MHC tetramers to accelerate bovine vaccine creation

In much of Africa, a herd of cattle is more than just cows. It’s a savings account, protein store, dowry, funeral fund, symbol of wealth, and hedge against drought. For many smallholder farmers, the loss of even a single cow to disease can spell ruin.

Yet a grievous number of cattle in sub-Saharan Africa get sick: one estimate puts annual losses from disease at $40 billion, some twenty-five percent of the total value of livestock production in the region.

John Barlow, professor of animal sciences at the University of Vermont, thinks the cows in the university’s research herd may be able to help.

“Many cattle diseases in sub-Saharan Africa might be prevented if we had better vaccines,” he says, “but the way we have traditionally created vaccines is expensive and takes a lot of time.”

That’s why he’s leading an international project that aims to better understand the molecular workings of cow immune systems — and accelerate the development of vaccines for two critical cattle diseases: East Coast fever and foot-and-mouth disease.

Barlow and his colleagues in Kenya, Denmark and at the U.S. Department of Agriculture are supported by a new three-year grant from the National Science Foundation.

“In the first year, we will be studying the cattle in the University of Vermont herd to understand the diversity of their immune function genes,” Barlow says.

Then, applying this knowledge, the team will use a new technology that has been accelerating human vaccine development, but, until now, hasn’t been applied to cows: so-called MHC tetramers. These synthetic molecules allow researchers to quickly get a view of what proteins in the invading virus or parasite are likely to spark a strong immune response in the host animal.

“These proteins are the key vaccine candidates,” says Barlow — and can be tested in lab cell lines.

The MHC — or “major histocompatibility complex” — is a large family of genes found in most vertebrate animals, including cows. It plays a key role in regulating T-cells, that, in turn, help the organism recognize and attack a wide range of foreigners — like the foot-and-mouth virus or the parasite the carries East Coast fever. To accomplish this complex task, the MHC itself is a complex set of protein molecules that vary dramatically between individuals — which is part of the reason some individuals catch a disease while others don’t.

“We want to understand the diversity of those molecules within cattle populations,” says Barlow. The tetramer technology provides synthetic MHC proteins that act much like the real ones. This allows researchers to largely sidestep the traditional method of infecting an animal with the disease, waiting for the infection, and then extracting tissue.

“Tetramer technology allows us to efficiently and cheaply evaluate the T-cell response, to either natural infections or vaccines,” using core research facilities at the University of Vermont medical school, says Barlow. This technology will be combined with several others, including advanced bioinformatics techniques to sort through the soup of genetic data. All of which promises to provide basic science insights needed for faster and more accurate development of vaccines in developing countries.

Barlow is quick to point out that none of the cows in the UVM herd will be exposed to any diseases — they’re just providing the resource that a highly inbred research herd allows when trying to look at the range of genetic responses. “Then, in later years in the project, we’ll start to test vaccines in herds in Africa,” he says.

“We can get the data we need without having to expose many animals to the actual diseases,” says Barlow’s colleague Bill Golde at the USDA’s Plum Island Animal Disease Center. The sequestered animals at this center will be the only ones tested with the actual diseases once promising vaccine candidates have been identified.

Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious virus passed from animal to animal. It hasn’t been seen in the United States since 1929. The U.S.D.A. and U.S. cattle interests have every intention of keeping it that way, but it is common in parts of Africa and Asia.

“We’re studying foot-and-mouth because it’s a very small virus that is relatively easy to investigate and there is a strong motivation from the perspective of U.S. global disease control,” says Barlow. “And for Sub-Saharan Africa it would be good if they could control it since it will improve their ability to export meat once it’s controlled there.”

In contrast, East Coast fever is caused by a large parasite with a large genome and complex lifecycle. “It is hugely important to the smaller shareholder farms in Africa as it kills many cattle,” says Barlow. “Farmers there are very interested in eradicating and controlling both these diseases.”

This goal may be easier to reach because only a few popular breeds dominate herds around the globe resulting in limited genetic diversity in cows. This means that the tetramer technology is likely to be even more illuminating and powerful in cattle than in human immunology.

“We’re doing basic science on the molecular level,” says Barlow, “to give the developing world better vaccines.”

New varieties of drought-tolerant maize could generate up to $1.5 billion for African farmers, consumers

As climate change intensifies drought conditions in Africa and sparks fears of a new cycle of crippling food shortages, a study released today finds widespread adoption of recently developed drought-tolerant varieties of maize could boost harvests in 13 African countries by 10 to 34 percent and generate up to US$1.5 billion in benefits for producers and consumers.

“We need to move deliberately, but with urgency, to get these new varieties from the breeders to the farmers, because their potential to avert crises is considerable,” said Roberto La Rovere, a socio-economist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (known by its Spanish acronym CIMMYT) and lead author of the study, which was produced in partnership with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).

“Our analysis shows that with high rates of adoption, more than four million producers and consumers would see their poverty level drop significantly by 2016,” he added.

The study was conducted as part of the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Initiative (DTMA) implemented by CIMMYT and IITA with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. CIMMYT and IITA have worked with national agriculture research centers in Africa to develop over 50 new maize varieties that in drought conditions can produce yields that are 20 to 50 percent higher than existing varieties.

The CIMMYT-IITA analysis of the benefits of conventional drought-tolerant maize for Africa, or DTMA, examined the potential impact in Angola, Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The researchers found that under “conservative yield” improvements, the new varieties would provide farmers and consumers with food and income worth US$537 million, while under more “optimistic yield improvements,” their value would increase to US$876 million.

Moreover, the researchers estimate that if drought-tolerant maize completely replaced existing varieties in the countries studied, the benefits could reach US$1.5 billion.

Farmers and consumers in Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe would see the greatest benefits, the authors note, because maize dominates local diets and livelihoods, and farmers in these countries have a history of rapidly adopting improved maize varieties.

“The goal now is to make drought-tolerant maize easily available to millions of smallholder growers in countries where droughts, which always lurk as a perennial threat to food production, are expected to become more common and more severe,” said Hartmann, director general of IITA. “Maize is life for 300 million in Africa, and as climatic conditions deteriorate, it is up to researchers in cooperation with governments, seed companies and farmers to ensure that maize production does not collapse.”

For example, a peer-reviewed study published last year by Stanford University and the Global Crop Diversity Trust warned that by 2050, growing conditions in most African countries will be hotter than any year on record and that many varieties of maize now under cultivation will no longer be viable. Another study from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) warned that a failure to transition to drought-tolerant maize could diminish yields across the region by up to one ton per hectare.

Some of the new drought-tolerant maize seed is already reaching farmers’ fields. This year alone, four new varieties developed by breeders with IITA and the Government of Ghana that are both drought-tolerant and resistant to the parasitic weed Striga were officially released.

The CIMMYT-IITA study examined past trends in adoption of improved maize varieties and cautioned that there could be wide variations in the rate at which farmers’ transition to drought-tolerant maize. For example, adoption rates are projected to be as high as 85 percent in Kenya and Zambia, but only 20 percent in Benin, 30 percent in Mali, and 27 percent in Mozambique.

“It is very important for everyone at all points in the value chain to coordinate their efforts so that we address the challenges that in the past have made it very difficult for many African farmers to obtain seed of improved crop varieties,” said Wilfred Mwangi, associate director of CIMMYT’s global maize program and leader of the DTMA project.

According to Mwangi, farmers will adopt a new crop variety if it offers distinct advantages. But they still face barriers to obtaining improved seeds.

“Over the years, many farmers in sub-Saharan Africa have continued to grow old, low-yielding, and unsuitable maize varieties, despite the availability of newer and better-performing ones,” said Mwangi. “This is partly because they don’t know about the new varieties or can’t get credit to buy seed. Many farmers are discouraged from buying seed because they can’t sell their surplus grain at attractive prices; others live beyond the reach of commercial seed companies.”

Feeding farm families in dry areas of Malawi

In Malawi, the impact of the DTMA project is already becoming evident in farmers’ fields and finances. For example, Bamusi Stambuli estimated he will save US$330 over 12 months by growing a drought-tolerant maize variety developed by CIMMYT and breeders from Malawi’s Chitedze Research Station. This year, Stambuli’s maize yields of this variety were nearly twice those of other popular local varieties. “I will now be able to feed my family for 12 months,” said Stambuli, who has seven children and five grandchildren.

“The climate is changing, rainfall is decreasing, and the weather is now dictating which varieties farmers grow and in turn what varieties seed companies produce,” said Dellings Phiri, Managing Director of Seed Co. Malawi, a leading seed company in the southern African region.

Two varieties released in Malawi in 2009—ZM 309 and ZM 523—are suited specifically for drought-prone areas where soils are infertile. Introduced by local extension agents to farmers in the Balaka area, the new varieties have produced good yields in demonstration plots. Farmers are saying that ZM 309 and ZM 523 yield more corn, mature earlier, and are better for pounding into flour than other popular commercial varieties.

Locally, ZM 523 is known as “Mwayi”—the Chichewa term for “fortunate.” ZM 309 is called “Msunga banja,” or “that which takes care of or feeds the family.” In September 2009, the Malawi government decided to include ZM 309 in a government initiative that offers farmers discounts on purchases of improved maize seeds.

Half of the malaria medication sold In Africa could be ineffective or even harmful. Researchers from Lund and the UK have now developed a technique that could resolve the situation

Counterfeiting of drugs is a huge industry with an annual turnover of more than SEK 500 billion. In Africa the situation is extremely serious. Half of the malaria medication sold there could be ineffective or even harmful. Researchers from Lund and the UK have now developed a technique that could resolve the situation.

In two years the researchers hope to have a prototype ready. It will resemble a small briefcase, in which a pharmacist, customs officer or pharmaceuticals agent can place a packet of tablets, without having to open the packet. After a minute or so the device indicates whether or not the medicine is fake.

“There are a number of advantages to this technique. It is not only reliable but also simple and cheap, which is a prerequisite if it is to be successfully put into use in developing countries”, comments Andreas Jakobsson, Professor in Mathematical Statistics at Lund University and one of the researchers on the project.

The technique has its origins in the research that Andreas Jakobsson’s Swedish and British colleagues usually conduct: detection of bombs and explosives. The researchers have been called on by HM Revenue and Customs in the UK to detect explosives at Heathrow Airport.

The research is based on a technique known as nuclear magnetic resonance. By exposing a substance to radio waves, the spin of the atom nuclei changes briefly. When the radio pulse is over and the resonance returns to normal, a weak signal, unique to each substance, is emitted. In this way, the researchers can usually work out what chemical substances are hiding in the material.

Researchers have long known that it should also be possible to use this technique to trace counterfeit drugs, but it has not been sufficiently well developed for this purpose. However, a recent breakthrough in the Swedish-British research group’s work has changed that. Now they can also find out if a certain drug actually contains the active ingredient that the packaging claims.

“The signals that are emitted from a chemical substance are incredibly weak! But we have succeeded in developing mathematical algorithms which allow us to capture them. We have also managed to filter out interference from metals, for example, which are often found both in explosives and in the protective packaging around tablets”, explains Andreas Jakobsson.

Professor Jakobsson and his Swedish colleague Erik Gudmundson are responsible for the mathematical calculations, while their colleagues at King’s College London are responsible for the chemical experiments and the development of the equipment.

The researchers were recently awarded funding from the Wellcome Trust to develop a prototype. The Swedish research group is also funded by the Swedish Research Council and the Carl Trygger Foundation.

Counterfeit drugs are usually manufactured in factories in China and India and sold by the mafia and other criminal organisations. At best the drug only contains harmless binders.

However, sometimes the manufacturers add rat poison or other cheap but harmful substances that can easily be formed into tablets. Some contain a weak dose of the active ingredient, which can be particularly harmful in the case of penicillin, for example, when it is important to ensure that all the bacteria are killed.

Some counterfeit products work, but entail a loss of revenue for pharmaceutical companies. Even if the problem is greatest in developing countries (in India, it is estimated that 15󈞀 per cent of all drugs are fake), counterfeit drugs are also found in Europe. Most of the drugs that can be purchased on the Internet are counterfeit.

Monkeypox has increased 20-fold in Democractic Republic of Congo since 1980

In the winter of 1979, the world celebrated the end of smallpox, a highly contagious and often fatal viral infection estimated to have caused between 300 and 500 million deaths during the 20th century.

The virus was eradicated through an aggressive worldwide vaccination campaign, which itself ended in 1980. After all, with no virus, there was no longer a need for a vaccine. Now, researchers at UCLA say the elimination of the smallpox vaccine has allowed a related virus to thrive.

In the current online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Anne Rimoin, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the UCLA School of Public Health, and colleagues report that 30 years after the mass smallpox vaccination campaign ceased, rates of a related virus known as human monkeypox have increased dramatically in the rural Democratic Republic of Congo, with sporadic outbreaks in other African nations and even the United States.

Until 1980, Rimoin said, the smallpox vaccine provided cross-protective immunity against monkeypox, a “zoonotic orthopoxvirus,” meaning it can be passed from animals to humans. Symptoms of monkeypox in humans include severe eruptions on the skin, fever, headaches, swollen lymph nodes, possible blindness and even death. There is no treatment.

“All you can do is provide supportive care,” Rimoin said. “There are no antibiotics. If you survive, the illness eventually runs its course.”

Once the smallpox vaccination program ended, new generations of people who were “vaccine naive” were exposed to the monkeypox virus the Democratic Republic of Congo over time, and the number of people who became infected gradually increased. But the increase went unnoticed because the nation has little or no health infrastructure and thus no way to monitor the spread of such diseases.

That’s why, until her recent report, Rimoin said, monkeypox was thought to be very rare. Her research shows, however, that it has become very common.

Rimoin travels frequently to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where she has established a research site to study and track cross-species transmission of the disease. For this work, Rimoin and her colleagues conducted a population-based surveillance in nine health zones in the central region of the country between 2006 and 2007, gathering epidemiologic data and biological samples obtained from suspected cases. They then compared the current, cumulative incidences of infection with data gathered in similar regions from 1981 to 1986.

The results were startling, showing “a 20-fold increase in human monkeypox in the DRC since smallpox vaccinations were ended in 1980,” Rimoin said.

Rimoin noted that a monkeypox outbreak in the U.S. in 2003 had more to do with rodents than primates. That year, 93 people were infected throughout the Midwest, and the origin of the disease was later tracked to prairie dogs that had become infected and sold at a single pet store.

“The name ‘monkeypox’ is really a misnomer,” Rimoin said. “The disease was first identified in laboratory monkeys, thus providing it with its name. But in its natural state, it seems to infect squirrels and other rodents much more than primates.”

And that is one of Rimoin’s chief concerns — that the virus will spread into the animal population more broadly.

“The point is, it doesn’t take much for it to spread,” she said.

Because it is unlikely that smallpox vaccinations would be resumed, Rimoin is calling for improved health care education in the Democratic Republic of Congo and better disease surveillance. There is an urgent need to develop a strategy for reducing the risk of a wider spread of infections, she said.

Growing trade, finance, and investment with other developing countries is opportunity to diversify production, acquire technology, and develop regional markets, study notes

Africa should take steps to ensure that its growing economic interactions with large developing countries, including China, India, and Brazil, result in economic diversification rather than simply the sale of African commodities and raw materials — the traditional pattern of the continent´s relations with the industrialized North, an UNCTAD report recommends.

New, increasingly important economic partners in the “South” can help this African transformation along not only through growing trade and financial flows but by supporting regional infrastructure projects and transferring knowledge and technology, notes the Economic Development in Africa Report 2010 (EDAR ´10).

The study warns that so far, trade and investment flows with the South are reinforcing a longstanding trend in which African countries export farm produce, minerals, ores, and crude oil, and import manufactured goods. It says this situation should be reversed while the South-South trend is still in its early stages. A repeat of the traditional pattern will not help African countries to reduce their traditional dependence on exports of commodities and low-value-added goods.

Emerging trends

Subtitled “South-South cooperation: Africa and the new forms of development partnership,” the study shows there has been a significant increase in the number and nature of Africa-South cooperation arrangements since 2000. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) is the best-known and most elaborate. But there are also new institutions linking Africa with India, Brazil, the Republic of Korea, and Turkey, among others. And there are new intercontinental strategic partnerships (see figure 1).

Trade, investment and official financial flows are the key vectors of these new partnerships, with trade paramount.

• Africa´s total merchandise trade with non-African developing countries increased from US$ 34 billion in 1995 to $97 billion in 2004 and then jumped to $283 billion in 2008.
• The number of “greenfield” foreign direct investment (FDI) projects by investors from non-African developing countries climbed from 52 in 2004 to 184 in 2008. (A “greenfield” investment is an investment in a manufacturing, office, or other physical company-related venture where no previous facilities exist.)
• While data availability does not permit a comprehensive and reliable estimate of the scale of official flows to Africa from developing countries, it is estimated that official aid to the region from developing countries was US$ 2.8 billion in 2006. And it has risen substantially since, as China, which is estimated to contribute over 83% of that aid, committed to double its assistance to Africa by 2009.

In 2008, Africa´s total trade with developing countries, including African countries, exceeded Africa´s total trade with the EU, traditionally its major trading partner, for the first time ever (see figure 2).

With the continuing growth of large developing countries, together with weaker growth prospects in advanced economies, the economic relationships linking Africa to other developing regions can be expected to grow in relative importance.

The report finds that flows of official development assistance (ODA) from developing countries are increasingly channelled into the infrastructure and production sectors of African economies. This has increased the resources available to the region as well as diversifying Africa´s financing options. In 2006, traditional donors allocated only 22% of their ODA flows to production sectors and infrastructure.

In terms of scale, China is becoming the most significant bilateral source of support to Africa in the infrastructure and production sectors. Available evidence suggests that Chinese infrastructure finance commitments in sub-Saharan Africa soared from $470 million in 2001 to $4.5 billion in 2007. An estimated 54% of China´s support to Africa over the period 2002-2007 went to infrastructure and public works.

However, an important message of the report is that the new trends should not be seen as simply a China-Africa story. The increasing economic relationships between China and Africa are, rather, part of a broader trend towards intensifying Africa-South economic relationships, particularly with large and dynamic emerging economies.

While Africa´s total merchandise trade with China increased from $25 billion in 2004 to $93 billion in 2008, Africa´s total merchandise trade with India increased over the same period from $9 billion to $31 billion, and its trade with Brazil increased from $8 billion to $23 billion.

What should be done to seize the opportunity?

The EDAR ´10 urges African nations to take “Africa-South” trends into account in their planning for long-term economic progress. It says these governments should be assertive when negotiating cooperation with other developing countries, so that domestic concerns are addressed. A pro-active approach by African governments and a sharing of experiences with developing-country partners will accelerate mutual policy learning, which should enhance the effectiveness of interactions for all.

The overall aim, the study says, should be to build Africa´s “productive capacities” — that is, the abilities of the continent´s economies to produce a greater variety of goods, and more sophisticated goods.

Developing-country partners can support this process by broadening the scope of engagement beyond extractive sectors and by enhancing technology transfer and learning. The availability of concessional loans from developing-country partners has increased access to finance for several countries in the region and should be welcomed, says the new UNCTAD report. But it recommends that African countries ensure that new borrowing from such partners is used to finance projects that enhance domestic capacities to repay.

Cooperation with the South should also ensure that gains are better distributed across countries, theEDAR says. In 2008, the five largest African exporters to developing countries accounted for 68% of the region´s total exports, and the top five African countries accounted for 57% of the region´s imports from other developing countries.

African countries should also play a more active role in coordinating and managing support from developing and developed countries to reduce transaction costs and ensure better development outcomes, the EDAR says. It recommends that African countries should set or strengthen existing national aid management and coordination frameworks to enhance local ownership of aid processes and outcomes. The report suggests that the Development Cooperation Forum of the United Nations Economic and Social Council could be used to share national experiences in the effective use of aid.

The report recommends that African countries adopt a developmental approach in seeking foreign direct investment. The focus of African countries should not be on attracting Southern FDI per se, it says, but on creating linkages between FDI and domestic economies and on directing these investments to sectors where they can catalyse domestic investment, create jobs, spur regional economic integration, and boost productive capacity. The use of targeted incentives to encourage foreign investors to source inputs locally is one way to promote linkages between Southern FDI and African economies. The promotion of joint ventures between African and Southern firms also could boost the diffusion of knowledge to local entrepreneurs and contribute to the structural transformation of African economies.

The report notes that despite advances in Africa-South cooperation, traditional donors are, and will remain for a long time, the main providers of aid to the region and also its major trading partners. The report thus recommends that Africa-South cooperation should be seen as a complement to, and not a substitute for, relations with traditional partners in the North.

The increasing role of large developing countries in global trade, finance, investment and governance, coupled with their rapid economic growth, has stimulated debate on the implications for Africa’s development. The Economic Development in Africa Report 2010 examines recent trends in the economic relationships of Africa with other developing countries and the new forms of partnership that are animating those relationships.

The report discusses the variety of institutional arrangements that are guiding and encouraging these new economic relationships.It provides up-to-date information on African trade with other developing countries outside Africa, as well as on official financial flows and foreign direct investment into Africa from those countries. Finally, it assesses important policy issues that arise from the new relationships in each of these areas.

The report places the new relationships and multiplying partnerships within the context of South–South cooperation. It argues that South–South cooperation opens new opportunities for Africa, and the main challenge facing African countries is how to harness these new relationships more effectively to further their long-term development goals. There is a need for policies at the national level to ensure that Africa–South cooperation does not replicate the current pattern of economic relations with the rest of the world, in which Africa exports commodities and imports manufactures. In this regard, African countries and their developing country partners should manage their growing and evolving relationships in a manner that supports and enhances technological progress, capital accumulation and structural transformation in the region.

The report also stresses the need to broaden the country and sectoral focus of cooperation with the South to ensure that the gains are better distributed across countries. Furthermore, it argues that South– South cooperation should be seen as a complement rather than a substitute for relations with traditional partners, and that the latter can make South– South cooperation work for Africa by strengthening support for triangular cooperation as well as through better dialogue with developing country partners.

Full Report

Juba, August 30, 2010 – The visits by World Bank’s Vice President for Africa, Obiageli Ezekwesili, from September 2 to 4 and of Joachim von Amsberg, Vice President for Operational Policies and Country Support, September 5 to 8 respectively, confirm the Bank’s commitment to remain a reliable partner of Southern Sudan.

“Regardless of the outcome, after the 2011 Referendum, when residents will have decided on whether or not to become a separate nation, Southern Sudan’s focus must turn all the more towards economic growth, jobs, and services. The World Bank is committed to staying engaged and assisting the Government and its citizens in addressing their extraordinary needs,” said Obiageli Ezekwesili during a two-day visit to Juba.

Southern Sudan is among the poorest regions of the world. More than twenty years of civil war—which ended in 2005 with a Comprehensive Peace Agreement—­devastated the region and its infrastructure and left it in critical need of schools, clinics, roads, and clean water. A US$524 million Multi-Donor Trust Fund for Southern Sudan (MDTF-SS)—supported by 15 donors and administered by the World Bank—has been operating since 2005 and has assisted the interim government with state- and peace-building efforts.

The Trust Fund has been instrumental in putting Southern Sudan back on a path of recovery. It has provided almost 250,000 people with safe drinking water; helped 2.5 million people access medical supplies; delivered school supplies to 1.7 million students; provided community-based training for better sanitation and hygiene; rehabilitated and built roads; and built capacity in government ministries that were previously nonexistent.

“As the Trust Fund overcomes the difficulties of the first years, the social and financial impact is becoming more and more visible,” said Ian Bannon, the World Bank’s Acting Country Director for Sudan. “Between the end of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010 the Fund disbursed US$117 million, a figure that exceeds its previous two years combined.”

To ensure continued progress after the referendum, the Bank and its partners are geared up to help Southern Sudan put into place a long-term strategy with a cross-cutting theme of peace building and a primary focus on six key elements: oil revenue management; public expenditure management; delivery of basic services; private sector growth; infrastructure; and security.

Within this strategy, possible areas of engagement for the Bank include: laying the foundations for broad-based growth; building the Southern Sudanese state; and realizing development results.

“To tackle these development challenges, all partners, including the Bank, donors, and the government of Southern Sudan, must maintain a coordinated effort,” Joachim von Amsberg said. “Security, logistical, and capacity constraints will still exist, but to get the job done, we must stay engaged and focus on the deliverables for the people of Southern Sudan.”

For more information about MDTF, its partners and activities in Southern Sudan visit:

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/AFRICAEXT/SUDANEXTN/EXTAFRMDTF/0,,menuPK:2193680~pagePK:64168427~piPK:64168435~theSitePK:2193668,00.html

For more information on the World Bank’s work in sub-Saharan Africa visit: http://www.worldbank.org/afr

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