political struggle to appropriate tens of millions of dollars, even if it's a tiny fraction of the whole. Hell, if I ask most people in my apartment building about their attitudes towards us spending 100 million or 100 billion on helping a different country, virtually nobody will really answer much differently. That surprised me a lot, but people just register something in millions or billions as a 'big number', and are either for or against on the basis of their attitude towards things like international development, or their stereotypes of or cultural affinity with the recipient country.
There's actually a lot of studies on people's perceptions on the amount that we give, and virtually all countries vastly overestimate (like, by an order of magnitude) the amount we give. It's not really a matter of numbers, it's just a matter of perceptions, they're political, knowing that it doesn't seem weird at all to me that Japanese officials can't simply get away with doing the right thing. It's really sad.
[0] for example point 1: People are often under the impression that a lot more is spent on foreign aid than it actually is. The average guess of US citizens estimates is that around 31% of the Federal Budget is spent on aid. In fact the US spends less than 1% of the Federal Budget on foreign aid.
https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/get-involved/myths-about-aid...
And this has been found in studies in tons of western countries. It's pretty pathetic how wrong people get this if you think about it.
Presumably, Nigeria agreed to the terms, so I don't see the issue.
Making it a loan will also allow for larger sums to be spent.
Japan's ODA has been mainly done in Asia, and to me it looks like its philosophy is producing results.
You clearly don't understand the Japanese. If anyone is to be embarrassed, it is the Nigerians promising to pay and then failing to. Accepting money from the Bill Gates foundation is more shameful. Japanese do not beg.
Consultant32452 said:
"if I were a citizen of Japan I would be embarrassed that the money was not just gifted as part of a foreign aid program."
And my reply is, no, Japanese citizens would not be at all embarrassed about this. Japanese, culturally, do not give hand outs. Giving out money to beggars is not only something they don't do, but something they don't approve of others doing. It's the moral equivalent to feeding the stray cats in the neighborhood. You aren't helping the cats. You are making the cats dependent on handouts and attracting more of them.
Likewise, the Japanese do not expect handouts either. Japanese do not beg. They are too proud to do it, and they know they will be shamed if they were to try anyway.
I am pointing out to Consultant32452 that if he expects the Japanese to be embarrassed about their lack of giving to Nigeria in this case, he is mistaken. Quite the opposite. What Nigeria has done would be considered shameful shirking in Japan.
If the Gates Found. is engaging in a bit of 'dollar diplomacy' here, that's even extra value, IMO.
This is high-test, globally impactful philanthropy, and deserves none of the cynical, socio-economic scrutiny it's receiving here.
There have been human costs too,
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/09/world/africa/in-nigeria-po...
Of the nine vaccination workers killed, "Most of the victims were women and were shot in the back of the head"
I took it as a reminder that doing something good may require not only exceptional courage, but one's life. I'm ok with the off-topic aspect of the post.
I continue to be amazed and grateful we have such people.
That's a good thing to mention.
Sometimes when I look at Washington, Wall St., or corporate actions, it makes me fear everyone is a hyper-rational sociopath willing to seek out and screw over the other for any profit. But sometimss I'm reminded of the ones who do good for the future of humanity, not just for their bank accounts.
>Nigeria’s debt to Japan is the result of Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) provided by the Japanese government in 2014 for increased polio eradication. efforts.
>The country has made great strides in its efforts to eliminate the disease thanks to this funding.
>Nigeria did not record a wild case of polio from July 2014 to August 2016, when two cases were reported.
Presumably, the Gates Foundation wants to encourage state partnerships from nations like Japan in the service of eradicating solved diseases, regardless of a recipient nation's ability or willingness to settle incurred debts.
Money well spent.