The World recently celebrated the 91st birthday of Nelson Mandela , freedom fighter and former President of South Africa. Celebrities came to toast his life and work, starring in concert tributes that paid homage to his legacy. While Mandela is definitely worthy of praise, I’m sure he’d much rather the efforts put into planning the celebrations have been put toward reducing AIDS deaths in sub-Sahara Africa, where his people are suffering greatly.
Doctors Without Borders, an organization of healthcare professionals who provide critical medical support to impoverished and war torn nations, reports that a shortage of drugs needed to treat AIDS in six African countries will eventually lead to the loss of thousands of. At last count, over 30 million people across the world were living with the HIV virus that causes AIDS; 2/3 of these people are in sub-Sahara Africa with Zimbabwe, Congo, Malawi, Uganda, Guinea and South Africa being the most affected. Mandela’s native South Africa has the highest rates of HIV infections in world.
The shortage in medication can be attributed largely to the fact that those who make funding commitments in the past don’t actually meet them. Between $3 and $4 billion in promised funding has not made its way to Doctors Without Borders and nations across the globe that have promised to help Africa haven’t made good on their word.
One of the few – perhaps the only –bright spot in the Bush Administration was the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. $15 billion was pledged over five years to fight the global AIDS epidemic. Despite all of the money the U.S. has funneled into fighting the disease on the continent, more can be done. President Obama has promised to expand Bush’s efforts by $1 billion a year; we haven’t seen the funds from this commitment made available.
Fighting AIDS in Africa must be made a priority. African nations debilitated by AIDS would not make strong trading partners as America and other developed nations seek to expand their global impact. There can be no trade relationship with countries that lack a healthy workforce. Furthermore, nations such as Britain, France, Portugal and the U.S. have benefited greatly from the continent of Africa having raped the land of its natural and human resources for generation. It is only just that, in this time of great need, these countries give back by expanding their commitment to fight AIDS on the continent and working to make sure they fulfill those promises.
