An HIV positive woman marches in Cape Town, South Africa. Photo: Trevor Samson/World Bank Photo Collection (Flickr)

Earlier today, South Africa's President Jacob Zuma announced an ambitious plan to combat HIV/AIDS. Zuma called for more HIV testing centers, better treatment facilities and emphasized the need to identify and treat HIV-positive children younger than one year old, CNN reports.

Zuma's plan ends a decade of neglect imposed by his predecessor Thabo Mbeki. The former president adamantly refused to recognize that the HIV virus led to AIDS and blocked necessary medication from entering his country. A study mentioned in Forbes Magazine suggests Mbeki's policies lead to the deaths of more than 350,000 South African adults and 35,000 babies.

The speech was welcomed by the international community. Without skipping a beat, the United States pledged $120 million to supplement President Zuma’s new policies.

The G-20 is meeting this week in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Chaired by President Barack Obama, the purpose of the summit is to, “review the progress made since the Washington and London Summits and discuss further actions to assure a sound and sustainable recovery from the global financial and economic crisis.” I’ve heard of the G-8, but the G-20? I began to wonder about this alphanumeric soup of organizations. Who are they and what are they concerned with? The following scorecard should help interested followers of this subject keep track of the major players.

The G-6: Organized in 1975 by the finance ministers of Germany and France who were frustrated with the formality and structure of larger international meetings, the G-6 and subsequent evolutions of this body are strictly informal bodies that meet to discuss economic issues of mutual interest. After the creation of the G-8, the term G-6 is now used to refer to the six most populous members of the European Union. The member countries are: the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan

The G-7: Formed in 1976, this is an informal forum for the finance members of seven big industrial economies to discuss economic issues and seek agreement. Member countries include: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States. Now also includes the European Union.

The G-8: An evolution of the G-7, membership grew to include Russia. The European Union is a limited member; it cannot host a meeting or hold the presidency of the body. Members are: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, Russia. European Union (limited member)

The G-8 plus Five: Recognizing the growing influence of other countries, the original group sometimes broadens their meetings by including the Outreach Five. As with all meetings, other countries are sometimes invited to attend. Members: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, Russia. European Union (limited member) Plus: Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa.

The G-20: According to their website, “[t]he G-20 was created as a response both to the financial crises of the late 1990s and a growing recognition that key emerging-market countries were not adequately included in the core of global economic discussion and governance.” Where the earlier groups (G-6 through G-8) were organized around the industrialized countries of the world, the G-20 begins to bring emerging economies into the dialog. Their first meeting was in Berlin, Germany. The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the President of the World Bank, plus the chairs of the International Monetary and Financial Committee and Development Committee of the IMF and World Bank, also participate in G-20 meetings on an ex-officio basis.

The G-20 is made up of the finance ministers and central bank governors of 19 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, European Central Bank

The G-33: The name for a group of developing countries that coordinates on trade and economic issues. It was created in order to help group countries which were all facing similar problems and give a unified voice to countries that were traditionally excluded from discussions among the industrialized countries. Members: Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Botswana, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guyana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Laos, Mauritius, Madagascar, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Senegal, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Tanzania, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

There are other groups variously labeled as G-8, G-20, G-33, and even N-11 (countries which Goldman Sachs considered in 2005 to have a high potential of becoming the world’s largest economies this century: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Turkey and Vietnam).

One of the best, reliable, sources of information about these groups and their members may be found on the websites of the World Trade Organization and the previously mentioned G-20.

You can Track the ongoing discussions of the Pittsburgh G-20 Summit here. But be prepared for slow page loading. It is a very busy website.

Jacob Zuma. Photo: Pan-African News Wire File Photos (flickr)

Jacob Zuma, South Africa's newly elected president, sure has his work cut out for him.

Zuma came into power just before the country announced that its economy is experiencing it's worst recession in 17 years. The country is also faced with the challenges of high unemployment — nearly 22 percent — and about a quarter of the population lives in poverty.

But the leader of Africa's most influential country says he's determined to turn this situation around.

In his first state of the nation address Zuma ambitiously promised to create 500,000 jobs by the end of the year. Zuma also committed to a new era of fiscal discipline, saying that "In the face of the economic downturn, we will have to act prudently — no wastage, no rollovers of funds — every cent must be spent wisely and fruitfully."

In order to survive this recession, Zuma needs to follow through on his promises. The New York Times quotes Harvard economist Dani Rodrik on the importance of job creation for South Africa: "If you don’t get these people in the work force, you’ll lose them forever to lives of distress."

Poor and out-of-work South Africans are placing a lot of hope in Zuma's pledge to create jobs. Interviewed by the Times, Josephine Nontando Mahlangu, an unemployed mother, reacted to Zuma's speech with some optimism: "Maybe Zuma will change everything the way he’s promised."

Photo: Common Threadz (flickr)

An estimated 12 percent of children in sub-Saharan Africa are homeless. If we're going to make a dent in this problem, we need more people like Anna and Phina Mojapelo.

For these South African sisters, giving homeless children a safe place to live just seemed like the right thing to do. In 2000 they opened up a small orphanage in Midrand, South Africa, called "New Jerusalem." Nearly 100 children under the age of 16 now live at the orphanage. Some of the children are AIDS orphans, some came from abusive homes and some were abandoned by their parents.

The sisters are working to give them an education. The Christian Science Monitor recently profiled the sister's efforts to build a Montessori-style preschool with the help of the Dutch charity, Orange Babies. Forty of the young orphans and 40 children from community attend the school.

Although this project seems small, I am impressed both by the vision and compassion that New Jerusalem was founded upon, as well as the potential it encompasses. Powered by Midrand locals, this orphanage is successfully providing kids with a safe home and an early education — both of which give them a better chance of overcoming poverty. As Adrienne Feldner-Busztin — a New Jerusalem volunteer — says, "If you look at the size of the problem, you can feel hopeless, but we don't feel hopeless at all. When you are impacting 96 little lives, you can't feel hopeless."

As the world's euphoria following Barack Obama's election fades (watch VOA's Africa coverage above), what can Africa expect from America's first African-American president — especially when it comes to issues of global poverty?

Many Africans are hopeful that Obama will work to vigorously tackle poverty and disease throughout Africa. Former South African President Nelson Mandela echoed those sentiments in a note of congratulations to President-Elect Obama: "We trust that you will also make it the mission of your presidency to combat the scourge of poverty and disease everywhere."

Are those hopes well-founded? Perhaps. President-elect Obama was a key sponsor of The Global Poverty Act which seeks to cut global poverty in half by 2015. After its passage in February of this year, Obama stated:

With billions of people living on just dollars a day around the world, global poverty remains one of the greatest challenges and tragedies the international community faces. It must be a priority of American foreign policy to commit to eliminating extreme poverty and ensuring every child has food, shelter, and clean drinking water. As we strive to rebuild America's standing in the world, this important bill will demonstrate our promise and commitment to those in the developing world.

Some humanitarian agencies, like World Vision, are already strongly urging President-Elect Obama presidency to increase foreign assistance, food aid in order to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals.

But will the current global economic crisis limit these commitments to poverty alleviation? During the Vice Presidential debate, Vice President-elect Joe Biden admitted that given the current state of the economy an Obama administration may need to "slow down" their previous commitment to doubling foreign assistance.

Obama isn't talking about poverty alleviation nowadays. He (and everyone else) is focused on the U.S. economy. So despite the world's hopeful outlook, it's still unclear how Africa — and its poor — will benefit from America's first African-American president.

Photo: whiteafrican (flickr)

Each day, one million South Africans get a text message that reads something like this:

Frequently sick, tired, losing weight and scared that you might be HIV positive? Please call AIDS Helpline 0800012322.

It's part of Project Masiluleke — which means “hope” and “warm counsel” in Zulu — a plan to use mobile phones to encourage South Africans to test for HIV. It is believed to be the largest mobile communication campaign for health promotion ever attempted.

South Africa has an estimated six million people infected with HIV, according to the United Nations. And almost 90 percent of South Africans have mobile phones with plans that include free “please call me” text messages.

Encouraging people to get tested is a challenge in a country where stigma and shame accompanies a positive diagnosis. Project Masiluleke will offer South Africans discretion and privacy to get tested, treatment options and counseling.

Initial results have been encouraging. During three weeks of usability testing in October, Project Masiluleke helped increase daily call volume to the National AIDS Helpline in Johannesburg by nearly 200 percent, according to National Geographic.

As CNET reports, "This isn't the first time cell phones have been employed in the battle against AIDS. In August, a catchy 'condom, condom' ringtone made its debut as part of a three-year ad campaign aimed at making condom use more socially acceptable in India."

Project Masiluleke is another good demonstration of how mobile phones can be used for the public good. Let's hope it encourages South Africans to take control of their health and pursue the care they need.

Not much changed in South Africa after Thabo Mbeki resigned the presidency last week. But his successor did make one move that could mean the difference between life and death for thousands if not millions of Africans: he removed the country's infamous health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.

International health officials regularly blasted Tshabalala-Msimang for denying that AIDS was a problem, calling anti-retroviral drugs "poisonous" and suggesting that people infected with HIV eat garlic and beetroot instead.

Partly as a result, few South Africans infected with HIV receive the most effective treatment: only 28 percent of those who qualify for anti-retrovirals are on the drug regiment.

Leadership alone can make a difference in the fight against AIDS, according to a study from the AIDS and Society Research Unit at South Africa's University of Cape Town. The study found that "when it came to implementing effective AIDS policies, good leadership could overcome resource constraints, health system weaknesses and other limitations."

We still don't know who will fill the vacated health post, but it'd be hard to find a candidate worse than the one who just departed. Let's hope the new officeholder signals a change in attitude. South Africa is emerging as an important economic leader in sub-Saharan Africa. It's high time the country led the region's fight against HIV/AIDS, too.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman has declared that a recent shipment of arms from China to Zimbabwe is completely unrelated to the current post-election tension in the country and is part of “perfectly normal trade in military goods between China and Zimbabwe.” But this hasn’t stopped the 300,000 member South African Transport and Allied Workers Union from refusing to unload the shipment.

The South African workers refusal to accept the arms shipment has been publically echoed by the governments of Angola, Mozambique, Namibia and Tanzania with their refusal to accept the arms and ship them overland to Zimbabwe. The U.S. has voiced its support of these countries on the matter and urged the Chinese government to recall the shipment. Although the South African government itself has not endorsed the refusal of the weapons, South African citizen action coupled with the support of neighboring countries has essentially created an informal embargo of the Chinese weapons. These actions contrast sharply with President Thabo Mbeki’s policy of quiet diplomacy, and refusal to deem Zimbabwe's current political and economic woes a "crisis."

I think this story is an incredibly powerful demonstration of the power individuals and governments have when they work together to take a stand on an issue.

Today's Business Week reports that a disagreement between the EU and South Africa is threatening the unity of the Southern African Customs Union, the world's oldest customs union. Last year several countries broke rank with South Africa, signing a trade agreement with the EU. It is feared that South Africa may use this as a reason to disband the union entirely.

If South Africa does break ranks with other participating countries including Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho, tariffs protecting Namibian beer makers from European beer would not apply to countries like South Africa. The result would be the inability of Southern African countries to effectively protect certain industries (and in this case a significant loss to the global beer supply as well as domestic economies).

Today the Economist posted a briefing on the 2008 Freedom of the World report published by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, concluding that in recent years "African countries have made negligible progress liberalising their economies."

For the most part, although not without exception, the Heritage Foundation’s correlation between incomes per head and economic freedom holds good. Seven of the ten economically most free African economies (Mauritius, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Tunisia, Swaziland and Cape Verde) are, in fact, middle-income states. Uganda, Madagascar and Kenya, however, are very low-income countries.

Today, IRIN, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, brings attention to power shortages in South Africa which have halted production and created job losses for miners. The slow down of one of South Africa's most important industries may have a serious impact on government goals of job creation and poverty alleviation.

Any job losses in the mining sector could have an impact on the South African Development Community (SADC), warned Lesiba Seshoka, spokesman for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). South African mines employ 460,000 workers - 40 percent of them from neighbouring countries - and shutting down operations had already affected the incomes of casual workers...

South Africa's economy needs to grow at least 6 percent annually to keep unemployment from rising above the official estimate of 25 percent, although independent economists have put the joblessness rate at nearer to 40 percent.

According to Schussler, economic growth could slow from over five percent in 2007 to three percent in 2008 as a result of the outages and anticipated slower growth in the global economy. The South African economy is the most influential in the region, and any contraction could have a ripple effect on neighbouring countries.