Health strategy fight continues. Another fight at the Bank board yesterday between the Europeans and the Americans, as reported by Reuters. This time over the Bank's health strategy, which as wbp readers will know, was improved by Wolfowitz-appointee Juan José Daboub.

After gender and reproductive rights groups worldwide went ballastic over the deletion of references to family planning and reproductive services in the strategy, European directors on the board intervened to ask health sector staff to rewrite the strategy. Miraculously, Bank staffers had a Daboub-proof version all ready to go.

Then yesterday the Americans decided that they liked Daboub's version better. They blocked passage of the Daboub-proofed revision. Word is that the section on reproductive health and population will be revised once more. European directors are assuring us that the intention is to make very clear that there will be no change in either policy or practice.

Some of the changes introduced yesterday were deemed "ambivalent." This will sound familiar to those of you who know US (and Vatican) tactics at the UN. The US ED - newcomer Eli Whitney Debevoise II (no, I'm not making that up) - has reportedly asked that reproductive health "services" be replaced with reproductive health "care," and that "rights" be replaced with "health."

The new, possibly final, revision of the strategy should become available today, but no idea yet what the language will look like and whether it will be universally accepted. The Bank was to issue a press release to try to explain why the strategy was not endorsed yesterday - ever watched a worm wriggle on a hook?

Tuscualoosa News has further details of this health strategy row.

Jeff Powell ~ April 25, 2007

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