Yesterday’s (September 22, 2005) IHT ran an article applying the age old wisdom of an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure to both hurricane Katrina and in the looming “perfect storm” in Africa.
Katrina has provided a convenient example to what many African advocates have said for years “we must spend some billions to erect levees against those forces now, or be ready, as in New Orleans, to spend countless hundreds of billions to clean up the mess later.”

The article, by Michael Wines draws heavily from Jeffrey Sachs. A few more quotes below:

“Sachs essentially argues that a perfect storm is building in Africa: a confluence of the AIDS pandemic, extreme poverty, mass hunger, illiteracy and, he would say, potentially devastating climate change. Not tackling these problems now, he says, is penny-wise and pound-foolish, for the costs of salvaging the continent later are likely to be huge.”

“Spending money wisely now to forestall Africa's problems is both an economic and political no-brainer, even if one believes the continent's problems will never worsen. “

“Hunger, he says, is but one example: Across much of the continent - and certainly in Niger - rich nations have spent billions to rescue nations from famine but a tiny fraction of that to introduce modern farming practices that might make the continent self-sufficient. Malaria is another: Spending to prevent or eradicate the illness, while rising, is far below the economic cost of the sickness and death it leaves behind. AIDS, illiteracy - the list is long. “

Another recent hit in the media by Jeffrey Sachs is The Diary of Angelina Jolie (http://www.mtv.com/thinkmtv/features/global/diary/angelina_jolie/). Sachs and Jolie travel to a village in Kenya where Sachs shows Jolie first hand how small efforts, such as a $10 mosquito net, in the village are fundamentally changing life in that village forever.

“Spending two long days in Sauri, Sachs exposes Jolie to every corner of village life to reveal his vision for ending extreme poverty by 2015. In a small hut, he demonstrates how a simple $10.00 bed net keeps families safe from Malaria, a disease that kills over three million people every year. In an open field, Jolie learns how basic instruction in proper farming techniques and fertilizer use can produce enough food to keep villagers alive on land that has failed to yield sustainable crops for generations. And, in a moving sequence featuring the town's young people, Jolie discovers how free school lunches are giving children a reason to come to class and learn - and that one computer is connecting this tiny village to the rest of the world.”