Brighton Phiri
17 November 2002
opinion
INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund's (IMF) bad economic programmes have reduced African countries' economies to their weakest levels, first Zambian Republican president Dr. Kenneth Kaunda has said.
Addressing students at University of Florida's Centre for African Studies, Dr. Kaunda said while there were similar problems in other parts of the world, such as Asia and Latin America, Southern African countries faced the harshest economic, social, and political pressures in the world.
"Unless we act very quickly, Southern African countries risk losing the post-independence gains made in education, social development, nutrition, water and sanitation, infrastructure, and the general economy," Dr. Kaunda said. "We risk regressing to at least 50 years ago."
Dr. Kaunda told the students that IMF's bad economic programmes had deprived the Africans of basic services. He cited the provision of health and education services as some of the basic services that had greatly been affected by the IMF's bad policies.
"As I have been saying that poverty and underdevelopment are major factors in HIV/AIDS, this has been exacerbated by our economies that are now at their weakest after the very austere IMF economic programmes," Dr. Kaunda said. "These programmes have removed the provision of basic services from the poor and vulnerable."
Dr. Kaunda said women and children had been worst hit by lack of education and health services. He disclosed that in Southern Africa, the women's burden of looking after the terminally ill had become too high as much of the care giving was being provided by them.
"They have had increased mental, physical, social, and economic stresses," he said. "Here in the United States and other Western countries, it has been shown that HIV/AIDS is not a death sentence.
While in the industrialised world, AIDS is no longer a killer disease but a controllable condition in the same line as diabetes and high blood pressure, this is not yet so in Africa." Dr. Kaunda said Africa today faced a serious crisis with frightening ramifications for the survival of millions of its people particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
"As I stand before you today, I feel obliged to mention that Africa has had more than its share of problems. A few centuries ago, Africans endured the indignities and pain of slavery where millions perished on the way to the west. This was followed by colonialism. During this unfortunate era, many Africans perished. Today it is HIV/AIDS that is ravaging the continent.
But I am hopeful that as we overcame slavery and colonialism, we shall overcome HIV/AIDS," Dr. Kaunda said. He said the extended family system that had kept communities together even in difficult economic times had to a greater extent broken down.
Dr. Kaunda said more materialist lifestyles were taking over from the continent's extended family system. "It is each one for themselves. While people still want to help their families and communities, the traditional support system has been affected by economic pressures," Dr. Kaunda said.
He said Africans were losing their good immune system that enabled them fight against diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and various groups of parasitic infestations. "We have known that the immune system has been the backbone of the ability of Africans to go forward and develop the continent," he said. "A society can only advance if all parts are working together.
This must involve women and men, the young people, the elderly, and people from all cultures and backgrounds." He called for a multi-sectoral approach in fighting against corruption among African leaders and the middle classes if poverty levels were to be reduced.
"We owe it to children, we owe it to ourselves, and we owe it to the human race, to act until HIV/AIDS has been brought under control and rolled back," he said.
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