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 > The Forgotten Continent > AIDS in Africa > A Ray of Hope dimarts, 25 de maig de 2004
The 25th of May is Africa Day, the day that commemorates the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), created in 1963 with the purpose of consolidating the political liberation of the African states and promoting the sovereignty of the territories that were still occupied by the colonial powers. Political, economic and cultural cooperation among member states was also one of the objectives of the OAU.
The African continent has great cultural and linguistic diversity and it is the cradle of great civilizations, such as the Egyptian and the Carthaginian, but it has been badly treated by recent history. At the end of the 19th century it was colonized by Western states, that did not respect the people's customs and lifestyles and wanted to impose their own values. The decolonisation of Africa, that began after the Second World War and really took hold in the 1950's and 60's, did not greatly improve things. Economic underdevelopment remained and states were created on the basis of arbitrary borders that were derived from those drawn up by the former colonizers, which only stoked up wars and ethnic confrontations. Unfortunately, today a significant number of African countries are devastated by wars, famine and disease, although recently there have been a few glimmers of hope. Paradoxically, one of these glimmers of hope is the dissolution of the Organisation of African Unity, which was replaced two years ago by the African Union. But we shall discuss that later.
 
The Forgotten Continent)
+ A significant number of African countries are devastated by wars and famine.
Despite everything we've said, the fact is that Africa does not often feature on the front pages and in the headlines of the Western media. Sometimes, one has the feeling that it is a forgotten continent, abandoned to its fate. We can give you a very good example to illustrate this. According to the report by the humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders on the ten most forgotten crises of 2003, seven of them directly affect the African continent: the thousands of refugees from Chad; the violence in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia; the lack of medical care in the Ivory Coast; and, more generally, the increased mortality rate caused by malaria and the difficulty of obtaining basic medication.
AIDS in Africa)
+ About one in twelve African adults is living with HIV/AIDS.
AIDS (the acronym for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) is a disease resulting from the HIV agent (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), which gradually destroys the organism's defence mechanisms. The figures that come out of the latest report by the World Health Organisation and UNAIDS are not promising, and even less so if one focuses on Sub-Saharan Africa. Of the forty million people infected with HIV all over the world, between 25 and 28.2 are in this region, where, moreover, the majority of deaths caused by the disease have occurred during the year 2003.
A Ray of Hope){kind=logo}
+ The African Union is inspired by the European Union.
In July 2002, the African Union was born, the heir to the Organisation of African Unity which, although it did help to bring an end to Western colonisation, was not able to bring Africa out of its economic underdevelopment or guarantee 'good governance' in its member states, often accused of corruption. The African Union is an organization made up of fifty-three countries and inspired by the European Union. Among other things, this supranational organization aims to promote unity and solidarity among African states, to intensify cooperation for development and to foster democratic mindsets and regimes. The founding of the African Union, along with the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), has meant that a glimmer of hope has started to shine on the future of the continent.
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> Estats membres de la Unió Africana.
> Òrgans d'aquesta Unió.
> Cronologia de la descolonització.
> Guerra i oblit a la República Democràtica del Congo.
I també...
- Explicació del conflicte del Sudan.
- I del d'Uganda.
- Un parell d'activitats sobre el mapa polític de l'Àfrica.
- La República de Sud-àfrica, un exemple de diversitat africana.
- Les llengües de l'Àfrica.
- Una exploració de les regions africanes.
- Història interactiva del continent.
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