Africa's Crisis: Contributing Factors and Consequences

The strife in Africa continues to be widespread and problematic. The nature of the problem seems to be a paradox because of the constant migration that is forced. Refugees have little choice but to survive at all cost. This also exacerbates conditions that already affect this region, such as weather conditions, poverty and global disinterest. It ultimately deters sustainable living, the ultimate independent living goal. Reasons why one would have to become a refugee include civil wars and genocide. Sometimes the repatriation or return of the refugees to their home country causes conflicts to arise again.

Author Richard Hausmann contends that problems in Africa are because it isn't foremost in a global market for its strategic location in the globe. He states:

In 1995, tropical countries had an average income equivalent to roughly one third of the income of the temperate-zone countries. Of the 24 countries classified as industrial, not one lies between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, except for the northern part Australia and most of the Hawaiian Islands, among the richest 30 economies in the world, only Brunei, Hong Kong, and Singapore are in tropical zones, and their geographical locations leave them ideally suited for growth through trade. Tropical nations tend to have annual rates of economic growth that are between one half and a full percentage point lower than the temperate countries (46).

He further contends an important factor of success is trade access to and from the countries, which Africa is lacking not only internal infrastructure, but lack of convenience on the globe. The high costs of transportation deter global companies from investing their capital into the continent. He says that "the commercial logistics of trading between countries with weak political institutions and a history of cross-border animosity will prove to be infinitely more expensive problems for importers and exporters (50). The bulky, low manufacturing cost goods, which wealthy countries with people with expendable incomes are attracted to, are not feasible for trade with Africa. In the writer of this essay's opinion, she contends that finding ways to fulfill this supposed need that Haussman speaks to, will only make matters worse. She supports buy local, because of the pollution of transportation. She states that the continuances of buying goods globally that aren't necessary; don't sustain the globe at all. It effects the environment, creating a volatile weather conditions that create droughts and storms, that increases refugees. So, perhaps the globe should seek alternatives to decrease carbon points, as well as refocusing excessive capital in fighting disease and poverty.
Haussman already agrees that global capital is imbalanced. He had said that developments in technology have the following trend:

Investments in health research and technology are also sensitive to geography. Diseases such as malaria, hookworm, schitosomiasis, river blindness, and yellow fever are hard to control in tropical regions because the lack of seasons makes the reproductions of mosquitoes and other disease transmitters rather constant through the year. Since the afflicted countries tend to be poor, tropical disease do not merit the sort of R&D investments that a cure for baldness or erectile dysfunction can attract in Western Markets. Technological development is skewed from the needs of geographically disadvantaged countries. Thus, children in tropical regions often die of gastrointestinal and other infectious diseases, while many nations still suffer from endemic tropical ailments (49).

However, he contends that good domestic policy potentially has limited effects on improving the situation in Africa. He keeps on waving red flags at the geographical locations, but never really explores the reason for the posturing of the industrial countries in turning their backs on Africa. The countries that have the statistics of high ED medicine consumption rates, Haufmann doesn't correlate those countries geographic locations and its demographics, and what that exactly implies in the morals and ethics of global responsibility. One shining contradiction of landlocked country theory is Switzerland, which claims its success in being geographically isolated. It seems though he argues for the outdated Adam Smith's model, to justify that capitalism is for everyone. However, it seems to only really give more buying power for Western countries to do whatever they want to countries in Africa, which their privileges contribute to its social unrest. So, saying that the problem is geography, could possibly be a distraction to the real issues. Sachs (2006) says that "by the start of the twenty-first century Africa was poorer than [sic] during the late 1960s when the IMF and World Bank had first arrived on the African scene, with disease, population growth, and environmental degradation spiraling out of control (p. 189).

One health problem that the entire continent faces is the rampant spread of the HIV virus to eight million people. Along with this information, Robert Kaplan from the Atlantic Monthly writes that there are also typically dual diagnoses of tuberculosis and HIV positive people. Of the past year in this recent article, four thousand were diagnosed with tuberculosis from Abidjan, the capital of the Ivory Coast; approximately almost half of those were HIV positive. He also contends, because, for the lack of a better phrase, the deteriorated substandard living conditions faced by Africans and the dramatic birth rates, these factors might lead to strains of the HIV virus that would be more hazardous than the one that the world knows (p. 6). Malaria is a disease that imprisons those who have it and those who try not to risk to have it. The time of day when mosquitoes are rampant, people have a risk of catching it while walking outside. It has a direct effect on the labor force because it creates an unstable readiness for workers. Haufmann writes:

Per capita economic growth in countries with severe malaria is more than a full percentage point lower than in nations where this illness is not prevalent, and that 10 percent reduction in the incidence of malaria is associated with 0.3 percent higher growth. The costs of not dealing with disease in tropical countries go far beyond higher healthcare expenses and reduced worker productivity. Disease can no longer be considered a mere pubic health, problem but a socioeconomic development issue that affects everything from trade flows to migration patterns (49).

These diseases are incapacitating and deadly, and this creates instability in the continent. The high rates of poverty, particularly caused by the high gap division of resources for the haves and the have-nots, creates an environment that doesn't support adequate nutrition; thus making recovery even more difficult to obtain.

One problem that exacerbates problems within Africa, one can argue, are countries that don't comply with international laws and guidelines to protect those people who seek asylum in other countries. Some don't allow them to work, which affects their own abilities to sustain their own living. Another might be convicting and detaining them without due process. They may treat them one in the same with illegal immigrants, refusing to see their refugee status. An early problem a refugee has to face is the travel to find safety and refuge other than their place of origin. They can face continued severe persecution from those who oppose them and this may continue at the border. Some don't leave the country, and these are called internally displaced persons. Those who cross international borders may face attacks from people from the host country (Crisp, 161-164).

Health problems are exacerbated in the temporary settlements set up for refugees, known as a refugee camps; the camps may not have adequate supplies of water and food resources. Refugees may have to rely on shipments of food and water from relief agencies. Also, another important concern is the need for shelter that can endure the rainy seasons and unforgiving sun that some African areas are well known for this environment. Health conditions of refugees are a concern to maintain infection control of the camps. Unsanitary conditions also contribute to this problem (Ahlsten & et el, 2005).
Also community is dissolving. He speaks to the high crime rates and crooked ways of officials that cooperate within the terms of bribery. When the evening falls, people must come in while bandits rampage through the neighborhoods. The unemployed young adults take to alcohol. The lack of community, as the minister that Kaplan interviewed said:

In the villages of Africa it is perfectly natural to feed at any table and lodge in any hut. But in the cities this communal existence no longer holds. You must pay for lodging and be invited for food. When young men find out that their relations cannot put them up, they become lost. They join other migrants and slip gradually into the criminal process (2).

The desperate attempts to fill the void of where community is lacking creates the situation of Africans hurting Africans. Neighborhood compassion is hard to surmise when there isn't enough for even those who are better off to share with others. Those who aren't a part of the unrest get caught up as victims of war and violence. People displaced by migration through expatriation or lack of means to survive have surmountable amounts of stress; come from one violent situation to the next. Mix this desperation with lack of community, rampant cases of HIV and malaria, and alcohol the consequences are surmountable.

Works Cited

Ahlsten, N., Giang, T., Hwang, T., Lam, K., Mathews, H., Ogasawa, Y., Showalter, K., White, C., Wilson, M, & Yang, X. (2005, January).
Protracted refugee situations: A case analysis of Kakuma Camp, Kenya. Princeton Refugee Initiative of Woodrow Wilson School Public & International Affairs, 1-96.

Crisp, J. (2000). Africa's refugees: Patterns, problems, and policy challenges. Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 18, 2.

Hausmann, R. (Jan/Feb 2005). Prisoners of geography. Foreign Policy, 45-53.

Kaplan, R.D. (1994, February). The coming anarchy: How scarcity, crime, overpopulation, tribalism,and disease are rapidly destroying the social fabric of our planet. The Atlantic Monthly. Retrieved September 19, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http:// dieoff.or/page67.htm

Sachs, J. D. (2006 Feb 28). The Voiceless dying: Africa and disease. The End of Poverty, 188-209. New York: Penguin.

Sachs, J.D., McArthur, J.W., Schmidt-Traub, G., Kruk, M., Bahadur C., Faye, M. and McCord, G. (2004, May 10). Ending Africa's poverty trap: Executive summary.