Wanted: More Money for Africa

When you think about Africa, images of giraffes, zebras, and elephants roaming wild on an open plain are likely to appear in your head. You might see a bright red sun lowering over the horizon, the sky: a shade of brilliant orange. Africa seems like such a peaceful continent full of new adventures and sights to see. This may be true, but, unfortunately, there are more things to see than its beautiful vistas and wildlife. The majority of the people on this continent have the weight of poverty, starvation, and diseases resting on their shoulders. Many have children they could never hope to feed, dirty, diseased water for nourishment, and are HIV-infected. In fact, Sub-Saharan Africa houses 70% of the world's HIV-positive citizens.

Africa is in dyer need of money and the majority of the world's countries have it to spare. Creating an HIV-prevention program would cost $3 billion per year, which is more than the World Bank and U.S. combined have pledged to Africa so far. Unfortunately, the average American contributes less than $3 annually when half of Africans live on a dollar a day. We know we can spare more money than this. In fact, the United States government only dedicates less than half a percent of its budget towards foreign aid. Even then, Israel and Egypt receive most of our American dollars, $3 billion per year, while Africa is provided $737 million. How can we ignore Africans when they need clean water, vaccinations, and education for their children? What's more important than that?

Recently, President Bush recognized the needs of countries like Africa. He pledged an increase of $10 billion annually towards their well-being, tripled funding towards Global Heath, and doubled aid to Africa. Because of this money, 700,000 Africans have been put onto life-saving anti-retroviral drugs. A million bed nets were provided to Africa's children to protect them from mosquitoes, who spread malaria. Thankfully, President Bush was able to increase money on foreign aid, but there are still 150,000 Africans that die each month. That number sounds unimaginable, 150,000. 150,000 dead bodies: Grandmothers, fathers, mothers, and their children. These people are dying of ridiculously common illnesses that, as Americans, we could buy cures for at any local drug store. We need to continue to ask our government to send money to Africa. The United States ranks almost at the end of the most generous countries in the world, factors and averages taken into account. As Americans, we're not sending us much aid as we can afford to give.

Giving money to Africa isn't just a method of generosity. President Bush once commented on this, as he defended his bold move in upping the price tag of our government's foreign aid. "Poverty doesn't cause terrorism," he stated, "Yet persistent poverty and oppression can lead to hopelessness and despair. And when governments fail to meet the most basic needs of their people, these failed states can become havens for terror." The United States can prevent poverty-stricken countries from eventually turning their backs on us. If we can prevent them from harboring terrorists in the future, why shouldn't we take action? Foreign aid isn't just an act of charity, it's a strategy move.

America continues to spend less than half a percent of its budget on foreign aid. This needs to change. We have the kind of cash that can save lives at our disposal. If we help Africa rise up from the ashes, we can count this continent as an active and functioning nation in our world. Africans would be seen as equals, as they obviously are not in this day and age. Why else do we ignore their suffering, starvation, and diseased people? As Americans, we should encourage our politicians to pledge more money towards Africa, not only because we could prevent future terrorist organizations, but because it's the right thing to do. The world has evolved without Africa and it's time we offered them a hand. We need to make a collective effort to pull them out of the quicksand of disease and poverty they've falling victim to. Our generation cannot be known for leaving Africa in the dust; we must make every effort to prevent this from occurring.