Mr. Ahmad, I was attending an Intensive Summer Institute where Neuro Science/Behavioral Therapy, Communications, Education-Early Childhood Interventions were highlighted. It was quite an experience dealing with intellectuals that were all taken by surprise with my technical questions that put them in the hot seat. We call that defending the piece of paper that declares you to have all the rights, honors and privelages bestowed, that confers to you the degree of PhD. I apologize for not being able to participate the entire week due to my overly busy schedule at FSU. I see evidence of a fine job by all participants. I read your comprehensive response with great interest. Please accept my sincere compliments for such a great contribution. A lot of care and consideration has gone into this and also a lot of consulting time. I deeply appreciate your genuine committment and leadership given and hope that our virtual collaboration will lead towards real transformation of the GF. We should see and feel a "human face" unlike the perception of "Goliath, the remote entity" that is trying to make things better for the world. You emphasized the absence of a new health awareness of the target population and made mention of the education sector. Interestingly, there is no mention on how the structure of this collaboration should be defined. Needless to say, that at the core of this entire debate is: Has the Global Fund missed the mark or missed the opportunity by relying on UNESCO, UNICEF, related agencies and NGOs to provide functional literacy and specialized health literacy? Let us pick a country like Kenya. I have published a startling article in the Kenyan news papers and the press trembles when I speak of the literacy debacle in Kenya's leducation sector, which according to my interview with the Dir of Adult Education who has actually been in that department since 1976, stated that Kenya had done a good job. What she was unaware of is that I had thoroughly studied the 2006 KNALS(Kenya's National Adult Literacy Survey) report that was published in March 07 because I felt many things just didnt look right around Kenya and made this my case study. The Director defended the literacy initiatives and I allowed her to have the opperhand because I knew when I am ready to present my case, her case will fall apart. When it comes to functional literacy initiatives which are: 1. teaching new learners how to function within a literate culture with the new tools accessible to them 2. cross fertilizing and cross transferring skills and competencies to transform the neo-literate's life that will facilitate continued participation in social, political and economic processes that will liberate and transform their lives from perpetual poverty into advancement. I gave her the most shocking and joulting wake up call about the dismal performance of Kenya's Adult Education from 1976 - 2006. Only 29.6% of Kenyan Adults have the basic necessary Mastery of Literacy Skills and Competencies. By the way Kenya's population numbers around 35mill. This also reflects on the leadership and performance of all the aforementioned agencies. In one word: DISMAL....over 3 decades. This then leaves more questions and makes anyone conclude that over 70% of Kenyan adults function below the minimum required basic necessary literacy skills and competencies which are required to function in a literate society and that they fall in the illiteracy spectrum. Would it surprise you that Kenya’s neighbors aren’t better off and relying on Kenya to provide leadership? Now let us move over to West Africa and look at the sleeping giant called Nigeria. Do you also realize that Nigerians are not better off? More than half of the Nigerians are illiterate. In June 08, “EDO State Commissioner or Basic Education, Mrs. Uyi Ogbemudia at the weekend in Benin City disclosed that over 76.3 million out of a population of 140 million people are non-literates. She stated hat about 60% of the non-literate Nigerians are women while 10 million are school-aged children and youths who are out of school”. Have you taken a microscopic look at the WorldBank literacy study on Uganda where the Worldbank equated adults reading at the 4th grade formal education level as functionally literate? What is wrong with this picture? For example, how on earth does the GF expect to conduct initiatives in Kenya and Nigeria for those that need these services most and are mostly within the illiteracy spectrum? How does the GF expect to see results/transformation if they didn't take the bull by the horns from the get go? By the way, this is public information. Functional Health Literacy Initiatives should have been part of the policy initiatives from the formation of the GF and this is not a joke. Does one think its better in other African countries when it comes to HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB? Let us cruise back to East Africa. How does one expect people that are illiterate and/or functionally illiterate or those that lack functionally literacy skills and competencies (the illiteracy spectrum) to wear condoms when this is not part of their traditional worldview or way of life? Or, did someone think that teaching locals in the vernacular or local languages will make them automatically wear a condom to prevent the HIV virus infection? Has anyone followed them to the village to know what they will do with the condom and what the husbands will do to the wives if they don’t yield to his demands for sex and she tries to talk him into a condom? Or does anyone think that the ABC method from Uganda works when they can’t explain to the world, why their prevalence has stayed stagnant for 10 years. Is anyone aware that parts of Uganda around Lake Victoria and Northern Uganda have a prevalence rate much much higher than the reported country prevalence and are keeping quiet about this? With regards to the “ABC” (Abstinence, Be Faithful and use Condoms) drumbeat or abstinence education, I am not sure how anyone can proof to me, how highly effective this is since Uganda’s success was never replicated in Uganda for the past 10 years. Was it replicated in other countries around the world? Uganda has not been able to cut their prevalence by half or more than half after 1998. EDUCATION IS A HUMAN RIGHT....my question is: What kind of education has been provided and why do so many people in Africa still fall within the Illiteracy Spectrum? It is an unpardonable social injustice if we turn our back from this responsibility. Remember, I said we...that includes all of us. Having said all this... How does the GF match the MDG # 6 to its goals and objectives and how does the GF apply it? Are the individual countries responsible for meeting the MDGs especially when it pertains to MDG #6 or is the GF equally responsible? You spoke about piecemeal approaches and bandaids...When do you expect this to change if you think that a policy change is not too late even now? Elder Brother, its too late for millions of people. As a public health educationists, dilution of disease-specific funds may sound good on paper; however, it is an art and skill to maximize funds by targeting most efficient health promotion activities that capture multiple disease processes that are preventable and most debilitating once contracted while simultaneously administering health literacy initiatives. This is where I feel that we will be most cost-effective in presenting a model that addresses this. This model is already designed by me. This is what Utilization Management (UM) is all about. In the same vein, I would like to say that if the illiteracy spectrum that I referred to in all correspondence isn’t addressed, MDG # 6 will not be achieved by 2015. At the halfway mark in 2008 this looks dismal and I do not know of any measures that are proposed to address this. We need to take these discussions from the virtual to the real world. This requires a concerted effort if we want to come anywhere close to achieving MDG #6. Best Regards and I look forward talking to you life... Fenna E. Bacchus CEO/President Functional Illiteracy Research and Education Inc. 544 Walnut Street Altamonte Springs, FL 32714-2329 - USA Tel/Fax:+ 1 (407) 774-6542 Cell: +1 (407) 484-0292 (Emergency Contact) www.fireinc.org