How the West impoverishes Africa

| Thursday August 9, 2007 00:00

MBABANE: Everyday 840 million people go hungry and more than two billion suffer from dietary deficiencies, a Southern African Regional Poverty Network (SARPN) official has said.

Presenting a paper on 'Trade, Development and Poverty: The Case of Africa,' in Mbabane on Monday, Jack Zulu SARPN programme manager for economic dimensions, said that children and women are the most vulnerable groups.

He said that 12 million children die every year from preventable diseases, when immunisation could save three million of them.

'Each dollar spent on immunisation saves between US$4 and US$5 in preventable direct medical costs later on,' he said.

He added that everyday 8,200 people all over the world die because of HIV/AIDS and 6,000 of these deaths occur in Africa.

He said with pharmaceutical cartels declaring profits of US$517 billion, in 2003 if there was a change in rules that protect patented medicines, millions of people would have a chance to live longer.

Meanwhile, he said expenditure on the military worldwide was more than US$1.5 billion per day in 2001.

Whilst the US military budget for 2003 was increased by US$167 billion for the war in Iraq 'reconstruction of Iraq will cost between US$30 billion and US$100 billion,' he said.
He said that if US$1 billion per day in agricultural subsidies in developed countries was re-allocated, world poverty would go down by 75 percent.

Zulu said that a cow in Japan receives US$4 per day in subsidies while the majority of Africans live on less than US$1 per day.

He said rich countries claim that free trade, without local subsidies or protection is the key to escaping poverty, but that when poor countries open up their markets to free trade, foreign firms enjoy huge advantages.

This, he said, means local companies cannot compete favourably.

He said South East Asian countries have grown because of managing their economic development and not by using free trade policies dictated by the IMF, World Bank and World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Zulu said developing countries have a natural comparative advantage in producing agricultural goods but that the current trade system seems designed to undermine that advantage.

'There is a system of trade rules and regulations that allow rich countries and their companies to make lots of profits but prevent poor countries from developing their own economies,' Zulu said.

He said trade done under right conditions, supported by the right quantities and qualities of aid can be a powerful tool for poverty eradication.