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The trouble with Africa
MARGARET WENTE
The big AIDS circus is winding up tomorrow, and not a moment too soon. If I have to hear Saint Stephen Lewis hectoring us with his apocalyptic rhetoric one more time, I think I'll choke. Please, sir, can't you take an Ativan? Nor will I miss the ritual denunciations of Stephen Harper. Is it really his duty to show up so that 20,000 people can boo and hiss him? Funnily enough, Jean Chrétien didn't show up at the AIDS-fest in Vancouver a decade ago, either. But he's a Liberal, so I guess that doesn't count.
And I won't miss those madcap protesters, who are de rigueur at these events. What's an AIDS conference without noisy denunciations of greedy drug companies, callous Western politicians and the evil Catholic Church (which, as it happens, runs something like a quarter of the AIDS clinics in Africa)? The fake blood and coffins are always a nice touch. But I sometimes wonder why the protesters don't denounce South African President Thabo Mbeki the way they denounce George W. Bush. Sure, Mr. Bush is wrong about condoms. But it's Mr. Mbeki who's effectively killing people off.
With more than five million HIV-infected people, South Africa has one of the highest infection rates in the world. Thirty per cent of pregnant women have HIV. Hundreds of people die of AIDS every day, and three-fourths of those infected are women. But, for years, Mr. Mbeki denied that AIDS was caused by HIV, and blocked access to the life-saving drugs that could treat it. To this day, there is widespread ignorance about the disease and very little public education about it. Mr. Mbeki's search for an "African cure" has stalled the spread of helpful drugs. His long-time health minister, a woman, champions a diet of garlic, olive oil and lemon juice to treat HIV infections. Antiretroviral drugs, she maintains, are poisonous.
South Africa's rape rate is extremely high, but Mr. Mbeki has said the idea that rape spreads AIDS is "racist." A few months ago, his former deputy president, Jacob Zuma, was acquitted on a rape charge. During the trial, the popular Mr. Zuma -- who once led the country's top HIV/AIDS council -- admitted he'd had unprotected sex with someone he knew was HIV-positive. To protect himself, he said, he took a shower afterward.
Mr. Mbeki's "hesitation and callousness probably hastened as many deaths as some of Africa's smaller wars," writes Robert Calderisi, a Montrealer who spent years in Africa with the World Bank. His recent book, The Trouble with Africa: Why Foreign Aid Isn't Working, is essential reading for anyone who still believes that Africa's problems are mostly the West's fault.
Mr. Calderisi's respect and compassion for the people of Africa are abundantly clear. It's the misrule he can't abide. Foreign aid is largely wasted, he says, because very little of the billions that the West pours into Africa trickles down to the people it's supposed to help. A study of public health clinics in Uganda, for instance, found that 76 per cent of drugs "leaked" onto the private market, many of them prescribed to patients who didn't exist. (This example comes from The Economist, not Mr. Calderisi.)
Mr. Calderisi argues that the greatest accomplishment of 40 years of Western aid has been to entrench and enrich dictators and thugs. But he loves Africa too much to say we just should give up. AIDS is killing Africa's future. Africa needs cheaper drugs. But most of all, he says, it needs more women to be aware of the risk and have a means of defending themselves. "And that's the hardest part."
Stephen Lewis wants a special United Nations agency devoted to women, although, given the world body's track record, how he thinks more UN bureaucrats will empower women is beyond me. Mr. Calderisi says the best way to empower women is education. "A commitment to fighting AIDS and keeping everybody in school should be the litmus test for providing any other aid to African countries."
Changing the behaviour of African men is probably hopeless. But giving women a basic education and a reliable microbicide might be something we can do. Meantime, maybe someone can send St. Stephen some Ativan, before he starts to chew the scenery again.
mwente@globeandmail.com
No AIDS funding this week, PM says
Canadian Press
The federal government will not be making any announcements about boosting funding or other measures to fight HIV-AIDS this week because Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said the issue has become too "politicized."
Nor will Harper's government announce whether it plans to renew support for North America's only safe injection site for drug users in Vancouver — a decision that had the Liberals fuming Thursday.
A spokesman for Health Minister Tony Clement confirmed Thursday that there will be no announcement before the International AIDS Conference in Toronto wraps up Friday and an estimated 31,000 delegates return to their homes around the world.
"The government of Canada is strongly committed to the fight against HIV-AIDS and continues to commit a significant amount of money to this issue," press secretary Erik Waddell said by e-mail. "Our government is committed to doing more in the future.
"However, there are no announcements this week while the issue is so politicized."
At a news briefing at the conference, interim Liberal Leader Bill Graham and B.C. MP Keith Martin slammed Mr. Harper and his government for choosing not to announce measures that would show Canada's leadership in the battle against HIV-AIDS, both globally and at home.
"What an opportunity that's lost," Mr. Graham said. "I think we have to recognize that the art of politics is the art of inspiring people to say, 'How do we rise above petty differences and how do we try to genuinely help people?'
"And this was an opportunity to show leadership and to genuinely help and if the money comes, great. But it would be a shame that it couldn't be done in a way with the global community that's here and so many young Canadians could've said, 'We're proud of you.' "
Mr. Martin called the government's postponement of an announcement reprehensible and appalling.
"It shows a complete lack of respect for this disease and for the people who suffer from it and for the people who work in it," he said. "The government has been missing here. They've showed no presence, no plan, no money."
Mr. Graham and Mr. Martin both urged the Tory government to renew its support for Vancouver's safe-injection site, saying that shutting it down would potentially condemn thousands of people to death from AIDS or hepatitis.
The licence for the pilot project, which gives drug users access to clean needles as well as counselling, is due to expire next month. It needs federal approval to continue and the government has not said whether it will stay open.
Mr. Martin said the evidence is clear that the safe-injection site saves lives — and he suggested that Mr. Harper is choosing not to follow the science, but rather an ideological viewpoint.
"It speaks to a lot of issues that Mr. Harper and the new Conservative party are off-side with Canadians, with respect to substance abuse, injection (drug) use . . . homosexuality, women, the poor and international relations."
Thomas Kerr of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV-AIDS said several studies he has helped conduct show that the three-year-old safe-injection site has prevented infection from dirty needles and does not promote drug use or increase related crime.
UN's special envoy for AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis, spoke about Mr. Harper's absence during a discussion he had with globeandmail.com Wednesday.
“Prime Minister Harper's absence is something that sticks in the craw of many of the conference delegates,†he said. “They are offended by it and insulted by it. I think it was a serious mistake in judgment on his part because he lost the opportunity to set out Canada's policy and the confusion around Canada's position where funding is concerned.â€
© Copyright 2006 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.
MARGARET WENTE
The big AIDS circus is winding up tomorrow, and not a moment too soon. If I have to hear Saint Stephen Lewis hectoring us with his apocalyptic rhetoric one more time, I think I'll choke. Please, sir, can't you take an Ativan? Nor will I miss the ritual denunciations of Stephen Harper. Is it really his duty to show up so that 20,000 people can boo and hiss him? Funnily enough, Jean Chrétien didn't show up at the AIDS-fest in Vancouver a decade ago, either. But he's a Liberal, so I guess that doesn't count.
And I won't miss those madcap protesters, who are de rigueur at these events. What's an AIDS conference without noisy denunciations of greedy drug companies, callous Western politicians and the evil Catholic Church (which, as it happens, runs something like a quarter of the AIDS clinics in Africa)? The fake blood and coffins are always a nice touch. But I sometimes wonder why the protesters don't denounce South African President Thabo Mbeki the way they denounce George W. Bush. Sure, Mr. Bush is wrong about condoms. But it's Mr. Mbeki who's effectively killing people off.
With more than five million HIV-infected people, South Africa has one of the highest infection rates in the world. Thirty per cent of pregnant women have HIV. Hundreds of people die of AIDS every day, and three-fourths of those infected are women. But, for years, Mr. Mbeki denied that AIDS was caused by HIV, and blocked access to the life-saving drugs that could treat it. To this day, there is widespread ignorance about the disease and very little public education about it. Mr. Mbeki's search for an "African cure" has stalled the spread of helpful drugs. His long-time health minister, a woman, champions a diet of garlic, olive oil and lemon juice to treat HIV infections. Antiretroviral drugs, she maintains, are poisonous.
South Africa's rape rate is extremely high, but Mr. Mbeki has said the idea that rape spreads AIDS is "racist." A few months ago, his former deputy president, Jacob Zuma, was acquitted on a rape charge. During the trial, the popular Mr. Zuma -- who once led the country's top HIV/AIDS council -- admitted he'd had unprotected sex with someone he knew was HIV-positive. To protect himself, he said, he took a shower afterward.
Mr. Mbeki's "hesitation and callousness probably hastened as many deaths as some of Africa's smaller wars," writes Robert Calderisi, a Montrealer who spent years in Africa with the World Bank. His recent book, The Trouble with Africa: Why Foreign Aid Isn't Working, is essential reading for anyone who still believes that Africa's problems are mostly the West's fault.
Mr. Calderisi's respect and compassion for the people of Africa are abundantly clear. It's the misrule he can't abide. Foreign aid is largely wasted, he says, because very little of the billions that the West pours into Africa trickles down to the people it's supposed to help. A study of public health clinics in Uganda, for instance, found that 76 per cent of drugs "leaked" onto the private market, many of them prescribed to patients who didn't exist. (This example comes from The Economist, not Mr. Calderisi.)
Mr. Calderisi argues that the greatest accomplishment of 40 years of Western aid has been to entrench and enrich dictators and thugs. But he loves Africa too much to say we just should give up. AIDS is killing Africa's future. Africa needs cheaper drugs. But most of all, he says, it needs more women to be aware of the risk and have a means of defending themselves. "And that's the hardest part."
Stephen Lewis wants a special United Nations agency devoted to women, although, given the world body's track record, how he thinks more UN bureaucrats will empower women is beyond me. Mr. Calderisi says the best way to empower women is education. "A commitment to fighting AIDS and keeping everybody in school should be the litmus test for providing any other aid to African countries."
Changing the behaviour of African men is probably hopeless. But giving women a basic education and a reliable microbicide might be something we can do. Meantime, maybe someone can send St. Stephen some Ativan, before he starts to chew the scenery again.
mwente@globeandmail.com
No AIDS funding this week, PM says
Canadian Press
The federal government will not be making any announcements about boosting funding or other measures to fight HIV-AIDS this week because Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said the issue has become too "politicized."
Nor will Harper's government announce whether it plans to renew support for North America's only safe injection site for drug users in Vancouver — a decision that had the Liberals fuming Thursday.
A spokesman for Health Minister Tony Clement confirmed Thursday that there will be no announcement before the International AIDS Conference in Toronto wraps up Friday and an estimated 31,000 delegates return to their homes around the world.
"The government of Canada is strongly committed to the fight against HIV-AIDS and continues to commit a significant amount of money to this issue," press secretary Erik Waddell said by e-mail. "Our government is committed to doing more in the future.
"However, there are no announcements this week while the issue is so politicized."
At a news briefing at the conference, interim Liberal Leader Bill Graham and B.C. MP Keith Martin slammed Mr. Harper and his government for choosing not to announce measures that would show Canada's leadership in the battle against HIV-AIDS, both globally and at home.
"What an opportunity that's lost," Mr. Graham said. "I think we have to recognize that the art of politics is the art of inspiring people to say, 'How do we rise above petty differences and how do we try to genuinely help people?'
"And this was an opportunity to show leadership and to genuinely help and if the money comes, great. But it would be a shame that it couldn't be done in a way with the global community that's here and so many young Canadians could've said, 'We're proud of you.' "
Mr. Martin called the government's postponement of an announcement reprehensible and appalling.
"It shows a complete lack of respect for this disease and for the people who suffer from it and for the people who work in it," he said. "The government has been missing here. They've showed no presence, no plan, no money."
Mr. Graham and Mr. Martin both urged the Tory government to renew its support for Vancouver's safe-injection site, saying that shutting it down would potentially condemn thousands of people to death from AIDS or hepatitis.
The licence for the pilot project, which gives drug users access to clean needles as well as counselling, is due to expire next month. It needs federal approval to continue and the government has not said whether it will stay open.
Mr. Martin said the evidence is clear that the safe-injection site saves lives — and he suggested that Mr. Harper is choosing not to follow the science, but rather an ideological viewpoint.
"It speaks to a lot of issues that Mr. Harper and the new Conservative party are off-side with Canadians, with respect to substance abuse, injection (drug) use . . . homosexuality, women, the poor and international relations."
Thomas Kerr of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV-AIDS said several studies he has helped conduct show that the three-year-old safe-injection site has prevented infection from dirty needles and does not promote drug use or increase related crime.
UN's special envoy for AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis, spoke about Mr. Harper's absence during a discussion he had with globeandmail.com Wednesday.
“Prime Minister Harper's absence is something that sticks in the craw of many of the conference delegates,†he said. “They are offended by it and insulted by it. I think it was a serious mistake in judgment on his part because he lost the opportunity to set out Canada's policy and the confusion around Canada's position where funding is concerned.â€
© Copyright 2006 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.