One of the biggest accolades often put on George W. Bush’s US presidency is addressing the AIDS pandemic in Africa. That required an international effort, and Stephen Lewis, a former Canadian ambassador and UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, details how that effort fell short on many fronts. He calls out contradictions between the aims and implementation of US policy. In so doing, he exposes how both the US and the UN become embroiled with petty details instead of focusing on the big picture of saving lives.
This book was originally given in 2005 as a series of five lectures in one of Canada’s most prestigious university lecture series. Lewis explains how the UN set eight Millennium Development Goals in 2000 to reach by 2015, but is falling woefully short. He provides a counter-narrative to the Bush administration’s stories of renewed success – something I suggest gave these lectures added notoriety in the mid-2000s.
Lewis clearly cares about the African situation. He details how the educations of children and lives of women are dramatically affected and how steps by the international community can directly impact these outcomes. He relates stories of how many families are run by grandparents because the parents have died from HIV/AIDS. Tragically, many families are run by the older children because older generations have died. This situation still plagues the continent, and human and national potentials are being limited.
Unfortunately, descriptions of this situation does not comprise the bulk of the lectures; rather, the complicated internal politics of the UN dominate Lewis’ discussion. I imagine that Lewis does not like this difficulty either and would rather talk about positive actions being done for Africa. However, this book degenerates into a case study in international dysfunction. Because I am not a part of that bureaucracy and only a general American citizen, I found some of the jostling to be difficult to follow. I imagine that in 2005, these facts were more important to bring to light, but to me, reading in 2021, this overbearing narrative simply seems petty and distracting.
To audiences involved in international humanitarian aid and in international diplomacy, this book chronicles important issues related to governmental policies about Africa. It captures some facts which make many leading international leaders of that era uncomfortable – especially the leaders of wealthy G8 economies. Neither individuals nor nations always live up to their highest portrayed ideals, and this case certainly prevails here. Sadly, millions continue to die and to remain in poverty despite the existence of some simple – but costly – solutions that could ameliorate 95% of the problem. To his credit, Lewis identified the specifics of these solutions in this book. Though I write 16 years hence, I’m not sure the situation has advanced that much further. For that reason and for the value of the human lives involved, Lewis’ lectures still deserve our consideration today.
Race Against Time: Searching for Hope in AIDS-Ravaged Africa
From the CBC Massey Lectures
By Stephen Lewis
Copyright (c) 2005, 2006
Anansi
ISBN13 9780887847530
Page Count: 214
Genre: International Politics, Africa
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