New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art has finally agreed to drop the Sackler name from its exhibition spaces, following extensive scrutiny of the wealthy family ‘artwashing’ its involvement in the US opioid crisis. The Sacklers founded Perdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin – but have fiercely denied allegations that this product drove the addiction epidemic. Nearly half a million deaths were recorded in the US as a result of opioid overdoses between 1999 and 2019. The Tate, the National Portrait Gallery in London and the Louvre in Paris have already taken steps to distance themselves from the family.
Cuba’s government is assisting in setting up a new larvicide centre in Ghana to combat the spread of malaria. The site, in the Savelugu Municipality in the north of the country, will develop larvicide which can be dropped into waters in which mosquitoes breed. There is significant co-operation in healthcare provision between the two countries, with around 300 Ghanaian medical students currently studying in Cuba.
