Panel discusses progress, future of U.S. aid to Africa

This morning Senator Bill Frist (R – TN) moderated a panel entitled “American Leadership on Global Health” at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The discussion was hosted by ONE.org and focused on the progress made since President Bush approved PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), which nearly quadrupled aid to African nations.

One panel member said that while a large number of people are being treated, more are being infected. Everyone was in agreement that the focus needed to be on education for prevention purposes or else treatment would not matter. One mark of success is the expanded focus on other diseases affecting poor nations throughout Africa.

The need for more money to help ailing African countries was also discussed. Syndicated columnist Michael Gerson said, “Americans will be extremely generous when they feel they have an impact.” Sally Canfield, senior program officer of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation emphasized the importance of contributions from the government as well as the private sector in order to have a successful fight against issues facing poor countries.
The group also discussed the Millennium Challenge Corporation. They discussed the continued need of MCC to challenge some of the poorest countries to work toward their own prosperity. Resources are currently being dispersed among the countries that have reached certain benchmarks, such as passing women’s rights legislation.

The consensus of the panel was that only phase 1 had been completed and it was time to move to the next stage of expanding knowledge and “not creating an Africa that is dependent on US aid, but creating an Africa that is healthy enough to focus on prosperity in business.”