What could be done to help the African continent?

Question

What do you think we can do to improve their situation? What should be done different from the past?

Answer 1

If they would discover oil, the US would help real fast!

Answer 2

They should have the intelligence to stop breeding like flies on a cow pat and choosing to live in environments that cannot sustain them.

Answer 3

Education and infrastructure!  That's the key points in Africa. I wonder what the "reoccuring" theme is? Africa was doing quite well with their tribal systems before the Europeans decided to plunder the continent. Of course it wasn't only them, the Arabic countries moved into Africa almost as badly as the Europeans did. A lot of the tribal conflict in Africa is a result of borders being redrawn by the colonial powers, with no regard for tribal borders.

In the modern era, Africa has been subjected to exploitation from around the world for their minerals and resources. Of course the Africans are not innocent bystanders nor are they the so-called "noble savages". They have a heavy hand in their own misery especially in today's world where corrupt officials and leaders scoop all the cream for themselves, leaving nothing for their people. Unfortunately it is well-documented that the powerful countries in the world are constantly interfering to keep Africa destablised, enabling them reap the resources without really paying for it.  The colonialists at least left some infrastructure behind.

Non-interference, trade incentives, education. Those are the things that can maybe save Africa. It won't happen of course....  not much oil but lots of gold, diamonds, platinum, etc. etc. etc.

Answer 4

Hello,

(ANS) In my opinion the single biggest thing that would improve the quality of life across the African continent as whole would be to readdress the balance of trade.

African people DON'T want our aid, they don't want us to feel sorry! for them, what they do want is an equal or level playing field in which to buy & sell their goods & services.

**The sole reason that Africa & many of it's countries remain in poverty, in conflict, remain in debt to other governments around the globe, is because the balance of trade is unfair & the odds remain stacked against them by the rich northern hemisphere countries.

**Fair trade, & a fair balance of trade would make a significant difference to many millions of African lives within a relatively short time scale i.e. no more than say 10years.

Ivan

Answer 5

The people of Africa are the only ones who can solve their problems. They currently lack the basic principles of civil society like respect for human rights, property rights, etc.. Also, they are stuck in a tribal mentality, which as seen in Iraq, is very destructive.

Africa needs good government; something we cannot force them to have as seen with our little experiment in the Middle East, another region that lacks good government.

Answer 6

We should let them be. We have been trying to bail them out for decades and all that has happened is they hate us and try to kill us when we are there on peace keeping missions.

F*** them, they deserve their fate as they have created it to begin with.

Answer 7

Why do we want to help the African continent? what do they do for us now apart from continuing to pass on the AIDS virus

Answer 8

Stop recruiting their best and brightest nurses to the USA.  They are needed there more.  AIDS awareness and sanctions for those countries (Africa is not one country) violating human rights.

Answer 9

No aid without intensive family planning.

Answer 10

It is true that Africa faces some severe trouble and a great humanitarian crisis, nevertheless you should ask yourselves ¿why is this so?. Well, simply look back into African history and you'll discover that most of the conflicts and particulary the dictatorships in the Continent have risen due to the imperialistic policies of European nations in the continent and in the manner in which they segregated, exploited and interfered with african affairs. One of the main issues in africa is starvation due to the poverty of the nations which does not allow intensive agriculture and also the interference of U.S and European multinationals which exploit these nations and take a great amount of valuable resorces to their countries without leaving any real profit for the Africans. if Africa is in crisis, U.S. and European policies are also to be held responsible. If there is more than enough food in the world to feed every single human being, why is it that in the U.S people suffer from obesity whilst in Africa they starve? human selfishness is to blame.... In order to help Africa both Europe and the U.S. must provide aid and stop abusing from these nations as they always have.

Answer 11

Nuke it from space??

Answer 12

they should bring in intelligent people from the USA to run those corrupt and idiotic nations, stop burning the congo, stop poaching endangered species, stop spreading aids, stop breeding when there is no food, stop your silly internet scams, do something good for a change--  nothing good has come out of that continent for a long time.

Answer 13

Let them handle their own problems.

Answer 14

condoms and education.

Answer 15

I'm not saying we shouldn't try, but people need to understand African history, there is definitely a reoccurring theme.

Answer 16

Sorry if this offends but

there are some real rich places in Africa

why don't they get there finger out and HELP there own people

Respect

shaz

Answer 17

First answer has said it all..... well done.

Answer 18

Mostly all negative answers here.  Ironic considering it is the plundering of Africa by European "colonizers" that has put them in the state they are today.  And their compounded loans are like those of a "loan shark". Thanks a lot.   And if Americans are so moral... wouldn't they be compassionate to the starving continent and their people.  Probably not... as you can see Americans suffering from obesity, while innocent children die of starvation.  But hey , it kind of shows what kind of country it is.. after all America's female role model is Paris Hilton.  Know your history.

Answer 19

The single most effective way to help all African nations out of poverty, debt, famine et al is to give their women absolute control over birth control. They can then decide on another child or if they need to work. So many are treated just as baby machines, condemning the family to just the man's income. Will it happen? What do you think?

Answer 20

the same as they are doing for the poor pensioners who live in this country who use gas and electric they cannot afford. sweet nothing. look after our own.

Answer 21

Most of the African countries were at one time under colonial rule. The colonial powers Britain included, gave help and defence and kept order in exchange for minerals etc from them. They wanted independence, they got it. Now the begging bowls are out. Sorry stand on your own feet . They are realising that the colonial rule was good for them ,and some would love to be back under it. Before the bashing starts , what I have said is true and the facts published. And why should they have their debt cancelled ? If I bought a house with a mortgage, I would not be able to say later, sorry I want you to let me off my repayments now.

Answer 22

We can stop giving money to the crooked U.N. and go to sudan and kill those manians commiting genocide. You cant be diplomatic all the time...sorry spineless liberals, sometimes you have to fight for whats right.

Answer 23

You got a lot of pretty self-centered answers.  Wonder what happened to "Love thy neighbor as thyself"?

There is no easy answer for the situation in Africa.  Monsanto and other firms are developing better plants to increase the yield of edible crops.  Charitable organizations like the Bill Gates Foundation, Care, Catholic Charities, and Smile Train are providing big-time help in other ways.

Anything you give to Care is more than matched by government grants (a factor of about four to one).  About 28 cents provides a meal for someone who might otherwise starve in Africa.  Donations to Care are about 90 percent efficient, since their overhead and cost of solicitation run only about 10 percent.  That's very good..

If you want to permanently improve the life of a child in Africa or elsewhere in the third world countries by providing corrective surgery for a cleft lip or cleft palate condition, Smile Train is a great answer.  The average operation costs $250 and your ENTIRE donation goes to help children.  Smile Train's founder, Charles Wang, personally covers all administrative costs.   Any donation is welcome, and some young people have taken this on as a group project and done a lot of good.

Look up any of the above charitable organizations on the Internet.

Answer 24

Give a man a fish and you will feed him a day but teach him how to fish and you will feed him for a life time.

Answer 25

I think a lot of the above answers are negative and unhelpful.If a man lay dying because of a mistake he made himself would you refuse to help him - that would be harsh, what if you were that man? What I would suggest is a redistribution of some of the wealth in the world between those who have and the forgotten.Also some anti corruption mechanism would have be attached to the money so that it would go - all of it - to those who need it.I'm sure some financial whizz could come up with that.Even if only some wealthy westerners volunteered to donate just 1% of their monthly income to a group of well-known third world charities it would do a lot of good for a lot of people.Maybe I'm being very naive here but I don't believe in telling them "F*** Off! Help Yourselves,I've got my own problems!" We should help them to help themselves and remember that our problems are not nearly as serious or urgent as theirs.We should be more compassionate not judgemental.

Answer 26

Free trade. You know what Africa does best? Agriculture and some industry. Unfortunately, Europe and the United States have very high tariffs to protect domestic agriculture and industry, which means Africa can't compete. And while I think it's  plenty nice that governments and private charities want to give billions of dollars in aid to that impoverished continent, corrupt African government officials line their pockets with the money. And all this "relieve third world debt" nonsense doesn't do much for the average African dying of hunger, dehydration or disease.

Free trade would allow Africa to compete on the global market with the power players. That's how you teach a man to fish. When money flows into Africa, maybe people won't dig through garbage heaps just to find scraps of rotten food to eat. Maybe it's only a dollar a day working at that factory, but that's a dollar a day they didn't have before free trade and globalization. Right now they're subsistence farming IF THEY'RE LUCKY and it just doesn't feed a continent. They have the land, they have ample resources, they have lots of people - they just need capital investment.

It's ridiculous that Africans can't feed themselves when you consider how much arable land there actually is on that continent. That failure is a testament to poverty, ignorance, and corrupt governments, all which could be alleviated if capitalism were infused there.

Answer 27

Write off the debts they owe to all the developed countries. It was the developed countries that plundered Africa for all it was worth and then left them to fend for themselves.

Answer 28

Why are "WE" the answer to everything? How about they do something for themselves. All we end up getting in return is hatred.

Answer 29

We have done enough:  Until they get rid off the murderous dictators who govern that continent and learn to live of their own labours we should give them nothing

Answer 30

stop giving them aid ,let them stand on their own two feet.

the more aid we give them the more they expect.

the only way Africa can improve is for themselves to start helping themselves instead of just siting back and expecting the rest of the world to supply them with food water & drugs.

they have managed to live fine for thousands of years with out side. leave them alone and they will decide thier own futcher.

Answer 31

WE should cancel all their debt.

Currently their debt repayments are higher than the AID they receive so they are getting in more debt cos we loan them too much and want them to be kept down.

The west is afraid of what Africa could become. That is why we keep them down.