We talked the other day about Africa and AIDS. In my post I said, ". . .there is much the rest of the world can do to help, and we need to. Entire generations are dying. We are helping, and we need to do more."
Some people raised some good points in the comments, and I wanted to take a moment and flesh out what I mean.
What I'm speaking of isn't just throwing tax dollars at the situation. Primarily I envision NGOs and private money spearheading the fight. The Church also has a huge role to play. Christianity may be a mile wide and an inch deep in sub-Saharan Africa, but it does have moral and social credibility there. Since the root problem is cultural, not medical, the Church can be especially helpful. The Catholic Church could help by stopping its opposition to lifesaving condoms.
Where I could see government being beneficial would be in helping facilitate medicine and treatment for the victims. Under no circumstances would I want dollars or euros going directly to the reigning kleptocracies of Africa -- instead I would want the money filtered through accountable NGOs.
Much responsibility rest with the countries themselves. Unless they respond with major changes in their customs and mores, the pandemic will continue. But we ARE our brother's keeper. A person dies of AIDS in Malawi every ten minutes. If there's anything we can do to help, we need to do it.
Posted by Discoshaman at février 2, 2005 12:15 AM | TrackBack
Sunday a pastor from oklahoma told us about a possible cure for AIDS by a dr in tulsa. He said that because the fda will not allow clinical trials they are planning to take it to africa. it is inexpensive and the only known side affect is that it makes the person hungry. Still doing the research.(still following the evedence)
Posted by: gryffyn at février 2, 2005 03:55 AM