Andy Satyakusuma

Corruption fighters from around the globe are gathering December 6 to 8 at the World Bank in Washington, DC, to up the ante on fraud in development projects – part of an effort to halt practices that cause $20-40 billion to be stolen each year from developing countries.

In the first meeting of its kind, more than 200 members of the International Corruption Hunters Alliance from 134 countries aim to create an international enforcement regime to track and resolve bribery and fraud cases that reach beyond borders to affect more than one country.

Major goals include increasing the number of corruption cases prosecuted in both developing and wealthy countries, and resolving cases so that settlements – and liability findings – are comprehensive and multijurisdictional.

The meeting, supported by the governments of Australia, Norway and Denmark and convened by the World Bank, will also discuss best practices for sharing information and monitoring enforcement.

It takes place as the World Bank increases its own efforts to root out corruption – seen as one of the greatest obstacles to economic and social development in low-income countries.

In the last two years, the Bank has increased its debarments five-fold and has become a primary backer of the Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) initiative to repatriate stolen funds to developing countries.

“When people steal, defraud or corrupt public money, they must be investigated and prosecuted,” said World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick.

“Together with the alliance, we aim to sharpen foresight, to better anticipate fraud and corruption risks in the decade, particularly in the challenging contexts where the World Bank operates.”

Firms Banned Under Cross-Debarment Agreement

The Corruption Hunters meeting comes on the heels of the World Bank’s announcement last week debarring 14 firms from doing business in projects it finances: two that had been working on World Bank-financed projects in Africa and Albania, and 12 that had previously been debarred by the Asian Development Bank, one of the partners in the Cross-Debarment agreement signed last April.

The decision marked the first time the World Bank cross-debarred firms that have engaged in fraud related to another multilateral development bank’s projects under the new global enforcement agreement . Under the agreement, the World Bank and other multilateral development banks have agreed to enhance information-sharing, harmonize sanctionable practices and step up enforcement action to ensure development resources do not end in the wrong pockets and are used for their intended purposes.

The World Bank, recently ranked as the most transparent donor among 30 major donors by a coalition of civil society organizations, has debarred 58 firms in the last two years, compared with 9 the previous two years. Debarments have included high-profile cases involving the UK publisher Macmillan Ltd and Siemens AG, which has agreed to pay $100 million for anti-corruption initiatives worldwide as part of the settlement with the World Bank.

Seeking Better Enforcement

At the meeting this week, anticorruption officials from six regions will join authorities from countries that have prosecuted bribe payers, private sector representatives, and members of international organizations such as the United Nations, Interpol, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), andTransparency International to set priorities and define the next level of anti-corruption action.

Traveled to several regions in Indonesia to explore and research in order to implement the humanitarian program and to developt humanitarian hospitals in several regions in Indonesia. I met some doctors and local community organizations, to discuss the issues raised in these areas, the programs have been implemented, the programs work to be carried out, and the constraints that occur in implementing the programs .

In the meeting there were some interesting things that become obstacles in executing the work programs, for example, is bureaucratic problems that occur. There is a community organization that is led by an obstetrician, who is very interested in tackling the problem of the spread of HIV in mothers and children, they also deal with people with AIDS. There are big obstacles they face in running their programs, particularly funding issues, they have tried to request funding to AIDS organizations that already exist in their areas, but they collided with the problem of bureaucracy and regulations that apply in institutions , so that they can not get financial assistance to support their work program. This certainly sounds very alarming because they make work program is very nice to be implemented but should be stopped only because of bureaucratic problems.

World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in Indonesia each year will be 583 000 new TB cases. Half or 50 percent of that amount will be transmitted as it is known as Basil the case of Acid Resistance (AFB) positive. Transmission of TB disease is very fast and every one smear positive TB patients could transmit the disease to 10 to 15 people per year. Thus you can imagine how many pesakit TB in the next few years, saw the number of Indonesian population which has a population of 210 million inhabitants. Today Indonesia is the diseased state (TB), the largest number three in the world after India and China. TB disease is not a new disease in Indonesia, the TB problem, nor merely a health problem. Tuberculosis is also very closely related to economic and social problems in the country. TB patients are mostly derived from the poor and the productive age group.

Someone who develop TB disease will lose work time three to four months. This is equivalent to 20 to 30 percent decline in annual family income.

expected to governments, community organizations and community leaders to be able to convey information about TB to the broader community. This needs to be handled from the beginning both of socialization in the family, until the general community to jointly combat tuberculosis.

Long-term goal is to lower TBC morbidity and mortality of TB disease by breaking the chain of transmission, so that tuberculosis is no longer a public health problem of Indonesia. While short-term objectives are: 1) the achievement of cure rate of at least 85% of all new smear positive patients were found, and 2) achieving coverage of case detection gradually so that in the year 2005 can reach 70% of all estimated new smear positive patients.

Since 1995, Pulmonary Tuberculosis Eradication Program has been implemented with the DOTS strategy (directly Observed Treatment Shortcourse chemotherapy) is recommended by WHO. Along with the formation of GERDUNAS TB, then the Eradication of Tuberculosis Lung Disease became Reduction Program Tuberculosis (TB).

STOP CHILDREN VIOLENCE

Over the last five years, the global campaign to stop the use of child soldiers has garnered an impressive series of successes, including new international legal standards, action by the UN Security Council and regional bodies, and pledges from various armed groups and governments to end the use of child soldiers. Despite gains in awareness and better understanding of practical policies that can help reduce the use of children in war, the practice persists in at least twenty countries, and globally, the number of child soldiers—about 300,000—is believed to have remained fairly constant.

There is a lot of discussion these days about so called ‘alternative medicine’ and these treatments are often held in derision by many in the global medical community. However, many of these treatments are gradually being accepted, at least in some quarters, as having real benefits. Whilst they are not all being seriously considered as real choices to consider, at least some of them have in the so called, ‘real clinical world’, proven their benefits and slowly making their way into the so called mainstream medicine. This is a trend we all welcome.

1. Reflexology – through the feet mainly
2. Acupuncture – needles used on the body
3. Massage – there are many types used
4. Herbal remedies – such as Chinese herbs
5. Iridology – diagnosis through the eyes
6. Bowen Therapy – muscular treatments
7. Magnet Therapy – literally uses magnets

• Free cash used by consumers from home equity extraction doubled from $627 billion in 2001 to $1,428 billion in 2005 as the housing bubble built, a total of nearly $5 trillion dollars over the period, contributing to economic growth worldwide. U.S. home mortgage debt relative to GDP increased from an average of 46% during the 1990s to 73% during 2008, reaching $10.5 trillion.

• USA household debt as a percentage of annual disposable personal income was 127% at the end of 2007, versus 77% in 1990.

• In 1981, U.S. private debt was 123% of GDP; by the third quarter of 2008, it was 290%.

• From 2004-07, the top five U.S. investment banks each significantly increased their financial leverage (see diagram), which increased their vulnerability to a financial shock. These five institutions reported over $4.1 trillion in debt for fiscal year 2007, about 30% of USA nominal GDP for 2007. Lehman Brothers was liquidated, Bear Stearns and Merrill LynchGoldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley became commercial banks, subjecting themselves to more stringent regulation. With the exception of Lehman, these companies required or received government support.were sold at fire-sale prices, and

• Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two U.S. Government sponsored enterprises, owned or guaranteed nearly $5 trillion in mortgage obligations at the time they were placed into conservatorship by the U.S. government in September 2008.

These seven entities were highly leveraged and had $9 trillion in debt or guarantee obligations, an enormous concentration of risk; yet they were not subject to the same regulation as depository banks.

Extreme poverty is a more serious problem for the world than climate change, terrorism, or the state of the global economy, according to a new annual global poll across 23 countries conducted for BBC World Service.

When more than 25,000 people interviewed by GlobeScan were asked to say how serious they thought each of a range of global problems were, the following percentages of people rated these issues as “very serious”:

• 71%—extreme poverty

• 64%—the environment or pollution

• 63%—the rising cost of food and energy

• 59%—the spread of human diseases

• 59%—terrorism

• 58%—climate change

• 59%—human rights abuses

• 58%—the state of the global economy

• 57%—war or armed conflict

• 48%—violation of workers' rights

The poll also found that Indians and Pakistanis rated terrorism as the number one concern, and a number of countries which have experienced terrorism also rated it among the top three most serious global problems—Indonesia, Spain, Turkey, and the UK.

Egypt was the only country to rate the spread of human disease as the top issue, although Chile, China, Kenya, and Nigeria rated it in the top three. If poverty is seen as the world’s most serious problem, it is not the most top-of-mind. When respondents were asked to name spontaneously “the most important issue facing the world today,” economic problems were most commonly cited, with one in four mentioning them (26%). Terrorism and war followed with 10 per cent.

And while poverty was some distance ahead of other global issues in terms of how serious it was seen to be, it was only one of a number of issues that people had discussed with friends and family recently. The greatest number—30%—said they had talked about rising food and energy costs with their friends and family recently, with extreme poverty and the spread of human diseases the second most discussed issues (29%) and the state of the global economy third (28%).

With recent terrorist attacks in their own countries still fresh in people’s minds, Indians, Pakistanis, Turks, and Indonesians were most likely to say they had talked about terrorism recently with their friends and family. In the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, China, Spain, and Australia, the state of the global economy was the most discussed issue. Brazil, meanwhile, was the only country where a majority had discussed the environment with their friends and family over the previous month.

“Over time, this poll will show us how public concern on global issues is shifting—and which issues are being discussed most often at dinner tables and workplaces around the world.”

Geneva – The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria today announced its mid-year results which show that 2.8 million people with HIV have received life-saving antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, a 22 percent increase on results reported in June 2009.

Global Fund-supported tuberculosis programs have so far provided 7 million people with effective TB drugs treatment. This is a 30 percent increase from mid-2009. Tuberculosis remains the leading cause of death among people infected with HIV; the World Health Organization estimating that one in four TB deaths worldwide is HIV-related.

The Global Fund also reported progress in the fight against malaria, with a cumulative total of 122 million insecticide-treated bed nets delivered through its funded programs to families at risk of contracting the disease. This is a rise of 39 percent from 88 million nets distributed one year ago.

The Executive Director of the Global Fund Professor Michel Kazatchkine met with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yodhoyono today to congratulate him for progress in fighting AIDS, TB and malaria and to request Indonesia’s support for efforts with the Global Fund’s donor countries to increase funding for the three diseases worldwide.

“Indonesia is a major voice in the G-20 and its support will be very important in 2010, a critical year for global health,” says Professor Kazatchkine. “This year the Global Fund’s donors will decide if we get the resources that would allow us to reach the health-related Millennium Development Goals. We have made huge progress in recent years and could make history. But this progress is fragile and AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria will gain force again unless we continue scaling up our interventions.” He added: “Indonesia has made rapid progress in fighting these diseases and can play an important role in ensuring that our progress is not reversed.”

Indonesia, as a G-20 member country, is providing a strong voice for the need to continue scaling up health investments. UN Secretary General Ban-Ki-moon will chair a crucial meeting in New York on October 5 this year where donor countries will pledge resources to the Global Fund for the period 2011-13.

The Global Fund and Indonesia also signed today new grant agreements amounting to over US$ 55 million to scale up the government and civil society’s response to HIV in all 33 of the country’s provinces. The new grants will be implemented by the Ministry of Health, National AIDS Commission and Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest Muslim faith-based organisation in the country.

Since its inception in 2002, the Global Fund has committed over US$ 630 million to fight the three diseases in Indonesia. It accounts for sixty five percent of total resources in the country to fight TB and malaria and forty five percent of resources to fight HIV.