DATA: Debt AIDS Trade Africa
For its commitment to raising awareness and effecting change with respect to the most important issues facing Africa today, DATA: Debt AIDS Trade Africa is this week’s Website of the Week.
DATA’s agenda in a nutshell is the forgiveness of foreign debts for the world’s poorest countries, the availability of affordable drugs to fight AIDS, and the establishment of fair trade policies that allow African nations to compete in the global arena. Here are just a few sobering statistics from the site:
- Every year Sub-Saharan Africa spends $30 billion dollars repaying debts to the world’s rich countries and international institutions. Often they spend so much on debt payments that they have very little left over for health or education.
- Every day in Africa, 6,600 people die and another 8,500 contract the HIV virus – 1,400 of whom are newborn babies infected during childbirth or by their mothers’ milk. Africa is home to 25 million people with HIV – 64% of global infections.
- In 1980 Africa had a 6% share of world trade. By 2002 this had dropped to just 2% despite the fact that Africa has 12% of the world’s population. If Africa could regain just an additional 1% share of the global trade, it would earn $70 billion more in exports each year – more than three times what the region currently receives in international assistance.
As you probably know, I lived in Africa for two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer and I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about the issues facing the continent. Consequently I really didn’t bat an eye at DATA’s information on debt or AIDS. However, the trade statistics really blew me away – especially the one mentioned above. I don’t pretend to be an expert on international trade, but increasing Africa’s share of global trade from 2% to 3% seems very possible given enough political will and public pressure. Anyway, it’s something to think about and much more information is available on the DATA website for anyone who is interested.
This is obviously a bit of a departure from previous WSOTW sites, but I felt compelled to include it after seeing the recent statistics about Africa. I’ve also added a category for Africa on this blog and plan to write more from time to time. So how does Africa fit in with my other topics of linguistics, web development, and open source? I guess that’s for me to know and for you to find out. Stay tuned for more information.
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