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global justice now
Global Health Advocates Call for Massive Mpox Vaccination Effort
"Every necessary step must be taken to get mpox vaccines to the adults and children who need them now," said an epidemiological coordinator for Doctors Without Borders.
Aug 16, 2024
The international medical charity Doctors Without Borders on Friday appealed to wealthy countries that have stockpiles of mpox vaccines to immediately donate doses to several countries in Africa that have been affected by recent outbreaks, as global officials warned the spread of the disease is now a public health emergency of international concern.
The group, also known by its French name, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), expressed support for the World Health Organization's (WHO) call for donor countries to help fund a coordinated response to the outbreak, including surveillance, building laboratory capacity, increasing community engagement, and guaranteeing access to treatments, vaccines, and testing.
The current outbreak has been reported mainly in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the number of mpox cases this year has surpassed 15,600. More than 530 people have died of the disease this year.
Mpox has been reported in DRC for more than a decade, but with far fewer annual case numbers. More than 100 cases have also been confirmed in the past month in four neighboring countries which have not reported cases of the disease before: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.
Dr. Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, estimated this week that at least 10 million doses of mpox vaccines will be needed to respond to the growing outbreak.
"We need to have vaccines," Kaseya told NPR. "Today, we are just talking about almost 200,000 doses [becoming] available. We need at least 10 million doses. The vaccine is so expensive—we can put it around $100 per dose. There are not so many countries in Africa that can afford the cost of this vaccine."
Without improved access to vaccines, said Justin Eyong, an intersectional epidemiological coordinator for MSF in DRC, "thousands of people—including children under 15 years old who are particularly affected by mpox (representing 56% and 79% of all cases and deaths from mpox in 2024, respectively)—may be left unprotected."
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency have both approved the MVA-BN vaccine for mpox, which can cause a rash that can be painful and initially look like blisters, as well as fever, chills, and other symptoms.
"Mpox, originating in Africa, was neglected there, and later caused a global outbreak in 2022. It is time to act decisively to prevent history from repeating itself."
With the current price of the MVA-BN vaccine placing it out of reach for most low- and middle-income countries where mpox is endemic or is now spreading, MSF called on its manufacturer, Bavarian Nordic, to partner with African companies "for a full and timely tech transfer" that would allow a vaccine to be produced in Africa.
"With the mpox outbreak in DRC continuing to evolve rapidly, the situation is urgent," Eyong said. "Every necessary step must be taken to get mpox vaccines to the adults and children who need them now."
The current outbreak of mpox is being driven by one of the two genetic clades, or groupings, that characterize the disease. Clade II was behind an outbreak that was declared a global health emergency from 2022-23, but the current spread of the virus is being driven by clade I, which causes more severe disease.
Dimie Ogoina, chair of the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee said Wednesday that the upsurge in cases is "an emergency, not only for Africa, but for the entire globe."
"Mpox, originating in Africa, was neglected there, and later caused a global outbreak in 2022," said Ogoina. "It is time to act decisively to prevent history from repeating itself."
Ogoina's comments were echoed by Ayoade Alakija, chair of the Africa Vaccine Delivery Alliance, who told The Guardian that if European countries were experiencing the current outbreak instead of African nations, "mpox would have already been considered a major international health emergency."
The declaration of an emergency "of international concern," said Alakija, "should focus minds and loosen purse strings so that the response recovers from a sluggish start."
Instead of confronting the threat of a potential new outbreak, said Global Justice Now director Nick Dearden, "the British government has spent more time actually stopping a pandemic treaty being agreed because it threatens Big Pharma power."
Policymakers in wealthy countries including the U.K. and the U.S. have objected to provisions in a pandemic treaty proposed by WHO, such as those that call for countries to donate vaccine doses to low-income countries or waive intellectual property laws for vaccines and treatments during a pandemic.
Such objections are "bad for all of us," said Dearden. "If we'd dealt with this internationally years ago, we could have prevented this dangerous new strain."
MSF called on WHO to accelerate its Emergency Use Listing (EUL) Procedure for two mpox vaccines that have been approved internationally, which would encourage manufacturers to increase production and allow agencies including the United Nations Children's Fund to distribute the vaccines.
The stockpiling of vaccines by "rich countries that do not need them," said economist Jayati Ghosh, "is exactly what the world does not need to confront this latest health threat."
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Investigation Exposes How Etsy Profits From Israeli Apartheid
"Etsy isn't simply turning a blind eye to stores listed on its site operating in illegal Israeli settlements—it is directly profiting from and even in certain cases, promoting them," said one campaigner.
Aug 07, 2024
Etsy, the popular U.S.-based e-commerce website, is profiting from goods made and sold in Israel's illegal settler colonies in the occupied West Bank, a report published Wednesday revealed.
"Under the radar, Etsy—the popular online platform for selling and buying artisanal and vintage items, with a mission to 'keep commerce human'—has been profiting from businesses with shops in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT)," states the briefing, which was published by the Institute for Journalism and Social Change (IJSC), Global Justice Now, and War on Want.
"It's time to bring an end to this shameless corporate profiteering."
"This briefing reveals, for the first time, how Etsy hosts numerous shops that explicitly name as their locations places that are considered illegal Israeli settlements by the [United Nations] and under international law—and as recently confirmed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in its ruling in July," the publication continues.
The ICJ's nonbinding advisory opinion affirmed that "the policies and practices of Israel in the OPT amount to apartheid."
Report author Claire Provost said that "Western complicity in Israeli war crimes is so pervasive that even Etsy, the popular platform for 'feel-good' shopping, is connected to businesses in the settlements."
"So far these ties have gone under the radar and unchallenged," added Provost, IJSC's co-founder and co-director. "That, at least, ends now."
Global Justice Now director Nick Dearden said that "Etsy isn't simply turning a blind eye to stores listed on its site operating in illegal Israeli settlements—it is directly profiting from and even in certain cases, promoting them."
"Doing so risks complicity in war crimes—and the reality is, they're not the only company profiting from the human misery inflicted on Palestinians day in, day out," he added. "It's time to bring an end to this shameless corporate profiteering."
Etsy charges listing and transaction fees. It also offers seller advertising for an additional fee. "Star sellers" are highlighted to prospective buyers. At least four star sellers—including one that had over 12,000 sales as of late July—specifically list illegal Israeli settlements as their locations.
The report identifies 14 Etsy stores located in the Ariel settlement, nine in Maale Adumim, and four in Tekoa.
"The full amount of money that has gone to businesses in the settlements, and Etsy in the process, is hard to estimate," the report acknowledges. Etsy "also hosts many more shops that only say they are based in 'Israel,' without specifying particular locations, making it hard or impossible for consumers to tell if they are also in such settlements."
"This trade has a significant Irish connection, too—which will alarm many in that country, where there are growing calls to cut ties with settlement businesses," the publication continues. "Etsy's contracts with these shops in settlements appear to be done through the company's Irish subsidiary, Etsy Ireland U.C., which is headquartered in Dublin."
Amid "Israeli efforts to expand their illegal settlements in the West Bank and increasing settler violence against Palestinians," some "consumers of conscience may have bought unknowingly from Etsy shops in these illegal settlements," the report adds. "Etsy may not have been questioned about these business links before."
"These problems, at least, can end now," the paper states. "We now know that Etsy is another company that is profiting from business relationships with the illegal settlements. By facilitating the sale of products from shops located in these settlements, Etsy could be connected to war crimes—and this could, in turn, be making users of the platform around the world, as well as Ireland (as the location of Etsy's subsidiary contracting with settlement shops), unknowingly involved too."
"These business relationships look like a serious problem for Etsy. But Etsy also has an opportunity to respond to these revelations, and concerns about them," the report argues. "It could act on its ability, as written into its policies, to cut its ties with shops in illegal settlements."
"It could also require that all shops disclose their location (city/town and not just country)," the authors added. "In doing
so, it could show real leadership to many already or potentially loyal users: people who want to make 'feel good,' conscious and more ethical purchases online."
In 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that food products made in Israeli settlements must indicate that they originate from a settlement instead of being labeled "Product of Israel."
The following year in the United States, the administration of then-President Donald Trumpordered goods produced in much of the occupied West Bank to be labeled "Made in Israel."
The global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement has notched a string of successes in its campaign to educate and influence consumers to eschew Israeli settlement products.
Responding to a query from Provost, Etsy said that "we have shared this information internally with the appropriate teams for review."
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BP Condemned Over 'Mammoth Profits' as Fossil Fuels Wreak Havoc on the Planet
"The world can no longer afford fossil fuel companies putting short-term profits above people and planet."
Jul 30, 2024
The London-based oil giant BP announced Tuesday that it hauled in $2.8 billion in profit during the second quarter of the year as the world faced the consequences of the fossil fuel industry's business model in the form of record-shattering heat, devastating wildfires, and other weather extremes.
The company's second-quarter profit surpassed analysts' expectations and brought its total profit for the first half of 2024 to $5.5 billion. BP on Tuesday also announced a 10% dividend increase, an expansion of its stock buyback program, and a green light for a new drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico, even as international scientists say any new fossil fuel production is incompatible with critical warming targets set out by the Paris climate accord.
BP said that once completed, the new floating platform would have the capacity to produce 80,000 barrels of crude oil daily.
Chiara Liguori, Oxfam Great Britain's senior climate justice policy adviser, said in a statement that "the world can no longer afford fossil fuel companies putting short-term profits above people and planet."
"It is inexcusable that BP, one of the world's most polluting and profitable fossil fuel companies, continues to rake in billions of pounds while low-income countries are in urgent need of funds to tackle the devastating impacts of the climate crisis despite doing the least to cause it," said Liguori. "The costs of inaction are already here with deadly heat waves, wildfires, flooding, and drought, but it is people living in poverty who are left paying the highest price."
BP's profit report came weeks after the company, now under the leadership of CEO Murray Auchincloss, announced it would pause new offshore wind projects and put fresh "emphasis on oil and gas amid investor discontent over its energy transition strategy," as Reutersreported last month. The move came over a year after the company rolled back its plan to curtail oil and gas production.
Extreme weather driven by the burning of fossil fuels, meanwhile, continued to wreak havoc across the globe.
"As global temperatures spiked to their highest levels in recorded history [last Monday], ambulances were screaming through the streets of Tokyo, carrying scores of people who had collapsed amid an unrelenting heat wave," wroteThe Washington Post's Sarah Kaplan over the weekend. "A monster typhoon was emerging from the scorching waters of the Pacific Ocean, which were several degrees warmer than normal. Thousands of vacationers fled the idyllic mountain town of Jasper, Canada ahead of a fast-moving wall of wildfire flames."
"By the end of the week—which saw the four hottest days ever observed by scientists—dozens had been killed in the raging floodwaters and massive mudslides triggered by Typhoon Gaemi," Kaplan continued. "Half of Jasper was reduced to ash. And about 3.6 billion people around the planet had endured temperatures that would have been exceedingly rare in a world without burning fossil fuels and other human activities, according to an analysis by scientists at the group Climate Central."
Izzie McIntosh, a climate campaigner at the United Kingdom-based advocacy group Global Justice Now, said Tuesday that BP's "mammoth profits" come "at the expense of our climate, communities, and the Global South facing the most brutal impacts of a climate crisis they did not cause."
"Labour has made some promising signals about a move toward green energy—it now needs to throw its weight behind tackling the rampant profiteering of oil and gas companies," McIntosh said of the newly elected U.K. government. "It can do this by introducing a windfall tax and other measures to fund the U.K.'s contribution to a globally just fossil fuel phaseout that works for workers and communities in the U.K. and around the world."
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