Why Africa
Look in any city or corner of the world and you will find poverty. But the problems we face in the United States, Europe and Japan simply don't compare to those in Africa. Seventy percent of Sub-Saharan Africans live on less than $2 a day. 200 million go hungry every day. This year alone at least a million Africans, most of them young children, will die of malaria and two million will die of AIDS.
Africa is struggling under a triple crisis that keeps its people poor and its nations weak - the burden of unpayable debt that soaks up money that should be spent building schools and hospitals; the epidemic of AIDS that is taking the lives of an entire generation; and the unfair trade policies that keep Africans from earning their own way out of poverty.
Even in the midst of these crises, we have seen glimpses of a new Africa. Because of debt cancellation, this year 20 million children are going to school for the first time in their lives. In the last three years, programs like the Global Fund and America's emergency AIDS plan are providing life-saving AIDS drugs to 1.3 million people around the world, most of them in Africa. Across the continent, African churches, community groups and media outlets are acting as the detergent against corruption and holding their governments to account for their decisions and spending. Read more.....
Africa is struggling under a triple crisis that keeps its people poor and its nations weak - the burden of unpayable debt that soaks up money that should be spent building schools and hospitals; the epidemic of AIDS that is taking the lives of an entire generation; and the unfair trade policies that keep Africans from earning their own way out of poverty.
Even in the midst of these crises, we have seen glimpses of a new Africa. Because of debt cancellation, this year 20 million children are going to school for the first time in their lives. In the last three years, programs like the Global Fund and America's emergency AIDS plan are providing life-saving AIDS drugs to 1.3 million people around the world, most of them in Africa. Across the continent, African churches, community groups and media outlets are acting as the detergent against corruption and holding their governments to account for their decisions and spending. Read more.....
