Africa: A Continent in Crisis
How would your life change if you lived on a dollar a day?
Right now the African continent is in crisis on four fronts: the AIDS epidemic, crushing debt, shrinking development assistance, and restrictive trade relations.
HIV/AIDS
Today, 29.4 million people in Africa have HIV – this is 70% of the global infection. Every day in Africa,
6,573 people die and another 8,500 contract the HIV virus – 1,400 of whom are newborn babies infected
during childbirth or by their mother’s milk. Over 12 million children in Africa have lost at least one parent
to HIV/AIDS. That number is expected to reach 18 million by 2010.
Development
In 1970, wealthy nations agreed to a goal of spending 0.7% of GNP on development assistance. Last year,
these countries spent an average just 0.23%. Only five countries have reached the 0.7% target-Denmark,
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. The U.S., the world’s richest country, gives the
smallest percentage of its wealth, 0.12%, to poor countries.
Trade
Rich countries spend $100 billion a year to protect their markets with tariffs, quotas and subsidies – this is
twice as much as they provide in development assistance for development countries. These barriers limit
the trade possibilities for developing countries.
Debt
Every year sub-Saharan Africa, the poorest region of the world, spends $14.5 billion repaying debts to the
world’s rich countries and international institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary
Fund.
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