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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dennis O'Bell who wrote (79661)	3/5/2003 4:57:39 PM
From: Jacob Snyder	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

OT: AIDS in Africa: Looking at how African governments have responded to AIDS, is a case study in governmental failure, a failure so huge it is resulting in the disintegration of society across an entire continent. In many nations, 20%, 30%, even 40% of the working-age population is dying. This epidemic, unlike most other diseases, preferentially kills the educated and productive. The demographic catastrophe in sub-Saharan Africa, has no historical precedents. The only comparable event was the Bubonic Plague, the Black Death, that killed 30-50% of many populations, from Europe to China, in the Middle Ages. The main difference, is that at the time of the Black Death, people did not have the knowledge or technology to stop the epidemic. Today, we do. Every death (10s of millions, and will eventually be over 100 million) from AIDS is preventable. The problem is not a lack of knowledge or technology. And it is not a lack of money, either. African nations, even the poorest, have the resources to fund things like condoms, and public education campaigns, if they made it a priority. Instead, they spend scarce resources on weaponry, prestige projects, and ineffective treatment of AIDS (rather than prevention). They have engaged in massive Denial, Assigning Blame (to everyone except themselves), and Wishful Thinking. The most bizarre conspiracy theories, and rationalizations that ignore all factual evidence, are widely believed, often by the highest decision-makers on the continent. To the extent they have not totally ignored the issue, they have concerned themselves with irrelevant issues like the price of drugs (none of which cure). For years, until in many cases 20-40% of their 20-40 year-old population was infected, they denied there was an epidemic, because they didn't want to hurt their tourist industry. Or admit the scope of their own policy failure. Admitting there was a problem, would have meant they had to make some response to the epidemic, and start dealing with taboo subjects, like sexual behavior and the powerlessness of women. Westerners saw all this happening, but have been largely inhibited in criticizing the inaction of Africans. Another example of Political Correctness, meaning the abdication of all standards, a confused ethical relativism that stops all useful action.