The Africa Day is celebrated worldwide today, as the continent faces serious threats that conspire against regional stability and affect its economic development.
The Africa Day is celebrated worldwide today, as the continent faces serious threats that conspire against regional stability and affect its economic development.
This date, commemorating the creation in 1963 of the Organization for African Unity (OAU) is an occasion to reflect on the difficult situation affecting this area of the planet. At the meeting, held in Addis Ababa, 32 heads of state approved 52 years ago the creation of the organization.
The then-president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, said in that great event that independence was only the prelude to a new and more difficult struggle for the right of African countries to drive economic and social development.
Nkrumah, who in later years became president of the OAU, said the goal is unity because 'there is no time to lose, we must unite now or perish.' Those words, five decades later, are still valid.
Africa shows a rich history and culture, as well as substantial natural resources, but faces enormous challenges which require a joint effort, based on the spirit in which the OAU was founded.
Despite this natural and cultural wealth, Africans face high rates of poverty, underdevelopment, food insecurity and poor health, amidst armed conflicts that affect many of the countries in the region and claim tens of thousands of lives each year.
According to recent reports from the United Nations Program for Development (UNDP) out of the 50 countries with the lowest rate of progress, 40 are African.
Africa, with 11 percent of the world's population, keeps 24 percent of the global burden of deaths, often as a result of preventable or curable diseases, because at a world level it only has three percent of health personnel and one percent of economic resources destined for health.
The infected by HIV / AIDS are estimated in more than 30 million only in sub-Saharan Africa, while the epidemic of Ebola that has been affecting mainly countries in West Africa since late 2013 spread to about 20 thousand people, of which more than nine thousand were killed.
Some 460 million Africans lack sufficient food and of these nearly 50 million suffer chronic hunger.
More than 300 million people in the region lack access to safe drinking water and a similar number lack basic sanitation.
Nearly 200 000 children are used as soldiers, domestic servants, or are forced into prostitution, while more than 78 million children have no access to education.
The OAU, constituted on July 9, 2002 by the African Union (AU), promoted the creation of other organizations such as the Pan African Parliament, the Peace and Security Council, as well as various programs including the New Partnership for Africa's Development.
These bodies look together to consolidate a lasting peace, and promote a sustainable development in Africa.
Source: PL