"AIDS Dissent: African Holocaust"
Thank you for your informative video and interesting commentary. You pose a viable argument as to why many countries in Africa struggle to develop. It is a well known concept that the people of Africa are those who can truly make an effective and positive change in their countries. As the video states, if a high percentage of Africans are being sent to their deaths because it is easier to diagnose AIDS than other infectious diseases, then there is no hope for Africa. It is a well known fact that AIDS has swept the continent, but what fails to be highlighted is the extreme malnutrition and lack of clean water that are much more prominent problems in Africa than AIDS. The video mentioned an interesting point: funding for AIDS is much higher than funding for any other issue in Africa. Therefore, those suffering from malaria do not know they are suffering from it because there are not enough medical professionals in the malaria field to tell them so, so they live out the short rest of their lives with a mis-diagnosis of HIV. Your explanation of how many suffering from minor fevers or weight loss fear going to a medical clinic because the common response is a positive HIV
diagnosis is truly devastating. While AIDS prevention and condom usage has been practiced extensively throughout Africa, shouldn't other life-taking issues, like causes of poverty, be tackled with just as high a priority? Poverty leads to malnutrition and lack of education, which leads to the spread of diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, and AIDS. Rather than tackle one of the ending results, why not work to resolve the root of the problem? You point specifically to Tanzania as one of the nations where medical professionals use the "Bangui Definition" to over-diagnose HIV. Georgetown University is an example of a credible resource in possibly over-diagnosing AIDS in Africa (see image to the left). According to the World Bank, 36% of the population in Tanzania live below the national poverty line. This statistic in itself is a clear indication that poverty is highly prevalent in the country and most likely the cause of the spread of infectious diseases. Your explanation of the "Bangui Definition" proves to be a shortcut in facing the range of problems of Africans. Shortcuts will not solve African issues but rather pose as obstacles in its development and halt any hope for a bright future."Making Friends with Facebook: Rwandans Turn to the Internet to Get Connected"
Thank you for your informative post on the expansion of the internet in Rwanda. Your analysis provides hope that development is an option in the country. Globalization and the increase of interaction capacity among developed nations have left Africa behind. Greg Wyler's inclusion of Internet as a viable source of communication in Rwanda is evident that some African countries are trying to catch up. A country with as devastating a history as Rwanda deserves the opportunity for advancement in the international realm. Your explanation of Facebook as a social networking tool and its vast popularity worldwide shows that Rwanda can interact on the same level. Social networking is a vital instrument for progress in developing countries. Contacts can be maintained while groups and alliances formed. You specifically discuss that NGOs are now realizing the benefits of Facebook as a tool for raising awareness.
Your example, the Aegis Trust (its logo shown to the right), an organization against genocide, uses its Facebook group as a networking tool for information, publicity, and dialogue. Likewise, Facebook and other Internet sites can be a tool for the inclusion of Rwanda as an international player in social and economic communication. Wyler's Internet in Rwanda can be a stepping stone for Rwandans to relate to worldwide issues, as well as personal business connections that can be made to improve personal lives. Furthermore, increased Internet usage in Rwanda can motivate other African countries to invest in cheaper and more accessible Internet. While the Internet is an important and useful tool for Rwanda to interact globally because it helps its personal development, should it be the priority? There are so many severe problems tackling Rwanda and little funding for them, that Internet usage could be introduced later. While I understand that global interaction is important to economic and social development, Rwanda still struggles internally with more threatening challenges than lack of connectivity -- health and poverty. UNICEF stated that the central government expenditures allocated to health in Rwanda is only 5%. With this rate so low and little Africans even able to afford Internet, should it be put off until health issues and severe poverty are more seriously addressed?
1 comment:
Your analysis on some of the main issues facing Africa was a great read. I enjoyed reading your perspective on how AIDS is possibly overemphasized and how it is seen as a major culprit to many of the problems that Africa has. You raised my personal awareness of the less frequently mentioned issues of lack of education, malnutrition, and other diseases and how they are often given less attention to due to the AIDS dilemma. While giving support in the comments of the external blog posts, you also provided some constructive feedback that ties well into your blog's central theme of poverty. In your first comment, you successfully point out the "shortcut" that the author is using to bypass the root cause of poverty, which is most likely the cause of the spread of infectious diseases in Africa.
In your comment of the blog about the spreading use of Facebook in Rwanda, you support the benefits of spreading awareness of social issues through this medium. Similarly, you also counter this argument by addressing the priority of using governmental aid in other issues that are more important, such as health and poverty.
In your post, you inserted some statistics that helped strengthen your post. However, I think with some more statistics regarding AIDS in Africa and the usage of Facebook in Rwanda, your post would have been even more effective. Additionally, I think you could have provided some more links that sourced to relevant data on the Internet. It would have been helpful to have links to some websites that discuss the problems of AIDS and poverty in Africa. Including a poignant or vivid image of Africa would also make your post more appealing.
Lastly, I think some of your suggestions could have been more direct. Deciphering where you were giving supporting and where you were critiquing was not always totally clear. If you gave the feedback in a more direct and unquestionable tone, your comments would be more useful to the original author as well. Although you did pose questions which helps spark a future dialog with you and the author, I think you could have given some actual solutions that you personally think will help remedy the current situation in Africa.
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