When the average American watches the evening news there is precious little international coverage. And you can bet that what there is pays scant regard to the millions of lives affected each year in the world’s poorest countries by disease and malnutrition.

And it’s the same when it comes to newspapers. Throughout the United States thousands of editorial jobs have been lost, budgets cut and revenue restricted which has led to a narrowing of coverage. And this means less room for stories about the world’s poor who after all don’t vote and don’t buy advertising.

And here lies the paradox. Because the United States is also responsible for spending hundreds of millions of dollars on fighting these killer diseases in the developing world. The Government through its various aid projects and wealthy private sector organizations such as the Gates Foundation.

So how do we square this circle? There is clearly both the interest and the money to fight disease but no place for coverage in traditional media. Part of the answer here lies in new technology. Take Global Health TV as an example. The channel tackles many of the issues talked about here and is funded via several initiatives. But even so being a web based channel it suffers from the normal competition driving traffic to its site.

So enter the EdgePlayer. Global Health TV has transformed its reach by putting video players on high profile sites whilst retaining control of the content played on them. Take a look at thelancet.com and globalhealthcouncil.org as examples. And the result is over 100, 000 people each month tuning into coverage on global health. And given the problems we have to deal with that coverage is invaluable.

Our penultimate day was spent at the Candlelight Memorial. It was memorable for meeting the former President of Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda. He was quite delightful and warmly greeted us every time we bumped into him. He was staying at the same hotel and allowed us to accompany him to the mausoleum of his friend and fellow freedom fighter, President Banda of Malawi.

Kenneth Kaunda has been one of the most out-spoken African leaders in the fight against Aids. When his son died of Aids related illnesses, he made this public and also went himself for Aids testing. Secrecy and stigma is a fundamental barrier to HIV/Aids prevention. It stops people wanting to know their status and when they do, from sharing that knowledge.
The morning started early when we, and the Global Health Council team bundled together into Gerald’s truck to travel to the CiVo stadium. There was great excitement surrounding the ceremony and in particular the arrival of Malawi’s President Mutharika, surrounded by men in black suits wearing dark glasses. The President toured the information booths, which sadly were not open to the general public.

After candle lighting, dancing and speeches, the stands were pulled down and everyone dispersed quickly.

The following morning we bade a sad farewell to Malawi. Back in Johannesburg, xenophobic rioting was taking hold of the townships. Safely tucked away at the airport, we waited for our flight back home reflecting on this life-changing experience.
A couple of weeks on and we thank all those that we met. The wonderful people of Ilinge seemed so grateful to us for visiting, but personally, they have given me far more than I could possibly offer them.
Thank you.