Part I: Dealing With Hunger.
In an influential article, Haroon Ashraf, a publicator of the World Bank Report for the African Countries, (2001), presents the economical situation of Africa as very deceptive. Indeed, Africa is in very poor health despite the economic reforms of the past decade or so. Civil wars, poor governance, a decrease in foreign aid, and high oil prices have damaged reform programs. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) remains depressed and is below the 5% level needed to prevent an increase in the number of poor people. The vital sources of finance for health care and other such programs in sub Saharan Africa, the poorest part of the African continent, is foreign aid and foreign direct investment (FDI). However, in the last couple of years, the FDI has decreased from $32 per head in 1990 to $19 per head in 1998, according to the World Bank studies. Why did this happen? The reason is quite simple; the foreign direct investors tend to favor countries with lucrative mining and oil industries because from my point of view aid is most effective within a sound economic and political framework. That is why companies prefer do invest in Egypt, where there is some established order in business and politics, and move away from countries like Nigeria and Uganda, where there is total chaos. In this situation, the poor countries are becoming even poorer, while the wealthier ones continue their way up to civilization and market economy. Still, the World bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cannot leave the sinking countries to survive on their own, that is why international organizations are subsidizing the governments and the economic activities of the poorest countries in the world. In this context, it is clear why the foreign aid is still present in Africa, somebody is still providing it, but it is not as much as it would be necessary to actually help the countries in need of it.