Deaths of the poor and responsibilities of the rich

Jeffrey D. Sachs, Professor of Economics, Harvard University, Project Syndicate

In a shocking book of last year entitled Late Victorian Holocausts, Mike Davis described the British Empire's attitude to famines in India and elsewhere. When monsoons failed, millions of Indians faced imminent death. Food could have been transported by rail within British India to save many starving people, but the British believed in a hands-off, laissez faire policy. Starvation was part of nature.

Actually, British attitudes were even more shocking. British officers believed that they were being brave by not being swayed by "emotions"! They congratulated themselves on their stiff upper lips.

Unbelievable nowadays? No, for the U.S. is doing something similar. America has idly stood by as millions of Africans die of AIDS.

Recently, the U.S. Treasury Secretary and Health Secretary visited Africa and looked dying people in the eye. Such people are dying not because early death is inevitable, but because they cannot afford the medicines to keep themselves alive. If every American gave US$10 per year to this cause, over 1 million Africans could be saved from AIDS death each year, with money left over to fight the disease.

As recent studies show, if the one billion people in the rich world gave $10 per year, the resulting total of $10 billion could finance a serious battle against AIDS, TB, and malaria. The new Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria was started this year, but rich countries contributed less than one-tenth of the money it needs. In its first months of operation the Fund committed all of the money that it received from rich countries. Neither the U.S. nor Europe has stepped forward with more money.

Every excuse is made to avoid giving what is needed. Senior U.S. officials continue to say that there is no infrastructure to dispense medicines, even as these officials visit hospitals that possess the necessary doctors, clinics, nurses, and pharmacies.

As doctors patiently explain, what they are missing is medicine, because they lack the money to buy needed drugs. When U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill visited an AIDS clinic in Soweto, South Africa, doctors told him that they could increase by ten times the number of people treated with AIDS drugs if sufficient money was available.

Twenty-two years into the AIDS pandemic the Bush Administration insists that it won't let emotion push it into action. We need a plan, says the U.S.; we cannot throw money at the problem. As in the late 19th century, we have the spectacle of the world's superpower treating indifference as a sign of seriousness!

The truth is simpler. Africans barely count in American politics. Africans don't vote; they don't buy U.S. products; they dont threaten violence. They are simply poor, hungry, and disease-ridden.

Few rich countries do better than the U.S. I single out America not because it is unique in its neglect, but because it is unique in its capacity to lead. Europe and Japan have also avoided the financial contributions to AIDS control that could keep millions of HIV-infected Africans alive.

In coming months, rich countries will face three opportunities to mend their ways. In early June, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization will host the World Food Summit. With nearly 900 million chronically hungry people around the globe, the Summit presents an opportunity to reverse the collapse of financial assistance for food production to poor countries. As with AIDS, a few dollars per person of assistance for agriculture each year could spare millions from hunger.

Later in June, rich countries will hold their annual G-7 Summit. They have promised to make Africa its centerpiece. More money for Africa rather than more soothing words will be the true test of the summit.

In August, political leaders from the entire world will gather in Johannesburg for the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Rich countries will once again have a chance to be true partners of the poor. The rich may feel that clever words will absolve them of responsibility, but the hungry and dying stand witness to the tragic realities.