We got interested when we saw the great selection of Japanese manhole covers from Flickr streams by Haha.nu.

After a quick search around we found many more and learned that there are even web sites dedicated to images of manholes around the world. The picture below is just a selection of the excellent photos by the Japanese Manhole Group on Flickr. One of the best sites we found is Frangipani’s Japanese Manhole pages. Also have a look at the other links below.

Some of these ironworks definitely qualify as art and it is interesting to see how such an object of utility has stimulated creativity and difference in countries around the world. While for manholes in countries like Germany or Austria function determines design in many other countries there is a strong decorative element used. And as these manhole covers often are around for a very long time the can also tell and are becoming part of the history of cities.

Click on the image for the jump

More information at: Sewers of the World, Unite!, a web site with photos from manhole covers around the world,
ManHole.ca on Flickr
Mosaic of Manhole covers
Manhole Cover Study
Japanese Manhole Cover Group on Flickr

The imagery of US artist Josh Keyes has been described as a response to the endless storm of information, events, and visual phenomena that we encounter in today’s culture.

…I have always been interested in how paintings, both past and present, have been used by different cultures around the world to express or illustrate stories and ideas that concern the transformation of the individual and the environment. My questions and observations of urban sprawl, oil consumption, deforestation, and the prospects for humanity have charged me in the continuous invention of a visual dialogue that addresses these issues. This body of work stems from a cross-country trip I took across the US about seven years ago. I was moved by the force and beauty of the landscape, and also struck by the rate of land being cleared and developed…

Click on the image for the jump

More information at: Josh Keyes’ web site,
George Billis Gallery and
Hang Art

We found this excellent Flash animation of the well known song “Creep” from Radiohead at the lowmorale.co.uk web site.

Click on the image for the jump (multimedia)

In 2003 two South African designers, Cyrille Varet and Scott Hart, started to ask well known fashion designers and artists to design light bulbs. And since then more than 60 of the best know artist in the world have joint their efforts to support women affected by AIDS. The list includes Fashion designers like John Galliano, JC de Castelbajac, Vivienne Westwood, Thierry Mugler, Calvin Klein and many others (full list below). The light bulbs are hand-made in South Africa by women living in townships closed to Cape Town.

Available through an international network of shops and in major department stores or online at ithemba for about EUR 20 to 30. For each light bulb purchased a donation of 5 EUR is provided to the association in South Africa.

Click on the image for the jump

Light bulbs show above by: Agnes B, Calvin Klein, Anne Valerie Hash, Jean Paul Knott, Pierre Cardin, Thierry Mugler, Jean Paul Gaultier, Nina Ricci, Philippe Stark, Enki Bilal, Elvis Pompilio, Stoned Cherrie, Mario Queiroz, Peter Løchstøer, Jean Claude Jitrois, Vivienne Westwood, Maurizio Galante (2x), Alexandre Matthieu, Cacharel, Martine Sitbon, Antoine Giacomoni (2x), M. & F. Girbaud, Stella Cadente, JC de Castelbajac, Lolita Lempicka, Maurizio Galante, Xuly Bët, John Galliano

More information at:ithemba and
Designing Hope.

We always liked Jean-Christophe Victor’s geo-political series Le Dessous des Cartes for European TV station Arte.tv.

Every week since years he describes political topics with maps and info graphics. And for each episode there is a slide show with all the graphics put online. This year they have also created a 3-part special on AIDS.

It unfortunately only exists in French and German but if you’ve forgotten your college French try an automatic online translation service. (Systran works OK when you copy/paste the text)

Links to the AIDS specials:

In German:

• AIDS (Part 1)
• AIDS (Part 2)
• AIDS (Part 3)

In French:

• SIDA (Part 1)
• SIDA (Part 2)
• SIDA (Part 3)

Like at every World AIDS Day before it is also the day of speeches and memorandums. And clapping each other’s back to tell how great work we all do.

The same has happened for more than 30 years within the “fight” against Malaria and Tuberculosis and – let’s face it - there is lots of room for improvement and more efficiency. Maybe people should just start getting the job done and not always only cry for more money that most of the time does not arrive where it’s needed.

Opinions like these would obviously get you fired immediately from any government / international agency related to AIDS or at least would make you an endangered species on the brink of extinction. We have heard it a few times “…You actually want to do something about AIDS why don’t you go back to the private sector. Let us waste our billions how we always have done it.”

In the meantime millions are dying….

There are many more who think that something needs to be done now and quickly than you bureaucrats would like to be. Let them not get away with it…

Back to the topic:
Some links to the speeches of today about AIDS:

1. (Outgoing) UN Secretary-General Kofi A. Annan has a short memo published on the UN web site (PDF) where he is praising the Global Fund and also otherwise demonstrates that he’s a man of positive thinking.

We were told that he was much more reserved about the TGF on his global good-bye tour this year when he visited the organization’s offices and had to participate in their staged answer and question game. But then it’s also said that he is planning to come back to Geneva…

2. (Acting) WHO Director-General Anders Nordström who had to take over after the tragic death of J.W. Lee this year also provided some nice words and mentioned the 16th International AIDS Conference were almost 30,000 people were flown into Toronto for talks. Bad example Anders, this was – as we have been told by active members in the AIDS “trade” - one of the biggest time and money wasters ever. The estimates are in the region of more than USD 200 million (and counting) that were spent on this photo opportunity. Many who actually DO something had a second thought about it and did not even go…

Side Note: Let’s remember it takes just a few hundred USD to save the life of an AIDS patient. So how many can you make survive with more than 200 million…

It’s not your fault Anders and we know your org is running on a shoestring budget these days. The link to his speech is here (PDF)

It is a less known fact that, previous to becoming ADG at the WHO, Anders Nordström was the first Executive Director of the Global Fund. He left faster than you can say “there is something wrong here” - to be fair his escapade with that shop took less than a half year.

Surprising not even the TGF is mentioning this fact – actually the TGF is wrongly reporting that (outgoing) Richard Feachem would be the first Executive Director of that “financial instrument”. We will ask Anders the next time we see him why this is so…
(For those who don’t believe us have a look at this - just one of the documents that are still proving it)

3. (NOT outgoing) Dr Peter Piot also has provided us with a one page message. You can see it here (PDF)

4. (Outgoing) Stephen Lewis, first UN special envoy on Aids in Africa who is stepping down in December, had an interview covered by the BBC very prominently as one of the specials for today’s World AIDS Day.

We met Stephen on a high level conference in Africa this year and were quite impressed by his enthusiasm and will to change something (Stephen you might not remember we only had a very short talk after being introduced).

We unfortunately were less impressed when seeing him again at a show paid by the TGF in Africa – this time in proximity to the Gorillas (well this is meant literally – …you know what they charge you these days for watching the Gorillas in the rain forest in Uganda or Rwanda – USD 250 we couldn’t believe it – well I guess Stephen you know which occasion I’m talking about here now).

Anyway they were all scared at that occasion that you might say something (which you unfortunately never did) - but seemingly that time has come and gone.

The link to the interview is here

5. (Outgoing) Executive Director of the Global Fund, Professor Richard Feachem, had no special message for today. There is a memo on the TGF web site telling something about a new schmooze between the TGF and PEPFAR that is as close to reality as a White House press release on Iraq these days.

Richard, we all know you were trying really hard, but as a reality of these days (like those of Kafka I assume) it’s the bureaucrats again who say who say who say…

Anyway in our best – YES MINISTER speak - we would say (- sorry the same word again .-) you’ve done all right and we are sure that there is a KBE luring just around the corner (Richard we suggested that more than one year ago – don’t worry you will get it)

I guess that’s enough with the “outgoing” and now for something completely different….

The faces and logos of UNAIDS Cosponsors, Special representatives, Partners and leaders with their messages for todays World AIDS Day.

Click on the image for the jump

More information and the messages on the UNAIDS web site.

Below you find links and summaries of some resources on the web that might be helpful as a starting point to understand the topic and issues of corruption with AIDS and health work in general:

Transparency international:

2006 Global Corruption Report (Chapter 6: Corruption and HIV/AIDS)
The numbers of people infected with HIV are high and rising. While the corruption that affects HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment does not look very different from corruption found in other areas of the health sector, the scale of the pandemic, the stigma attached to the disease, the high costs of drugs to treat it, and a multiplicity of new agencies increase the opportunities for corruption if there is inadequate monitoring.
link to this document (PDF)

also available as a working paper (PDF)

Note: Please note that the two papers above contain a section on the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria that has been written by a former staff member of this organization. While the person provides some concerns on the work of this organization, we don’t want to endorse his opinions – his writing contains too much whitewash for our taste on what really is happening there.

CORRUPTION in HUMANITARIAN AID
This Working Paper is intended to provide an overview of corruption in humanitarian aid. It explains why humanitarian aid is at risk from corruption, what can potentially be done to minimize these risks and concludes with suggestions for further investigation and action.
link to this document

Corruption and paying for health care
Every year, the world spends more than US $3.1 trillion on health services. These large flows of funds are an attractive target for abuse. The stakes are high and the resources precious: money lost to corruption could be used to buy medicines, equip hospitals or hire badly needed medical staff. Growing evidence from around the world indicates that corruption, fraud, and abuse are resulting in significant losses of public money and denial of good quality health services to millions of people.
link to this document (PDF)

General Information and links:
TI’s Corruption in AIDS web page with links to other organizations like UNAIDS, Oxfam etc.

U4:

Corruption in the health sector
These pages present some essential resources for anyone promoting anti-corruption in the health sector, or otherwise wanting to learn about the challenges of corruption in the health sector.
link to this document

Following below the first part of facts and thoughts on AIDS that most people don’t know:

• In 2006 there are now about 40 Million people living with AIDS and about 25 Million have already died.
• There are more African doctors working in Europe than on the whole African continent.
• There is still no cure or vaccination available against AIDS, it is fatal.
• Too many people are still thinking about “us” and “them” when relating to Aids. We are not dying, they are.
• The majority of the money provided by the G-8 states to fight AIDS is currently used to fund governments in countries most affected. Many of those countries / governments are considered to be the most corrupt in the world and only a limited amount of the funds received is used to fight AIDS. The eight richest countries or better to say the administrations of them are fully aware of this fact but - similar to the trade with letters of indulgence in medieval times - will continue with this practice as long as the public buys into their message that they are fighting AIDS.
• Illiteracy often contributes to the spread of AIDS and other diseases. Millions of children and adolescents are unable to go to school in Africa. Changing that would cost less than what Europeans spend on dog and cat food every year.
• In Southern Africa (Botswana, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe) the average life expectation while continuously rising until then is dropping drastically since the 1990s. While in 1990 the life expectation in Botswana was around 65 years it’s now around 30 years.
• What is mostly considered by many as a chronic disease in the rich part of the world is undoubtedly deadly in poor countries.
• AIDS has become a multi-billion industry where enormous profits are made.
• An AIDS victim in developing countries can be treated for as little as a few hundred dollars a year but many thousand dollars of rich countries’ tax payers money are currently needed to reach one patient. Ask your government what happens with the majority of the funds.
• There is a strong link between poverty and AIDS and almost all experts are aware of this since many years. While more is said about this recently and memorandums are published yet till today besides some small pilot projects there is still separation and almost no coordination in the majority of aid towards these two issues.
• Like with the two other big pandemics – Malaria and Tuberculosis – experts know that innovation or at least doing things differently is needed to succeed. But in the same way as with those diseases governments leave it to bureaucrats that with hundreds of agencies over the last decades have again proven that the first thing they want to get rid of is innovations. And that’s about their track record of success.
• Far too much that happens in the fight against AIDS outside developed countries can best be described as opaque similar to the world-wide arms trade.

Most of us might know Henning Mankell for his Wallander crime novels but he has recently also published a non-fiction book on AIDS in Africa. The book is called I Die, but My Memory Lives on: The World AIDS Crisis and the Memory Book Project.

Mankell who spent a substantial amount of his life in Africa, has with the Memory Book Project provided an opportunity to those dying of AIDS to create a record of their lives in words and pictures for the children they leave behind.

…In Uganda, Mankell finds village after village populated only by children and the elderly—those left behind after AIDS swept away an entire generation. These slim, intensely personal volumes can contain words, pictures, a pressed butterfly, or even grains of sand as ways to represent the lives lost to this devastating plague. Excerpts from Ugandan memory books appear throughout I Die, But My Memory Lives On and, together with Mankell’s narrative, they tell stories of individual lives while sounding a powerful warning about the threat of AIDS…

The book is featuring a foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. A portion of the book’s proceeds are donated to AIDS charities in Africa.

More information on the book and some recent interviews with Henning Mankell on the topic:

• Lofty Talk and Empty Promises
• Henning Mankell’s New Non-Fiction Book Sheds Light on the AIDS Crisis in Africa
• The shame is on us all
• Book review at the NewPress website.
• Henning Mankell’s personal web site