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There is a global health crisis with its epicenter in Africa.
It really would not take that much to change it.
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A 10-30-fold scale up is needed in Africa if the health crisis
is to be turned round.
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$20 per person is the yearly amount spent on health care for
sub-Saharan Africa.
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The minimum yearly amount per person must be increased to $34.
This amounts to 1/500 of Europe and 1/100 of USA spending on
health
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In addition there is a skill drain of healthcare workers to
OECD countries which already hundreds percent more healthcare
workers than Africa.
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Professor Geoffrey Sachs: It comes down to a matter of arithmetic.
A tiny percentage of the wealth of the rich world would save
the poor people of the third world.
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1 penny for every $10 of income is all it would take to save
millions of lives every year.
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These problems are not beyond our capacity. They are easily
solvable. We claim that we are shocked when we hear such statistics.
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We have already antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV/AIDS. We
have insecticide-impregnated mosquito nets to eradicate malaria.
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We have the capacity; do we have the will?
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"They're too poor to be able to afford to stay alive"
But it's not rich people who are dying in this way!
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In Malawi, the annual average income is $190 per head. So $34.00
is 18% of GNP. Malawi is too poor to stay alive.
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Senegal has 22 'Development Partners", each with their
own requirements for giving aid. It is choking in massive red
tape and bureaucracy.
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Gambia: "The G8 meeting shows that our partners are getting
better at talking about problems, but doing nothing!" We
are still kept out by trade barriers and high tariff.
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Ghana : "We adopt liberal market reforms at the same time
as the US and others place barriers to trade. Help us to do
our part! There must be simultaneous action on improved market
access for developing countries and relief from unsustainable
foreign debt"
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The member States of the UN are able to meet the Millennium
Development Goals. But you will all have to pull your weight.
It will take government action and action at community level
in liaison with WHO.
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Peter Piot: The HIV/AIDS pandemic is a problem with a solution.
Over the next 20 years it is estimated that 68,000,000 people
will die of HIV/AIDS. The world needs $10 billion per annum
to deal with the pandemic. At present there is $3 billion available.
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It is interesting to see the amount that governments are able
to find to contribute to address situations of life and death
in the developing world and the amount they can find to boost
military budgets, running at something round $ 800 billion per
annum!
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Cuba: "In Latin America 20,000,000 children cannot go
to school because of poverty. 11,000,000 children under 5 years
of age die from preventable diseases. $10 billion is needed
each year till 2015 to provide clean drinking water. This amount
is less that what is spent on ice cream in Europe. It is one
third of what the USA spends on pets. Neo-colonialism is a brutal
system of plundering".
