AIDs in Africa

AIDs In Africa


Every day 8,000 die for one reason. Overall, 40 million have died, 5.7 million being from South Africa.

True to popular opinion, George Bush has made plenty of mistakes, but I have to praise him for his efforts to help the AIDs in South Africa. Over the past five years, his presidency has donated over $15 billion to help.

As Bush’s time comes to an end however, I wonder if Barack Obama will continue the aide to Africa.

Many Africans were just as thrilled with the election results on the November 4th as the students that filled the streets of Berkeley that night. Not only did this mark a huge step for them as a race, but they are optimistic that Obama will help Africa even more.

Of course Obama wants to help the crisis, but with the economic problems in the US, it’s going to be pretty difficult to find the money and the support.
Obama said in his World AIDS Day speech, “Our first priority in Congress should be to reauthorize this program when it expires in 2008. Our second priority should be to reassess what's worked and what hasn't so that we're not wasting one dollar that could be saving someone's life.”

That sounds nice and most people want to say the same, but will it actually happen? Furthermore, who will Obama elect to head the process? And where will the money come from? Would congress allow him to spend the money when our country is in danger economically?

In an article by the Australian Business with the Wall Street Journal, the author wrote, “Africa must fend for itself and the senator, whose father was Kenyan, should deliver the bad news quickly: no money, no reason and no time. The US is broke; with Wall Street and Motown thrusting the begging bowl into Congress, there is no cash for foreign aid other than famine relief and the occasional bung to solve a foreign policy crisis.”

He’s right that this may not be a top priority, but it is crucial that the continent gets help. Every day 8,000 lives are lost. For Americans statistics like these are very intangible because Africa is so far from our day to day lives. If we can lessen that statistic or at least keep it from growing, Africa will be able to advance technologically and we will decrease the chances of the disease jumping the waters to America.

It’s reassuring that Barrack is optimistic; however, he’ll also need to start being realistic about this issue soon.