Feb 19 2008
The Dark Continent
Americans’ ignorance of African affairs has long been a common complaint among Africanists in academia. The Onion takes on the subject:
Nation Of Andorra Not In Africa, Shocked U.S. State Dept. Reports
For a more serious look at Africa, Josh Ruxin from Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health writes in the Huffington Post today about the Bush administration’s remarkable commitment to development aid in the region. Ruxin highlights the accomplishments of PEPFAR and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. The U.S.’s habit of throwing money at the Africa’s social and economic problems has rarely resulted in sustainable growth. But Ruxin may have a point: development economists have noted that public health metrics do tend to respond positively to massive aid infusions.