International Organizations deny essential services to poor countries, Part 2

Countries by poverty rate – World Bank, Peter Lonjers

Many international organizations propagate drastic population control measures under the radar while publicly advocating and providing (some) aid to the poor and endorsing environmental concerns. This includes governmental and nongovernmental agencies such as UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), UNFPA (United Nations Fund for Population Activities), The World Bank, USAID (United States Agency for International Development), the Club of Rome and its many spin-offs, Worldwide Fund for Nature, formerly called World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Green Peace, Population Council, International Planned Parenthood Federation, etc.

As a part of the Population Control Agenda and the overpopulation myth, in addition to enforced sterilization, abortion and birth control methods, other means of limiting both population and life span have been applied to impoverished countries and are often tied to reception or denial of aid or loans[i].

Of these, disease control and electrical power are the most important because they can facilitate many of the other items on the list, and kick-start the economy.  A healthy workforce and power to run industry, business, medical facilities and develop transportation systems are key to economic development.  Although many African countries need foreign aid and international loans now, the goal should be to help them raise their economy to the point where they are net contributors to the world economy or at least are self sufficient. (NOTE:  most actual foreign aid only props up corrupt leaders; the people get very little of it. Some estimate that only 2% goes to help the people or build needed infrastructure.)

Throwing crumbs at the problem is not enough to accomplish this goal without actual investment in infrastructure.  See detailed list below of essential necessities that international organizations have denied or failed to provide/ promote :

DDT and Disease Control: Banning DDT has caused a rebound of malaria, once almost eradicated in many areas, and many other insect borne diseases, resulting in an estimated million deaths each year from malaria alone. (Estimates vary, but the real number is unknown.)  Many of the agencies named above, as well as many Western nations, withheld funds from foreign aid and loans for development unless underdeveloped countries abandoned DDT.  Poorer nations had no choice but to “voluntarily” ban the use of DDT to control insect borne diseases, which account for 80% of infectious diseases in these countries.  The economic loss in human productivity from malaria, TB and other diseases is incalculable.

Further research has disproved the claims of Rachael Carson’s book, Silent Spring, that DDT causes environmental harm to birds or aquatic life, cancers or other human harm.  Predictions of an upsurge in cancer and extinction of birds failed to materialize.  Not one human has ever been seriously harmed or died from its use or abuse, and robins to eagles flourished during and after its 30 year use in the United States.  DDT is practically insoluble in water, so no aquatic toxicity is possible and soil bacteria destroy it in a few weeks or months, ending any persistence.

It is cheaper than other insecticides, and is safer and easier to make, handle and distribute.  The claims that insects in poor countries developed immunity to it are false or grossly overblown. (Also, many African countries lacking transportation infrastructure never used DDT in the past so that development of resistance was impossible.)  India never participated in the ban, manufactures its own DDT and uses it judiciously with occurrence of very little resistance.  The UN standards for allowing use of DDT include unrealistic proof of NO DDT resistance in the area.  That’s proving a negative, which is impossible. The aim is not to exterminate every mosquito, but to reduce their numbers until there are no more human carriers.

In addition to DDT treatment on interior walls for mosquito control, insect and parasite control must also include replacing thatched roofs where mosquitos hide with metal or tile, sealing the interior of homes from insects with wire screens that allow cooling air in but exclude insects, as well as education, fly swatters and glue strips, clean water to prevent dysentery and waterborne parasites, shoes/ sandals to keep pinworms and other parasites from entering through the feet, closed toilets, preferably with septic systems, to reduce fly-borne diseases.

Malaria Facts:  Malaria drugs can cure malaria if available, but symptoms only appear after 9 to 14 days or longer, by which time there may be liver or kidney damage.  Once symptoms appear, malaria can kill in as little as one day or persist for weeks or relapse over a longer period of time.  Reinfection is possible since the parasite imparts only partial immunity.  Each bout of malaria destroys red blood cells equivalent to a pint of blood, resulting in chronic anemia and kidney damage from repeated bouts for much of the African population.  Babies, children, pregnant women, the elderly and the infirm are especially vulnerable.

The malaria parasite requires both humans and mosquitos to complete its life cycle.  Mosquitos are “born” clean and must pick up the parasite (Plasmodium sp.) from an infected person. It takes another 10 days for the parasite to change into the stage that is infectious to humans.  No infected humans, no malaria even though the mosquito vector may still exist.  That is why it did not recur in North American and European countries when DDT was banned after 30 years’ use.  Human malaria does not infect animals and vice versa, with the rare exception of Plasmodium knowlesi, a primate species found in Southeast Asia.

Power Plants: Over 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa have no access to electricity.  Based on CO2 reduction, Climate Change advocates and international agreements provide funding  preferentially for renewable energy such as solar and wind power, which are unreliable, intermittent, environmentally harmful and require exotic elements, meanwhile discouraging or prohibiting development of power plants based on abundant fossil fuel, (coal, oil or natural gas), hydroelectric, geothermal or nuclear energy.  Hydroelectric power is necessarily clean, renewable and sustainable, but is hated by environmentalists for assumed harm to ecosystems.  Earlier successes in other countries over time have proven this assumption false except for temporary local effects.  Nature adapts. (NOTE: the huge areas cleared for wind “farms” disrupt the environment far more than conventional hydroelectric or hydrocarbon fueled power plants.)

Solar and wind power are, by their nature, inconsistent, unreliable and intermittent. Solar only works during the day when the sky is clear or nearly clear.  Wind only works on windy days, but only in a narrow range of velocities; too slow doesn’t generate power; too fast and both blades and generators are damaged un less switched off. Wind power kills birds and bats that are important for insect control, and creates infrasound that is harmful to humans and animals.  Both solar and wind power require backup generation by other means: fossil fuel, hydroelectric, etc.  Solar and wind power are only useful as supplemental sources so they are at best temporary solutions.  Single home solar panels are only a feel-good drop in the bucket for the estimated 600 million needy people in sub Saharan Africa. It would be impossible to supply enough of these to make much of a difference, and is at best a temporary solution until rural power systems can be provided.  Arguments against other types of power plants usually involved cost of installing transmission lines.  However, except for single home solar systems, all types of power have the same requirements, including solar and wind, which require more lines to harvest the power from the sources.

It is well documented that environmentalists have stopped or prevented over 200 hydroelectric dams in Africa, although it is the most sustainable, reliable, cleanest and safest energy source and uses conventional materials and technology.  Hydroelectric power doesn’t require huge dam projects.  Systems based on even small waterfalls, dams or run-of-the-river systems can supply local power much sooner and cheaper.  African rivers have sufficient hydroelectric power generation capacity to supply all of the continent’s needs for the foreseeable future.  Only a tiny fraction of it has been developed.  One ray of hope is the large Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) being built on the upper Nile with a capacity of 6000 MW.  For comparison, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt has 2100 MW capacity and Cohora Brassa in Mozambique has 2075 MW capacity.  There are already a number of medium to small capacity systems in Africa including three plants at Victoria Falls. Many more are possible and needed.  India was an early pioneer and has become a leader in hydroelectric power generation, exports power and provides engineering support for new systems to other countries.

Geothermal energy is available in seismically active areas in Africa, mostly in the Rift Valley.  By sinking wells into thermal strata, steam or hot water can be used to run electricity generators.  The technology is well established but development is just beginning in Africa.  Other sources of electrical power generation include biomass and tidal generators.  Biomass has major drawbacks, including pollution and loss of vegetation from biomass burning.  Nuclear is among the cleanest power sources with no emissions, and only limited waste handling issues. Fear of nuclear power is mostly propaganda citing a few rare catastrophes.

The way out of Energy Poverty should involve an all-of-the-above approach, including fossil fuels, geothermal, hydroelectric, nuclear, solar, tidal, biomass and wind.  The need is too great in lost lives and productivity to wait.  The need is urgent.  Once Energy Poverty is eliminated and other systems are in place, then fossil and bio-fuel power plants could be phased out or reduced in favor of hydroelectric, geothermal and nuclear power.

Availability of reliable electricity and natural gas are important for economic development, industry and medical infrastructure as well as home cooking and refrigeration, which are needed to provide a safe, clean food supply and to reduce harmful indoor air pollution from bio-fueled cooking and heating fires.  Electricity can solve a host of other problems including water purification, sanitation, roads, railroads, airstrips, access to markets and medical facilities.

Clean Water and Sanitation: Lives and health are impacted by holding as a low priority the development of village clean water wells or providing city slums with at least rudimentary piped-in purified water and sanitation systems. The environmentalist myth of dwindling global water supplies and limited resources is included in the justification of these policies, although village wells and reservoirs behind even modest hydroelectric dams could supply all their needs.  Many African women spend hours each day carrying water from streams and lakes, which contains dangerous bacteria and parasites.  The result of this is high infant and childhood mortality from intestinal parasites and diarrhea, the number one killer of young children in poor countries.

Sanitation is also needed but ignored, now consisting of open pit toilets, at best, or simply defecation and urination in fields and streams.  Flies carry disease from these sources, including tuberculosis (TB), leprosy, typhoid, cholera, dysentery, polio, anthrax, salmonella, parasite eggs and numerous other diseases.  With electricity, water pumping and purification as well as flush toilets and local sewage treatment plants are possible.  As a start, clean water wells with manual pumps are needed in local villages as well as replacing open pit toilets with septic systems that enclose waste.  Without electricity, both hand pumped clean water wells and improved pit toilets to end open defecation can and should be made available as soon as possible.

Transportation: The development of roads and railroads needed for economic development and access to healthcare facilities, employment opportunities and markets is discouraged or prohibited, as disruptive to wildlife habitats.  Roads and railroads are erroneously assumed to break up habitats, isolate wildlife populations and disrupt seasonal migration patterns. All of these myths have been thoroughly refuted in areas where new roads and pipelines have not disrupted migration and sometimes resulted in more not less wildlife.

Modern Agriculture:  Modern agricultural methods and high yield crops are discouraged or prevented in favor of less productive, more labor intensive subsistence, so-called sustainable, aka organic, farming, “for the good of the environment.”  This has the opposite effect and causes soil depletion that naturally results in slash and burn deforestation as depleted fields must be abandoned for freshly cleared land.  Modern agriculture is a more sustainable practice, requiring only rotation of crops on fewer acres than subsistence farming and greatly increased yields per acre.  Higher yield per acre means fewer acres are needed to feed a population, saves forests and makes surplus produce available to sell or trade.  Modern agriculture using fertilizers, pesticides and improved crop varieties are opposed by organic farming organizations and subsidizing governments in developed nations.  The Green Revolution of improved varieties and practices, available for 50 years, has been applied successfully in some African nations, but only in areas with adequate roads for access to markets. Building the transportation infrastructure could facilitate introduction of modern agriculture in less developed areas.

GMO[ii] aka Biotech and Improved Crops:  Banning or discouraging the use of more productive, more drought, insect and disease resistant and more nutritious conventional high yield and GMO crops for improved yields and better nutrition is a crime against humanity.  For example, GMO Golden Rice, provides vitamin A that could end the cycle of blindness and death among the poor whose diets are dominated by rice.  The European Union has a ban on all agricultural products, not just GMO, from countries that grow any GMO crops.  This ban is largely based on protecting subsidized European farmers from competition by African, Asian and American produce.

Governments of many poor countries choose to ban GMO crops so they can sell their produce to the European Union, not because of any fears of GMO scare stories propagated by anti-GMO advocacy groups. These advocacy groups are backed by Western organic farming organizations to suppress their domestic and imported competition from high yield conventional and GMO crops, thus increasing their market share.  GMO is a term used by these groups for biotech improved varieties to imply harmful when it really means improved food crops by inserting specific genes to enhance characteristics such as higher nutrition and crop yields, drought, disease and insect resistance and reduced need for pesticides.

Contrary to scare stories, most companies have given away rights to many of these crops to help poor people, who can choose to grow them or not.  Contrary to propaganda of anti-GMO advocates, no one is forced to grow GMO or buy any agricultural chemical.  Propaganda would have you believe the big bad Monsanto is holding the world hostage, but the truth is that there are at least 60 developers in a dozen countries involving at least one beneficial modification in each of 30 varieties of fruits, vegetables and fibers.  Why would so many develop and promote products that harm their customers?  That’s illogical and ridiculous!

In June of 2016, over 100 Nobel Laureates signed an open letter to Greenpeace, the UN and Governments around the world to stop their criminal campaign against Biotech improved crops and in particular Golden Rice that can save the lives and sight of millions. You can read the letter here http://supportprecisionagriculture.org/nobel-laureate-gmo-letter_rjr.html

Industry: Environmentalists and communists discourage development of industry, including manufacturing and natural resource extraction (oil, gas, coal, minerals), as exploiting the workers and harmful to the environment, rather than, in reality, providing employment while raising the standard of living and improving environmental stewardship.  The result is high unemployment, unabated poverty and an inability to care for the environment.  Control of diseases that now cause high absenteeism and low productivity is as important as reliable electricity for industry. (see DDT above)  Foreign and domestic investment and development should be encouraged.  Support from industry could further economic and infrastructure development. 

Medicine: The UN and environmental organizations have failed to make local medical facilities and medicines available to rural areas. This is tied to failure to provide adequate roads and railroads as well as natural gas and electrical power needed for these facilities and their availability to the rural poor. This is also linked to the population control agenda.  In many areas, healing medicines and facilities are lacking essential medicines and devices, while birth control and sterilization facilities are well stocked.

Education: Failure to build schools or to provide instruction in hygiene, nutrition and childcare, and to train the people for skilled and semi-skilled labor, modern agriculture and small business administration.  There is also a great need for higher learning facilities to provide medical, technical and leadership personnel.

HIV/AIDS: Diagnosis in rural areas based on symptoms without confirmation of the virus is an excuse for not treating longstanding endemic illnesses and malnutrition.  Most of those “diagnosed” with AIDS in poor countries have not been tested for the actual HIV virus. They have been assumed to have HIV/AIDS through disparate symptoms such as fever, headache, rash, sore throat, swollen lymph nodes, weight loss, chronic diarrhea and/or cough, all of which can be caused by malnutrition and many common parasites or infectious diseases as well as severe illnesses such as malaria or tuberculosis (TB).  The United Nations has named TB as a leading indicator of AIDS.  By the UN diagnosing AIDS from symptoms without lab tests, many TB and malaria victims were left untreated, resulting in higher death rates, (falsely attributed to HIV/AIDS).

While TB and other chronic illnesses often weaken the immune systems and cause acquired immune deficiency, i.e. AIDS, it has nothing to do with HIV or sexual behavior.  This deception has a triple whammy for the UN.  It excuses high death rates and failure to treat endemic diseases, it incentivizes HIV/AIDS research funding in developed countries by falsely declaring it a pandemic, and it has the potential for vindicating population control programs in the minds of potential donors by creating a false picture of rampant immorality and promiscuity.  Even with HIV/AIDS diagnosis, treatment should concentrate on treating the presenting malnutrition and endemic diseases first, e.g. malaria, TB, etc., instead of starting with AIDS chemotherapy, which further depresses the immune system, or no treatment at all.

It should also be noted that those actually tested for HIV/AIDS in urban settings may be misdiagnosed due to low specificity of the test, failure to properly retest and several factors such as pregnancy or other diseases that cause false positives.  Manufacturers of the tests require retesting by more than one type of detection protocol for confirmation.  The unusually high incidence in South Africa, (60% female at a rate of 15-25% of the population compared to less than 2% in other countries,) may be due to administration at gynecological clinics and failure to retest by more than one method.  Any retests are only done by the same protocol as the original diagnosis.  Here again, treatment of the endemic diseases first is crucial. HIV/AIDS doesn’t kill people; it cripples the immune system and reduces resistance to other diseases. Note: retesting after HIV/AIDS treatment is started may result in false negatives so it is useless.

Cultural Preservation (Stagnation): Environmentalists promote preservation of primitive cultures in toto as of higher importance than developing higher standards of living while preserving cultural heritages.  There is no harm to the cultural heritage by replacing thatched roofs with metal or tile roofs and adding doors and screens to keep out insects and small animals, as well as other “modern” improvements such as electric lights, refrigerators and stoves; a clean water well and proper toilets; a road passable by vehicles to get to markets and clinics, etc.

Political Unrest: Failure to address political corruption, violence and terrorism creates a climate that tends to keep out aid workers from charitable organizations.  It also puts roadblocks in the way of developing the economy, industry, education, healthcare, electrical power and transportation infrastructure.  Violence in any form must be controlled for development to advance. Pressure by international organizations should be applied to address corrupt governments, lawlessness and violence.

Anticolonial propaganda was and is spread by socialists and communists as a way to control the people and make them suspicious of development efforts by Western charities. Muslim groups have also propagated these scare stories. In the 1960s the Soviet Union stirred up anti-colonialism among African nations leading to demands for independence from colonial powers without adequate preparation for proper self-governance.  This was #43 of the 45 Communist Goals revealed by Dr. Cleon Skousen in his 1958 book The Naked Communist and read into the Congressional Record in 1963, “#43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.” 35 African nations became independent in the 1960s, half a dozen in the late 1950s and a similar number in the 1970s.  Of course, a large part of the blame falls on the colonial powers that failed to prepare the people for self government or to develop sufficient infrastructure needed for economic development.  Rather than a fast overthrow without preparation, a more gradual training and handing over of the government would have prepared them better for self-government and avoided much of the political upheaval, power struggles and violence.

In Summary:  As can be readily seen, these priorities are upside down, many having the opposite effect of their stated goals. Keeping people on bare subsistence almost guarantees high birth rates to help farm and in anticipation of high infant and childhood mortality, while causing maximum harm to the environment.

To develop a robust economy, a healthy workforce and infrastructure to facilitate economic development are needed.  By far, disease control and electrical power are most needed and can drive development.  DDT and electricity could jump-start this development followed by transportation, clean water, sanitation, and medical facilities.  Control of insect borne diseases would eliminate high rates of employee absenteeism, encourage both domestic and foreign investment in manufacturing and other industries, and provide much needed jobs and money to raise families out of poverty.

Private corporations in Western countries need to take a fresh look at Africa for investment in foreign production in lieu of communist China.  Investment in infrastructure could produce significant benefits while raising the standard of living of millions and developing new markets and protecting the environment.  Such successes could have a domino effect.  Small starts can become large movements. Already, the future is bright in cities where adequate infrastructure has attracted foreign and domestic investment. In these areas, business sectors outside agriculture and extractive industries are making significant progress.

Get involved. You can do your part as individuals by donating to worthy charities, not UN and Red Cross/Crescent, which squander donations and work through corrupt governments.  World Vision  http://www.wvi.org/about-world-vision and Samaritan’s Purse  https://www.samaritanspurse.org/ )  lead my list of worthy charities for helping needy people directly.  Both feature designated donations and have Christmas catalogues that allow donors to buy shares of projects such as clean water wells, medicines, schools, cattle and small animals, agriculture and small business training and support, etc.

Several organizations support biotech, high yield crops and modern farming practices such as: ISAAA, International Service for Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications at http://www.isaaa.org/ and Genetic Literacy Project at https://geneticliteracyproject.org/donate/

 

[i] See part 1 for more information at International Organizations deny essential services to poor countries, Part 1

[ii] GMO or “Genetically Modified Organisms” is a term invented by the Organic Farming Industry to scare people into avoiding such improved foods.  “Non-GMO” is an ignorant term that is used for advertising purposes and to placate Big Organic’s smear campaigns.  There is absolutely no benefit to it. The better terms are Precision Agriculture or Biotech Crops. So-called GMO involves a process where a specific plant gene is inserted into a plant to give it beneficial characteristics.  Earlier plant breeding processes used a shotgun approach where whole genomes are involved in cross breeding or radiation treatment, and hoping that more beneficial than harmful genes will show up in some off-spring.

The Future Looks Bright for African Countries

Longer Term Solutions

  1. End Population Control Campaigns
  2. End DDT Bans
  3. Implement Hygiene Education Programs
  4. Aggressively Treat All Worm Infestations
  5. End Insistence on Subsistence Farming
  6. End the European Union Ban on Importing GMO Crops
  7. End Insistence on Solar and Wind Power Only
  8. Provide Electricity and Clean Water Systems for City Slums and Rural Villages
  9. Encourage Foreign and Domestic Investment

 

  1. End Population Control Campaigns. We need to work to stop these campaigns by groups such as UNFPA, USAID, WHO, World Bank, International Planned Parenthood, Population Council, and Club of Rome. A few ways to do this are to
  • Expose the lies about overpopulation, their sources, and their aim. The overpopulation myth is all about socialist control, racism, elitism, and misguided environmentalism. Poverty, not overpopulation is harmful to the environment. Raising people out of extreme poverty will benefit the environment.
  • Defund all programs that promote involuntary or forced sterilizations, birth control, or abortion. Promote voluntary, informed choices only. President Trump reinstated the Mexico City Policy, which withholds funds from foreign aid programs that promote or perform abortions. He also defunded UNFPA through the Kemp-Kasten amendment, which prohibits funding for any organization supporting coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization. Unfortunately, some other population control advocacy groups have stepped in to fill the gap. The US must pressure the UN and member countries to end this practice worldwide. The US must also defund Planned Parenthood.
  • End overstocking population control drugs, devices and sterilization supplies in hospitals and clinics. Use the funds from this and other population control activities to stock medical facilities with medicines and supplies for endemic diseases such as malaria, TB and parasites. Medical facilities need supplies for treating injuries, surgical supplies and vaccination sera to save children’s lives.
  • Provide sanitation, clean water and soap for handwashing for all clinics and hospitals.
  • Train local people as medical assistants in the tradition of the field medic as a first line of defense.
  • End Western values-based sex education in schools that encourages abortion, multiple partners, and thus sexually transmitted diseases. These practices are contrary to local cultural and religious beliefs and practices. We must respect their cultural and religious beliefs, which value children and family above all else. Imposing Western values on them destroys families and results in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Encourage monogamy and fidelity in marriage to one sexual partner as one of the best ways to reduce sexually transmitted diseases.
  1. End DDT bans. Begin widespread spraying in homes and medicate victims to cut the cycle of malaria and other insect-borne diseases. The Environmental Protection Agency, the International Agency for Research on Cancer and other agencies that regulate possible toxins must change their regulations to allow DDT to be used for control of mosquitos and other insects. India is a good example of how effective this approach can be. In several government facilities, India manufactures DDT and other insecticides that can be purchased by people in African and other developing countries. India sprays DDT on interior walls of homes twice a year in malaria prone areas. This practice is a good first step in ending the malaria cycle and has greatly reduced the deaths from malaria in India. Africa could reduce theirs accordingly with DDT on interior walls as well as bed nets. Bed nets alone are not a good substitute for DDT spraying.

 Global Malaria Deaths[1]  India is included in the South-East Asia group.

  1. Implement Hygiene Education Programs. Focus on educating all people, especially rural poor, about microbes and hygiene. Teach skills needed to provide clean water such as: How to filter and purify water; How to make soap and set up handwashing stations; How to dig wells and latrines; Safe use of composted wastes for fields; How to keep waste and other contaminants out of streams.
  2. Aggressively Treat All Worm Infestations. Alongside treating for worms it’s important to provide shoes for all children to prevent re-infestation.
  3. End Insistence on Subsistence Farming as a more sustainable method. Encourage modern agricultural methods and improved varieties that are better suited to their environment, with higher nutrition and higher yields. This also ends or reduces slash-and-burn deforestation.
  4. End the European Union Ban on Importing GMO Crops. This and other protectionist philosophies, stagnate development in European countries and cause African countries to reject improved crops. Educate the people and the leaders of developing countries about modern agricultural methods and the benefits of GMO and other high yield varieties.  Educate European leaders and farmers about the potential market for their goods in developing countries. This can be accomplished through advertising campaigns to the general public, not just entrenched government leaders.
  5. End Insistence on Solar and Wind Power Only. Encourage large and small electricity projects by all means possible, including fossil fuel, hydroelectric, geothermal, and nuclear. Fund large and small hydroelectric and fossil fuel power plants and transmission lines into rural areas through loans. Until larger projects and grid systems can be implemented, promote local mini and micro hydroelectric, geothermal and fossil fuel systems. These small systems can be incorporated into a wider grid when that becomes available.
  6. Provide Electricity and Clean Water Systems for All City Slums. Improve housing, sanitation, and clean up standing water and wastes that breed insects and disease. Spray insecticides regularly to reduce insects that carry diseases. Cleaning up the slums can go a long way toward encouraging investments.
  7. Encourage Foreign and Domestic Investment. It is important to encourage investment in all sectors including agricultural, natural resource extraction, manufacturing, service sector and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math). It is time to re-examine the company town concept. Historically used for extraction industries in isolated areas, company towns can be useful for other businesses such as manufacturing, service and STEM in order to attract, train, and house employees and their families.

Encourage building of company towns with homes, hospitals, schools, and markets for employees in remote areas that provide electricity, clean water, latrines or sanitation systems. These company town projects should include progressively extending roads beyond the town over time to help others not directly employed but that could market agricultural products to town inhabitants. Such extensions over time can provide the basis of a larger transportation system that can encourage further foreign investment in newly opened business centers. Inhabitants of shanty towns (city slums) can be employed and live in new company towns near cities.

The future of Africa looks bright and development is booming in the cities and in more developed agricultural areas. The average GDP growth rate for sub-Saharan African countries is 6.2 percent. Cote d’Ivoiri, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo have GDP growth rates over 7 percent. This is great, but somewhat misleading since a percent of a smaller economy is a smaller amount of growth in real numbers. However, if these growth rates continue as they have been, it will result in real economic progress.

Although historically agriculture and extraction of natural resources have been the mainstays of African prosperity and development, half of all foreign investment in recent years has been outside natural resources. Of the countries that have this profile, a group of countries called the African Lions, which include Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia, have led the way. Rwanda has had a growth rate of 9 percent since 2001 because of its favorable business creation policies. In Rwanda child mortality has been reduced, nearly all children have access to education and 98 percent have access to healthcare. Ethiopia has a growth rate of 10 percent but 20 percent of the population are still in extreme poverty with nutritional issues. Botswana has become a leader in online banking due to its low corruption levels and secure business environment.

Corruption is still an issue in many of the developing countries in Africa and elsewhere. Corruption, along with domestic unrest, is one of the major barriers to attracting foreign investment. This corruption is encouraged, supported, and prolonged by foreign aid given to the governments, not directly to the people or to infrastructure contractors. Many government leaders have fat bank accounts by skimming most of the aid that is intended to help the poor and build infrastructure. Even when aid is given in the form of goods, not money, a similar picture emerges. The people may get very little of it as the goods filling warehouses are either sold on the black market to the highest bidder or are left to rot for political reasons.

Any foreign aid needs to be tied to full accountability and transparency by governments about how the money is used and its impact on the people. Free ride foreign aid to governments must be ended to make leaders more accountable to the people, not just their foreign donors. This can lead to free and fair elections.

[1] WHO, 2016

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My award winning book, Saving Africa From Lies That Kill: How Myths about the Environment and Overpopulation are Destroying Third World Countries is now available in print and eBook through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books a Million.

Award-Winning Finalist in the Social Change category of the 2019 International Book Awards

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Read the first chapter free through Bookfunnel by clicking here 

Africa’s wild polio-free status to be determined in August — Database of Press Releases related to Africa – APO-Source

The independent Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC), responsible for certifying the eradication of wild poliovirus in the World Health Organization (WHO) African Region, is set to make its final decision about the region’s wild poliovirus status in August 2020. Following field verification visits over the past year and thorough critical analysis of the documentation of […]

via Africa’s wild polio-free status to be determined in August — Database of Press Releases related to Africa – APO-Source

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See rankings and other information from Amazon at the end of this post.  Read the first chapter free through Bookfunnel by clicking here 

Saving Africa From Lies That Kill: How Myths about the Environment and Overpopulation are Destroying Third World Countries is an award-winning finalist in the Social Change category of the 2019 International Book Awards. The book is available in print and eBook (USD $2.99) through Amazon and other online outlets.  For easy access, just click on the link to the Amazon listing here.

After reading the book, please remember to review it on Amazon; reviews are very important to reach more readers.  Share the book with a friend and do your part to end bad practices.

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From the back cover:

In Saving Africa From Lies That Kill, Kay Kiser exposes the long-standing crimes committed against developing nations by the United Nations, World Bank, USAID and Planned Parenthood.

Under their guise of “aid,” these organizations mire the underprivileged in isolation, poverty, sickness, and ignorance.  In her book, Kiser argues:

    • Poverty, not overpopulation, causes environmental damage.  Higher standards of living and lower infant mortality can improve the environment and stabilize the population.
    • Developing nations need access to reliable electricity in order to end energy poverty. This will, in turn, provide clean water, develop transportation, and power hospitals, homes and industrial investment.
    • The Green Revolution and modern agriculture can feed everyone and end deforestation. 

Fortunately, you can do something about the problem—and Kiser shows you how!


DEDICATION
To the poor and the oppressed striving to live free.
All profits from the sale of this book will be applied to
organizations that are working to alleviate the suffering of
the rural poor in developing countries, and to bringing them
into the twenty-first century.


Editorial Reviews:

“MUST READ: Saving Africa From Lies That Kill.  Buy. Read. Learn. Defeat people-hating greens. Win.” by Steven Milloy, author of Scare Pollution (2016) and Green Hell (2009). Posted on junkscience.com/2018/12/must-read-saving-africa-from-lies-that-kill/

About the Author

Kay Kiser is a chemist and microbiologist with experience in technical writing, management, crisis counseling, and education. She holds several patents and authored a chapter in an ACS monograph. Her first book, Perverted Truth Exposed, revealed progressive perversion of science.

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The Truth about HIV/AIDS in Africa

Prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Africa

Are most cases of HIV/AIDS in Africa really misdiagnosed endemic diseases?

The Claims: HIV/AIDS from unsafe heterosexual contact is rampant in Africa. Many children are left as orphans because both parents have died from AIDS.

The Truth:  While HIV/AIDS is undoubtedly present in Africa and other destitute areas, there are problems with its reported transmission, diagnosis and treatment.  HIV infections in the developed world occurs almost exclusively among homosexual males and IV drug users who share needles with infected people, and heterosexual transmission is rare.  In Africa, half of those diagnosed with HIV and HIV/AIDS are heterosexual women, so there must be other mitigating circumstances.  It is possible that actual infections are acquired through non-sterile injections in contraceptive clinics.  This could help to explain why HIV in Africa is diagnosed equally among men and heterosexual women.  It is very likely that HIV and HIV/AIDS are over diagnosed in Africa and other poverty stricken areas of the world with or without actual HIV testing.  Many cases of AIDS in Africa may have little or no connection to the HIV virus or indiscriminate sexual practices.  Those that are malnourished or have chronic diseases such as TB or malaria naturally have compromised immune systems, i.e. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, AIDS, from these conditions without carrying the actual Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

Because of poor healthcare facilities and abilities, HIV/AIDS may be diagnosed based on symptoms without HIV testing in many rural and isolated areas.  In other areas, where actual testing for HIV antibodies is done, a high incidence of false positives is likely to occur.  This is due to the poor specificity of the test and reaction with antibodies from other diseases and conditions.  Most of those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, whether tested or untested for HIV, have been assumed to have full blown HIV/AIDS through disparate symptoms recognized by the UN WHO including fever, headache, rash, sore throat, swollen lymph nodes, weight loss, chronic diarrhea or cough, all of which can be caused by many common parasites or infectious diseases as well as severe illnesses such as malaria and tuberculosis (TB). UN WHO has named TB as a leading indicator of HIV/AIDS and lists TB as causing 2/3 of HIV/AIDS deaths. HIV/AIDS itself does not cause death; it opens the way for other diseases that kill people. Reporting TB deaths as HIV/AIDS deaths without confirmation of HIV bolsters the statistics, as does reporting orphans as AIDS orphans.  At this time it is impossible to know how prevalent over diagnosis is in Africa and other poor areas.

Over diagnosis of HIV and HIV/AIDS, when promoted by the international media, paints a picture of Africa that packs a triple whammy for AIDS advocates and international population control governmental and nongovernmental organizations. First, it excuses high death rates and failure to treat endemic diseases; secondly, it incentivizes HIV/AIDS research funding in developed countries by falsely declaring AIDS a heterosexual pandemic; thirdly it has the potential for vindicating population control programs in the minds of potential donors by creating a false picture of rampant immorality and promiscuity. As a bonus, it also encourages the use of condoms that furthers population control agendas.

HIV facts and questions:

HIV causes AIDS: Unlike those who deny that HIV causes AIDS or that it even exists, I do not deny that HIV causes AIDS or that HIV exists. I do question some of the current statistics, testing and treatment options.  Because it is politically incorrect to question the UN WHO recommended practices and conclusions, those who question the status quo will undoubtedly be accused of denialism by AIDS advocates in order to conflate, confuse, discredit and silence anyone daring to question the efficacy of the current testing and treatment methods, even when it might lead to better understanding and improved protocols.

Non-HIV AIDS:  TB, Malaria, dysentery and other serious chronic diseases cause a more common form of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, AIDS, that has no connection to HIV/AIDS or sexually indiscriminate behavior.   It is well known that anyone who is chronically ill and/ or malnourished naturally has a compromised immune system.  Other opportunistic diseases are easily acquired by persons whose immune systems are compromised. By labeling these non-HIV AIDS cases as HIV/AIDS, it can be an excuse for not treating the underlying conditions.

Unfortunately, for USAID, UN WHO and activist NGOs or agencies that provide aid to poor countries, because their emphasis is on required or coerced population control and not on treating disease, many clinics do not have the basic medicines, equipment or facilities to treat endemic diseases, but have store rooms filled with birth control drugs, condoms and other birth control and abortion materials and equipment. This is a human tragedy and a crime against humanity that must be stopped. It is unconscionable that Western aid not be heavily weighted toward supplying medicines and equipment for prevention and treatment of endemic diseases.

Recommendation: In both HIV/AIDS and non-HIV AIDS, treatment should always begin with addressing the presenting diseases and malnutrition. Once the patient is stabilized then HIV/AIDS treatment can begin, but only after further confirmation of the original diagnosis of HIV/AIDS.  HIV/AIDS treatment drugs further compromise the immune system so that treatment of weakened, disease ravaged patients and those with non-HIV AIDS using these drugs may do more harm than good.

International aid organizations should be encouraged or required to reverse their decades old practice of oversupplying population control materials and under-supplying needed medicines, facilities, equipment and supplies to treat endemic diseases.

Demographic Shift: HIV/AIDS in developed countries is confined almost exclusively among homosexual men and IV drug users who share needles with HIV infected people. The expected pandemic in developed countries never materialized. According to official statistics, Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 2/3 of the HIV incidence in the world, with Southern Africa, (South Africa and Botswana), accounting for most of that. 15 to 25% of the South African population has been diagnosed with HIV or HIV/AIDS. More than half of the HIV positive people in South Africa are heterosexual women. Heterosexual contact is blamed for causing the spread of HIV, but in other countries heterosexual transmission is very rare. Unless the HIV virus has mutated, this theory of frequent heterosexual transmission cannot be valid and other mitigating factors must be considered.

Shared needles as a possible source:  One theory is that the reuse of hypodermic needles for injected birth control drugs is responsible for the spread of HIV, and, if true, could account for the higher incidence in women in Africa and other poor countries where injected birth control is required or advocated.  Injectable birth control drugs such as Depo Provera that must be reinjected every 3 months are sometimes administered in a clinic, but more often the drug and the syringes are given to patients for administration at home.  Because viruses do not live very long on surfaces outside the body, HIV could not be transferred unless an HIV infected person has used the needle just prior to reuse by a second person for birth control. This could only happen in a clinic where multiple women are injected one after another without proper sterilization of needles.

How are these in-home administered reused needles causing HIV/AIDS without an immediate HIV contamination source in each case? It is more likely that in-home injections with improperly sterilized needles would transfer opportunistic bacterial infections such as staph and strep.  The whole idea of giving hypodermic syringes to uneducated people is ludicrous; it is the worst of the birth control methods, and the best way to spread more disease and misery.  Poor women with little or no concept of microbial infective agents are unlikely to discard or destroy needles even if the package instructions say to discard after use.

Recommendation:  If this form of birth control must be injected every 3 months, it should only be done by a professional in a clinic with properly sterilized or disposable needles.  If birth control is desired, a better alternative would be insertion of an IUD, Intrauterine Device, which does not require regular follow up treatments.

Could Depo-Provera make women more susceptible to HIV infection? According to this theory, the active ingredient in Depo-Provera, (Depo-medroxyprogesterone acetate, aka DMPA), may chemically predispose at risk women to acquiring HIV through sexual contact with infected men, through thinning of vaginal epithelial cells and immunosuppression. Three recent meta-studies[1] show a statistically significant link between use of the drug and incidence of HIV in at risk women. The link to HIV transmission was not established statistically for use of either oral contraceptives or another injectable contraceptive drug, NET-EN, (norethisterone enanthate), in these studies.

Clinical Diagnosis without HIV testing: In rural poor areas of Africa HIV/AIDS may be diagnosed without HIV testing by the clinical indicators listed by WHO such as fever, headache, rash, sore throat, swollen lymph nodes, weight loss, chronic diarrhea or cough. These symptoms may also be caused by endemic diseases such as TB, malaria and other insect borne diseases, dysentery and other water borne diseases, parasites and malnutrition. WHO considers TB to be a leading indicator of HIV/AIDS. Some people diagnosed without HIV testing may instead have non-HIV AIDS caused by these endemic diseases.

Diagnosis with HIV testing: Clinical HIV tests detect antibodies to the virus, not the virus itself. HIV tests have a high incidence of false positives, so that retesting and other confirmation are needed after a positive test result. False positives of HIV testing may be the result of non-HIV AIDS caused by other diseases and pregnancy because the HIV tests are non-specific and may detect antibodies to other diseases or conditions.

Causes of False Positives:  HIV testing is not specific to HIV and is prone to false positives. It tests for antibodies to HIV, not the virus itself, but can also detect other antibodies present in chronic diseases or those acquired over a lifetime.  There are over 65 documented causes of false positives including TB, malaria, leprosy, hepatitis, Q fever, influenza or colds, herpes simplex, leishmaniosis, and Epstein Barr virus.  Pregnancy or prior pregnancies are among factors that can cause false positives due to presence of HLA (human leukocyte antigen). Is it time to question whether HIV testing, without thorough validation, is valid in parts of Africa where the population is routinely exposed to numerous diseases that leave a heavy load of antibodies in their blood?

Validation needed for HIV positives:  False positives are common so that, according to manufacturers’ instructions, positive tests must be retested in duplicate and then by another method to verify results, e.g. ELISA twice then Western Blot.  ELISA, Enzyme Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay, uses an antigen for the (in this case HIV) antibody bound to a solid surface and an enzyme that causes a color change when the target antibody attaches itself to the antigen.  Western Blot actually separates, by gel electrophoresis, each component in a mixture of antibodies bound to specific antigens. Medical testing protocols vary from country to country, so that the same test may be interpreted as positive or negative depending on the protocol. For example, UK does not use the Western Blot verification of duplicate ELISA tests, and different countries require from one to four Western Blot markers to verify and confirm a positive result.

South Africa uses duplicate ELISA only to verify positive HIV tests, resulting in 15-25% of the population testing positive, 60% of which are heterosexual women. South Africa also has a high rate of drug treatment for prevention of mother to child HIV transmission, which may mean that most HIV tests are conducted at gynecological clinics and obstetric hospitals on pregnant women. This is a problem since pregnancy is known to cause false positives. The incidence of HIV and AIDS in most of the other countries in Africa, and indeed the world, ranges from 0.1 to 5.0 percent of the population. South Africa’s 15 – 25% incidence needs a closer look. The fact that over half of these are heterosexual women is also problematic as described above.

Recommendation:  South Africans and Botswanans when first diagnosed with HIV or HIV/AIDS need to be retested using a more stringent verification protocol in the future. Unfortunately, the drugs used for treating HIV can cause false negatives, so retesting those already receiving therapy may be useless or at lease confusing.

Opportunistic Diseases: When people sicken and die with HIV/AIDS, it is not the HIV that kills them; it is other opportunistic infections that are able to invade and thrive because HIV has crippled the immune system. TB is the leading cause of death in Africa, with or without HIV/AIDS. A diagnosis of HIV/AIDS can be an excuse not to treat underlying endemic diseases.

Treatment Options:  HIV treatment drugs suppress the immune system further than the disease itself. Wouldn’t it make sense to treat the opportunistic diseases and malnutrition more aggressively first before suppressing the immune system further with AIDS treatment drugs?  In some areas of Africa, TB and HIV are treated simultaneously, which is a step in the right direction.

Orphans from AIDS? AIDS orphans are defined as anyone 15 years or younger who has lost, depending on the country, their mother, one parent or both parents to “AIDS related diseases.” South Africa includes people up to 18 years old.  WHO estimates that 70% of “AIDS orphans” have one living parent.  TB is the leading cause of death in Africa and the leading clinical indicator of the presence of AIDS.  Since many people in Africa live very short lives, with or without AIDS, how is this any different from the pattern of the past where lifespans are short and teenagers often are orphaned?


 

[1] References cited in Population Research Institute newsletter article: “While Admitting Risks, WHO Continues to Recommend Injectable Contraceptives for Women at High Risk of Contracting HIV” by Jonathan Abbamonte, April 20, 2017 as follows:

Brind J, Condly SJ, Mosher SW, Morse AR, Kimball J. Risk of HIV Infection in Depot-Medroxyprogesterone Acetate (DMPA) Users: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Issues Law Med 2015; 30(2): 129-39.

Morrison CS, Chen PL, Kwok C, Baeten JM, Brown J, Crook AM, et al. Hormonal contraception and the risk of HIV acquisition: an individual participant data meta-analysis. PLoS Med 2015; 12(1): e1001778.

Ralph LJ, McCoy SI, Shiu K, Padian N. Hormonal contraceptive use and women’s risk of HIV acquisition: a meta-analysis of observational studies. Lancet Infect Dis. 2015; 15(2): 181-9.

Clean Water & Hygiene are essential for poor countries to join the 21st Century

World Vision leads the way in developing Clean Water, Hygiene Education and Sanitation in poor countries Worldwide.  World Vision’s global water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH)
program has a goal to eliminate this need by 2030 in all areas they serve.  In 2018 World Vision’s global water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) program reached an incredible 4 million people with clean water, 2.8 million with sanitation, and 5 million with hygiene education.  Using their boots on the ground, local and global partnerships approach to solving problems, they are on track to meet the ambitious goal of providing clean water to everyone in the countries they serve by 2030. See below for excerpts from their Water Global 2018 Annual Report and a link to the complete report.

World Vision WASH Program service areas

 

“We remain committed to reaching everyone, everywhere we
work with clean water by 2030—an ambitious but achievable
goal that means reaching 50 million people between 2015 and
2030. As an interim goal—and to make sure we remain on
track—we’ve committed to reach 20 million people between
2015 and 2020. This report demonstrates that we are on
track to fulfill that commitment, having reached 12.7 million
people with clean water in the first three years of this five year
commitment.”  — World Vision WATER GLOBAL ANNUAL REPORT
October 2017 through September 2018

for Full Report click here
Global Reach 2018

4 MILLION PEOPLE provided with access to clean drinking water*                                                    2.8 MILLION PEOPLE gained access to improved household sanitation                                            5 MILLION PEOPLE reached with hygiene behavior-change programming

2018 ANNUAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS

53,830 water points built                            2018 target: 38,684                Goal met: 139%
499,244 sanitation facilities built              2018 target: 465,219               Goal met:  107%
494,067 hand-washing facilities built      2018 target: 476,966               Goal met:  104%
6,735 WASH committees formed              2018 target: 6,147                    Goal met:  110%

* This includes rural community water beneficiaries (3,242,291) and municipal water beneficiaries (760,023). The 4 million people with access to water represent many of the same beneficiaries that received access to sanitation facilities and behavior-change programming. Of these, 1,210,523 were reached with World Vision U.S. private funding.
A total of 12.7 million people have accessed clean drinking water since FY16, including 3.3 million who were reached with World Vision U.S. private funding since FY16.

2018 ANNUAL SPENDING
$145.6 MILLION spent on global WASH programs during 2018.

World Vision U.S. – Private Funding & Child Sponsorship ($63.9 million)      44%
Other World Vision Offices – Private Funding & Child Sponsorship ($41.1 million)    28%
Government, International, Local – Grants & Resource Development ($40.6 million) 28%

How you can help

World Vision is the go-to source for wisely investing in a healthy, promising future for developing countries worldwide.  World Vision works directly with the people, unlike some other charitable organizations, which work through governments, which may be corrupt and may keep donated goods for themselves or distribute them unfairly.  You can get involved through donations, working with their teams and many other ways at either World Vision.org or World Vision Philanthropy.org.  You can also sponsor a child or designate one-time or monthly donations to specific needs such as medical or educational supplies, emergency food, shelter or warm clothing.  Since many companies provide goods free and only the shipping cost is needed, your donation magnifies in value. A gift catalog allows you to share the cost of larger projects such as a deep water well. Please donate or volunteer to work with their teams.

 

Get Out of the Way! Let Africa catch up to developed countries

 get out of the way!! UN & advocacy groups keep Africa and Developing Countries where the entire Preindustrial world was in the past

Much of Africa and the developing world are where the whole world was before the advances in technology and knowledge in the 19th and 20th century; the entire world was struggling, poor and sick, so that even the more well-off people had short lifespans due to preventable and curable diseases, poor nutrition and infections.  In the developed world, widespread acceptance of germ theory and the development of antibiotics and vaccines only occurred in the early to mid 20th century.  Malaria, meaning “bad air,’ was only eradicated in the developed world, in the mid 20th century due to 20 plus years of spraying pesticides for effective mosquito control, development of anti-malaria medicines and window screens. Likewise, malaria in poor countries could be reduced or eradicated by allowing proper pesticide use and providing malaria medicines.

Even into the late 20th century, some isolated areas in the developed world did not have electricity, purified water or paved roads and some people still lived in drafty shacks or log cabins, sometimes with dirt floors. Before the improvements in infrastructure, large multi-generational families were the norm because of high childhood death rates and the need for surviving children to care for their parents in a world where there was no social safety net for the disabled and elderly.  Large families also filled the need for labor in a world where mechanical devices were few or lacking and back breaking work was needed for every job, whether agricultural, industrial or domestic.  Without reliable electricity, transportation systems and industrial and agricultural development, we all could be back there now.

Global need for UNFPA population control activities

Source: UN Fund for Population Activities at https://www.unfpa.org/data

This is where rural Africa and underdeveloped countries are now.   What will it take for developing countries to catch up with the developed world?  First, we need to end counterproductive and damaging interference by international organizations that are working under wrong assumptions from the distant past about supposed overpopulation as a cause of environmental harm.  Wrong practices include imposing population control and blocking effective insect and disease control, as well as modern agriculture and infrastructure development, while putting cultural and wildlife preservation above the real immediate needs of the people. Poverty, not overpopulation, causes environmental harm. Improving the economy can stabilize the population and preserve both cultural heritage and wildlife. Modern agricultural practices can end slash and burn deforestation and feed everyone.

Africa needs Investment, Infrastructure, Employment, Education  and Disease Control.

Education in hygiene can end much of the disease burden, facilitate clean water and sanitation systems, and provide a healthy workforce. Education in agricultural, industrial and technical skills can open opportunities for employment, small business earnings and raise their standard of living.  Transportation in the form of improved and extended roads and railroads can end isolation, encourage foreign investment and provide access to markets, employment opportunities, education and medical facilities.

Reliable electricity is important for economic growth and can facilitate the development of transportation systems, medical facilities and industrial investment, all of which cannot run on intermittent and varying power as provided by wind and solar power. Solar panels on huts are a start, but should only be a temporary energy solution until reliable electrical systems can be installed and extended into rural areas. Solar panels should never be used as a substitute for true energy security or an excuse for neglect.

Poor countries cannot afford to skip the reliable types of energy generation that have made the developed world what it is today. The solution should include all means possible, including hydroelectric, geothermal, fossil fuel and nuclear power.  Africa has enough hydroelectric potential to supply all of their needs for the foreseeable future. Hydroelectric power is both clean and reliable. In Africa alone, over 200 hydroelectric dams have been blocked by environmentalists. This must stop!

Africa needs Investment, Infrastructure, Employment, Education  and Disease Control.

Foreign aid must be replaced by investment in infrastructure. Most of the foreign aid is given to prop up corrupt governments. Leaders become rich while most of the aid is not used for famine relief or to build rural infrastructure and seldom reaches the people in need. Government to government foreign aid props up corrupt leaders, makes them accountable only to their donors, not the people, and prolongs poverty. Leaders that depend on foreign aid, not the tax base, are less likely to want to attract investment in new businesses or to invest in infrastructure that facilitates economic growth. As long as the problems are not solved, foreign aid money keeps coming, so corrupt leaders benefit from keeping their countries poor and controlled.

Foreign aid, other than temporary disaster relief, must be replaced with investment in infrastructure including extended electrical systems, powered by all means available, and improved and extended roads, railroads, airports and bridges, as well as education and medical facilities, and industry. The aim is to raise the economy so that poor countries no longer need outside help, but rather are net contributors to the world economy, or at least are self sufficient. It can be done and you can help.

What can you do? Lots! Here are a few suggestions from my book. Start by contacting government officials and elected representatives to demand that perpetual government to government foreign aid be replaced with accountable infrastructure investment, and that abuses by the UN and other organizations be eliminated and better practices be implemented ASAP.  Donate to charities that help build infrastructure such as World Vision and Samaritan’s Purse. Volunteer to go and work with these organizations in poor countries.  Invest in businesses/industries that are selling or buying African goods or are locating new businesses in Africa, or are offering real infrastructure assistance, or are improving medical and educational facilities.

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My award winning book, Saving Africa From Lies That Kill: How Myths about the Environment and Overpopulation are Destroying Third World Countries is now available online and in book stores everywhere. In print and eBook through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books a Million.

Award-Winning Finalist in the Social Change category of the 2019 International Book Awards

After reading the book, please remember to review it on Amazon; share it with a friend and do your part to end bad practices. Visit my blog for more information and to sign up for email updates at https://savingafricafromliesthatkill.com/   and like my Facebook page.

Read the first chapter free through Bookfunnel by clicking here 

Help Developing Countries Join the 21st Century

How You Can Help Raise Economies and Improve Lives in Developing Countries

Reposted: Some social sites said this post was too long, so you can read the complete version at my blog here https://wp.me/p9Wxqa-d1 (recommended), or read the condensed version below which necessarily leaves out some information and references.

The list of things that need to be done to raise Africa and other developing countries out of extreme poverty and usher them into the twenty-first century is both comprehensive and achievable. Many of them involve ending interference by international organizations that often have hidden agendas unrelated to the welfare of the poor or raising the economy.

Dependency on foreign aid supports and encourages corruption and lack of accountability of government officials; it mires developing countries in debt from foreign aid in the form of low interest loans, causes inflation, discourages infrastructure improvements and economic development, and is devastating to the poor who rarely benefit from it. Instead, those in extreme poverty need education, employment, investment and infrastructure.

Included in these goals is a need for good health and relief from isolation through vehicle passable roads. As shown in previous posts, for example: Get Out of the Way! Let Africa catch up to developed countries, Immediate Solutions for Africa’s problems,  Long Term Solutions to Raise Developing Countries out of Extreme Poverty, there are reasonable steps to solving these problems, both in the short term through local infrastructure investments, and longer term though financing of larger infrastructure projects such as transportation projects, hydroelectric power dams and electrical transmission systems.

Business and industrial investment and trade are the ultimate means to raise their economies out of extreme poverty.  There are inviting investment opportunities, both foreign and domestic, for example see earlier posts: Investment Opportunities in Africa, New US Build Act encourages investment in Africa. The workforce is there; they just need more job opportunities, education and improved health.

As a whole, it seems like an insurmountable task, but taken item by item and step by step these problems are infinitely solvable. We have the advantage of not only having resources to help, but vast numbers of people who are disgusted with the state of affairs, want to raise the impoverished, and are willing to help, financially or through good old-fashioned, roll-up-your-sleeves hard work.

 What you can do, individually or in groups

In summary, we need to stop international organizations from continuing the propaganda and activities that have kept developing countries from advancing and that have prevented them from catching up with the rest of the world; and we need to raise the destitute out of extreme poverty through free trade by building infrastructure and improving employment opportunities.

environmental harm and failure to advance are blamed on the myths of overpopulation and inferiority of poor peoples. The truth is that poverty, often caused by deliberate deprivation and isolation, not overpopulation, causes environmental harm. Raising poor peoples out of extreme poverty, improving their health and implementing modern agricultural practices will stabilize the population and end deforestation.

 Get involved in any way you can, as often as you can.

I do not have all of the answers, but here are a few suggestions that can guide you to take action. Some of you, no doubt, will have other, perhaps better, ideas. The key is to get involved and stay involved in any way you can.

Information Sharing and Recruiting

Share information about short term infrastructure building charities and investment agencies through Facebook, Twitter, and other social sites. Make a YouTube video, blog, or website encouraging investment and exposing the crimes of international organizations

Inform as many people as possible about the true agenda and practices behind the following euphemistic phrases and biased propaganda.  Family Planning and Reproductive Health, Sustainable Agriculture, Climate friendly power, Cultural preservation.

 Contact agencies and government officials that are able to change things and spread the word about the need for ending practices such as population control programs, denial of DDT, denial of GMO and high yield crops, and modern agriculture; denial of clean water, sanitation and hygiene education; and denial of electricity by all means except solar and wind.

Call or write your congressman, the president, cabinet secretaries, state department heads. Include local and state governments and business organizations that can partner with organizations in developing countries or encourage investment.

 Join or donate to groups opposed to these misguided actions or that support major improvements. For example Population Research Institute is fighting the overpopulation myth and human rights abuses in population control programs in thirty countries.

 Send my book, Saving Africa from Lies That Kill: How Myths about the Environment and Overpopulation are destroying Third World Countries or excerpts from it to important people that can get things done and influence others.  Read the first chapter free through Bookfunnel at www.bit.ly/savingafricachapter1. (Kindle version is only $2.99 through Amazon.) Permission is given here to reproduce sections of my book freely to spread its message of hope and recovery.

Follow my blog, Saving Africa from Lies that Kill at www.savingafricafromliesthatkill.com. Reblog posts or use the links to repost on Twitter, Facebook and other social sites.

Charitable Activities

Donate to charities that build immediate infrastructure: wells, toilets, sand dams, sand filters, roads, improved housing, schools, and medical facilities by working directly with the people, not the governments, which may keep most of the donations. Recommended: World Vision, Samaritan’s Purse, Christian Broadcasting Network.

Medicine and health care supplies are badly needed. For many of these organizations, generous donors will match your donation. If you work for a corporation, many of them will match your donations, so you need to ask them if they support the charity to which you want to donate. Because many companies donate most of the materials and supplies, your donations may only have to cover the cost of shipping, so that your gift multiplies by typically five to eight times. Most of these charities have a catalog that allows you to see the options and their cost. Sponsoring a child or family can also be used to build schools and other infrastructure for an entire village.

Check out charities to make sure most of the money donated goes to aid the people, not the administration of the charity or receiving countries’ governments.

Support Christian missionaries in developing countries through your church. Along with preaching the Gospel, missionaries are involved in the communities they service in various ways including teaching, health care, and infrastructure improvements.

Go on summer mission trips with your church or other organization offering medical and educational assistance.

Volunteer to go and use your own talents and skills to help:

  • Build infrastructure such as wells, sand dams, schools, clinics, improved housing, agricultural projects, roads, and more.
  • Teach basic education, hygiene, agriculture, building trades, small business administration, and other needed skills.

Offer scholarships for outstanding students in these countries. Foundations, church and civic groups can sponsor scholarships, grants, or loans for education. Ask about existing scholarship programs and donate to worthy ones that help people from developing countries.

 Visit African and developing countries. Tourism is a significant source of income for many African and other developing countries.

Business Opportunities

Buy products from Africa and other developing countries.

Sell products from Africa and other developing countries in your own online or brick-and-mortar stores using online wholesale suppliers

Support businesses that locate or are willing to locate facilities in African or other developing countries. Inquire about pension and retirement plans to determine and request investments to include stocks and bonds in African or other developing countries.

Invest in African stocks or in companies that invest in Africa and other developing countries or in mining, manufacturing companies, and other industries with facilities in developing countries.

Start a new business: If you have funds to invest in new ventures or own a business, whether in manufacturing, communications, services, merchandising, mining, etc., consider opening a branch in an African or other developing country and hiring and training local people from their abundant workforce.

Build a company town to support their or your new manufacturing, mining or extractive business, their/your local employees and their families. You may want to locate a company town near city slums where there is a ready workforce in need of employment. Company towns can provide safe homes, electricity, clean water and sanitation, education and medical facilities for employees and their families, ensuring a healthy and loyal workforce.

Opportunities abound in African and other developing countries and are just waiting for someone with the insight and courage to implement them. Africans don’t need handouts to stay poor; they need jobs and someone to give them an opportunity.

 The bottom line is to get and stay involved, however you can, in activities that will ultimately raise the economies of developing countries, lift the rural population out of extreme poverty, end practices by outside organization that are contrary to the needs of the people and usher them into the twenty-first century. Africa and the developing world have a promising and bright future, but it will take all of us to foster the changes that are needed. It is possible, and you can make a difference. Many people will say, “Let George do it.”

Today, You Are George. What can you do? What will you do?

“If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, ‘Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled’; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, ‘Thou hast faith, and I have works’: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.”                                                  – James 2:15-20, KJV Bible

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The book: Saving Africa from Lies that Kill: How Myths about the Environment and Overpopulation are Destroying Third World Countries is available in print and eBook online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books a Million and in bookstores. If you like the book, please leave a review online at Amazon.com or other outlet.

Award-Winning Finalist in the Social Change category of the 2019 International Book Awards

Read the first chapter free through Bookfunnel at www.bit.ly/savingafricachapter1

How you can help Developing Countries join the 21st Century

You Really Can Help Raise Economies and Improve Lives in Developing Countries

The list of things that need to be done to raise Africa and other developing countries out of extreme poverty and usher them into the twenty-first century is both comprehensive and achievable. Many of them involve ending interference by international organizations that often have hidden agendas unrelated to the welfare of the poor or raising the economy. Funding is a key component to the implementation of these Western interference programs, so they are vulnerable to change. Campaigns to expose and defund them can have a significant impact on their donor base.

Dependency on foreign aid supports and encourages corruption and lack of accountability of government officials; it mires developing countries in debt from foreign aid in the form of low interest loans, causes inflation, discourages infrastructure improvements and economic development, and is devastating to the poor who rarely benefit from it. Instead, those in extreme poverty need education, employment, investment and infrastructure.

Included in these goals is a need for good health and relief from isolation through vehicle passable roads. As shown in previous posts, for example: Get Out of the Way! Let Africa catch up to developed countries, Immediate Solutions for Africa’s problems,  Long Term Solutions to Raise Developing Countries out of Extreme Poverty, there are reasonable steps to solving these problems, both in the short term through local infrastructure investments, and longer term though financing of larger infrastructure projects such as transportation projects, hydroelectric power dams and electrical transmission systems.

Business and industrial investment and trade are the ultimate means to raise their economies out of extreme poverty.  There are inviting investment opportunities, both foreign and domestic, as discussed previously, for example see earlier posts: Investment Opportunities in Africa, New US Build Act encourages investment in Africa. The workforce is there; they just need more job opportunities, education and improved health. Free trade markets work every time; socialistic systems of dependency and top down control fail the people every time they are tried.  It is illogical to believe that the successful market system that has raised the rest of the world out of poverty would not work here, too.

Education, employment, investment, and infrastructure are the keys to saving Africa and other developing countries.

As a whole, it seems like an insurmountable task, but taken item by item and step by step these problems are infinitely solvable. We have the advantage of not only having resources to help, but vast numbers of people who are disgusted with the state of affairs, want to raise the impoverished, and are willing to help, financially or through good old-fashioned, roll-up-your-sleeves hard work.

 What you can do, individually or in groups

In summary, we need to stop international organizations from continuing the propaganda and activities that have kept developing countries from advancing and that have prevented them from catching up with the rest of the world; and we need to raise the destitute out of extreme poverty through free trade by building infrastructure and improving employment opportunities.  The myths of overpopulation and inferiority of poor peoples are blamed for environmental harm and failure to advance. The truth is that poverty, often caused by deliberate deprivation and isolation, not overpopulation, causes environmental harm. Raising poor peoples out of extreme poverty, improving their health and implementing modern agricultural practices will stabilize the population and end deforestation.

 Get involved in any way you can, as often as you can.

I do not have all of the answers, but here are a few suggestions that can guide you to take action. Some of you, no doubt, will have other, perhaps better, ideas. The key is to get involved and stay involved. These suggestions fall roughly into three main categories:

  • Information Sharing and Recruiting;
  • Charitable Activities; and
  • Business Opportunities

Information Sharing and Recruiting

Share information about short term infrastructure building charities and investment agencies through Facebook, Twitter, and other social sites. Make a YouTube video, blog, or website encouraging investment and exposing the crimes of international organizations such as the United Nations, World Health Organization (WHO), World Bank, UN Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), Greenpeace, Worldwide Fund for Nature, formerly World Wildlife Federation (WWF), Population Council and Club of Rome.  Please, copy my ideas and add your own.

Inform as many people as possible about the true agenda and practices behind the following euphemistic phrases and biased propaganda.  Sunlight is a powerful disinfectant.

  • Family Planning and Reproductive Health mean forced or coerced, (through bribes or withholding of benefits), sterilization, abortion, IUD insertion, injected drugs, while failing to stock clinics with much needed medicines and supplies.
  • Sustainable Agriculture means denial of modern agricultural practices that would end slash and burn deforestation, and denial of high yield and/or GMO improved crops for drought, pest and disease resistance, higher yields and better nutrition.
  • Climate friendly power means solar and wind energy only and denial of fossil fuel and hydroelectric power, which are necessary first step toward ending Energy Poverty.
  • Cultural preservation means denial of hygiene education, clean water, DDT for treating walls against malaria, access to medical facilities, roads and electricity. See the post DDT Needed Now in Underdeveloped Countries for safety facts about DDT, which, though  much maligned, is really safer than alternatives and could save millions.

 Contact agencies and government officials that are able to change things and spread the word about the need for ending practices such as population control programs, denial of DDT, denial of GMO and high yield crops, and modern agriculture; denial of clean water, sanitation and hygiene education; and denial of electricity by all means except solar and wind.

Call or write your congressman, the president, cabinet secretaries, state department heads, USAID (United States Agency for International Development) chairman and department heads, directors of EPA, FDA, USDA and other US government agencies, UN ambassador, African and developing countries’ ambassadors and delegates to UN and USA, heads of governments or agencies that deal with the problems, such as WHO, World Bank, other agencies. Include local and state governments and business organizations that can partner with organizations in developing countries or encourage investment.

 Join or donate to groups opposed to these misguided actions or that support major improvements. For example Population Research Institute is fighting the overpopulation myth and human rights abuses in population control programs in thirty countries. PRI was founded by Stephen Mosher who wrote Population Control, Real Costs, Illusory Benefits.

 Send my book or excerpts from it to important people that can get things done and influence others.  See below for information and to read the first chapter free. (Kindle version is only $2.99 through Amazon.) Permission is given here to reproduce sections of my book freely to spread its message of hope and recovery.

Follow my blog, Saving Africa from Lies that Kill at www.savingafricafromliesthatkill.com. Reblog posts or use the links to repost on Twitter, Facebook and other social sites. Contact me about posting your own related information as a guest author.  Share the information about the blog with as many people as you can so they, too, can spread the word and help alleviate unnecessary suffering. 

Charitable Activities

Donate to charities that build immediate infrastructure: wells, toilets, sand dams, sand filters, roads, improved housing, schools, and medical facilities by working directly with the people, not the governments, which may keep most of the donations. My favorites are World Vision and Samaritan’s Purse.  Most of these organizations give you a chance to designate donations for specific needs, and you can donate an affordable share to a larger investment such as a hand drilled or deep water well. For example, last year I donated money to install a hand drilled well. Other years I have donated to a share of larger projects and/or medicines and emergency nutritional support.  CBN, Christian Broadcasting Network is another reliable organization that works internationally to help people in developing countries through their partners.  Many other agencies offer child sponsorship and help to the poor, but be sure they are working directly with the people, not through governments, which may skim off much of the donations.

Medicine and health care supplies are badly needed. For many of these organizations, generous donors will match your donation. If you work for a corporation, many of them will match your donations, so you need to ask them if they support the charity to which you want to donate. Because many companies donate most of the materials and supplies, your donations may only have to cover the cost of shipping, so that your gift multiplies by typically five to eight times. Most of these charities have a catalog that allows you to see the options and their cost. Sponsoring a child or family can also be used to build schools and other infrastructure for an entire village.

Check out charities to make sure most of the money donated goes to aid the people, not the administration of the charity or receiving countries’ governments.  Agencies that oversee charitable organizations include:

Support Christian missionaries in developing countries through your church, or other organization such as Baptist International Missions, Inc. (BIMI.org). You can find others on the internet by searching for missionary organizations. My church supports almost a hundred missionaries. Ask if yours supports missionaries and encourage them to do so. While their primary focus is on sharing the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ, missionaries are also involved in the communities they service in various ways including teaching, health care, and infrastructure improvements. One of the people we support specializes in drilling clean water wells.

Go on summer mission trips with your church or other organization offering medical and educational assistance. Samaritan’s purse also offers opportunities to get involved in developing countries.

Volunteer to go and use your own talents and skills to help:

  • Build infrastructure such as wells, sand dams, schools, clinics, improved housing, agricultural projects, roads, and more.
  • Teach basic education, hygiene, agriculture, building trades, small business administration, and other needed skills.

Offer scholarships for outstanding students in these countries. Foundations can start scholarship funds for training future leaders in government, industry, academia, healthcare and business. In exchange for support, participants can agree to return to their own countries to help build the future. Church and civic groups can sponsor scholarships, grants, or loans for education. Ask about existing scholarship programs and donate to worthy ones that help people from developing countries.

 Visit African and developing countries. Tourism is a significant source of income for many African and other developing countries.

Business Opportunities

Buy products from Africa and other developing countries. Use the internet to search for products you want. Africa Freak at http://africafreak.com/where-to-buy-the-best-african-online-products/ is a clearinghouse for websites that sell African goods, listed and linked by categories such as textiles, clothing, arts and crafts, cosmetics, jewelry, groceries, home and décor, ceramics, safari and sports equipment, photographs, books, etc. This is not a recommendation of any site or product line. These are just examples from sites I found on the internet. Do your own searches and check out their legitimacy before purchasing or investing.

Sell products from Africa and other developing countries in your own online or brick-and-mortar stores using online wholesale suppliers like Africa Imports at https://africaimports.com/. This is not a recommendation of any site or product line. These are just examples from sites I found on the internet. Do your own searches.

Support businesses that locate or are willing to locate facilities in African or other developing countries. If you are employed by a large corporation, or have stock in one, find out if they have or are willing to locate facilities or partner with businesses in Africa. Inquire about pension plans and retirement IRA plans to determine and request investments to include stocks and bonds in African or other developing countries.

Invest in African stocks or in companies that invest in Africa and other developing countries or in mining, manufacturing companies, and other industries with facilities in developing countries. Two useful guides to investment in African countries are as follows.

Rand Merchant Bank is an investment bank headquartered in South Africa. RMB brochure, “Where to Invest in Africa” can be downloaded without charge at https://www.rmb.co.za/where-to-invest-in-africa-2018-edition/ by those seriously interested in learning about investing in Africa.

African Development Bank Group is another source of economic and investment information, among other sources. “African Economic Outlook 2018” is available for free at https://www.afdb.org/en/knowledge/publications/african-economic-outlook/.

Top Five of the Twenty-nine Stock Exchanges in Africa

Exchange Market Capitalizations Number of Listings
1. Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) $987 billion 388
2. Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) $44 billion 176
3. Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) $46 billion 222
4. Casablanca Stock Exchange (Casa SE) $48 billion 75
5. Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) $76 billion 36

Source: © Copyright 2018| Nairametrics

Start a new business: If you have funds to invest in new ventures or own a business, whether in manufacturing, communications, services, merchandising, mining, etc., consider opening a branch in an African or other developing country and hiring and training local people from their abundant workforce.

Build a company town to support their or your new manufacturing, mining or extractive business, their/your local employees and their families. You may want to locate a company town near city slums where there is a ready workforce in need of employment. Company towns can provide safe homes, electricity, clean water and sanitation, education and medical facilities for employees and their families, ensuring a healthy and loyal workforce.

Opportunities abound in African and other developing countries and are just waiting for someone with the insight and courage to implement them. Africans don’t need handouts to stay poor; they need jobs and someone to give them an opportunity. Let me say one thing about wages in these countries. In most cases, expecting to pay employees on the inflated Western scale is unreasonable. It is important to investigate the standards of living and average wages for similar work in the area, and to determine competitive fair wages based on that.  The picture of “sweatshops,” although some really do exist, is a scare tactic used by those who wish to keep these countries poor and “in their place.”  Employees in these areas can and should be treated humanely and fairly and be paid a competitive wage that will help their families and the overall economy.

 The bottom line is to get and stay involved, however you can, in activities that will ultimately raise the economies of developing countries, lift the rural population out of extreme poverty, end practices by outside organization that are contrary to the needs of the people and usher them into the twenty-first century. Africa and the developing world have a promising and bright future, but it will take all of us to foster the changes that are needed. It is possible, and you can make a difference. Many people will say, “Let George do it.”

Today, You Are George. What can you do? What will you do?

“If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, ‘Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled’; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, ‘Thou hast faith, and I have works’: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.”                                                  – James 2:15-20, KJV Bible

“Also, I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then said I, ‘Here am I; send me.’” —Isaiah 6:8, KJV Bible

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For recent posts from my book and related articles like this, sign up to follow my blog by email at http://Savingafricafromliesthatkill.com.   Thank you.

The book: Saving Africa from Lies that Kill: How Myths about the Environment and Overpopulation are Destroying Third World Countries is available in print and eBook online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books a Million and in bookstores. If you like the book, please leave a review online at Amazon.com or other outlet.

Award-Winning Finalist in the Social Change category of the 2019 International Book Awards

Read the first chapter free through Bookfunnel at www.bit.ly/savingafricachapter1

New hope for Africa vs. Old stagnation

Africans need Investment, Infrastructure, Education, Employment and Disease Control, not Foreign Aid

There is New Hope for Africa vs. Old Stagnation – and you can help

Africa is two worlds: the cities, which are growing economically at a fast pace, and the rural poor who lack infrastructure needed for raising themselves above poverty and disease. Between these are fairly prosperous market agricultural areas and unemployed job seekers who inhabit substandard housing encircling cities.

Poverty is prolonged by long-standing wrong attitudes and practices that are so entrenched in our world view that many do not see any other way.  The colonial powers failed to develop the needed infrastructure for development except marginally in the cities, so the rural poor remained isolated and stuck in poverty, disease and unemployment. Upon independence, Communists or their puppets replaced colonialists in most of these countries, but continued the same bad practices and attitudes.

Foreign aid has been a disaster for these countries because of the lack of accountability and corruption of local governments. Country leaders kept/keep most of the money and grew/grow extremely wealthy, while at the same time, failing to build roads, railroads, electrical systems, education systems and health facilities, and to develop job opportunities by encouraging investment. Corrupt leaders were/are only accountable to donor nations/organizations and unaccountable to the people. Relying on foreign aid and not the tax base of the country meant there was/is no incentive to encourage investment and to develop infrastructure that would support business expansion and job opportunities.

Communist attitudes toward free markets and propaganda against foreign investment only deepen the tendency to keep these countries poor and under top-down control.  At the same time, this situation has fostered violent resistance by factions not favored by the government, which had to be strictly controlled and squashed as it arose. Violence and unrest in any form and government corruption serve to discourage foreign investors as well as charitable organizations that could help raise the health and economy of the rural poor.

Investment and infrastructure are key to economic development and ending extreme poverty. Government to government foreign aid should be stopped immediately except for short-term emergency assistance during disasters, and only with  complete accountability about how the money is spent, as well as assurances that the distribution is done fairly.  Any foreign assistance for infrastructure projects should involve paying engineering firms directly, not funneling funds through corrupt officials who might pocket most of the money and promise but never deliver results.

African economies have historically been based on agriculture and extraction industries.  Most of Africa’s agricultural businesses have been based on small to medium farms, but are profitable only in areas where transportation infrastructure permits access to markets. Development of roads and railroads is important to expand agricultural opportunities and markets.  With improved crop varieties and modern agriculture Africa can provide much needed food for the world, but only if markets and ports are accessible.

The exploitation of natural resources by colonial powers without just compensation has been used as an excuse to discourage foreign  investment in mining and extraction activities.  It is only exploitation if the country and its people do not benefit and profit from the activity.  Communist propaganda confuses the two approaches, so that businesses that could benefit the economy are discouraged.  Agricultural and extraction industries with their associated infrastructure development can help to raise economies and standards of living by providing jobs and putting an end to high rural unemployment.

In the cities, manufacturing, banking, service, technical and communications industries are rapidly developing in areas where governments have improved business opportunities and practices. Ease of doing business, stable governments with low corruption levels and adequate infrastructure encourage investment that can raise economies.  Opportunities and workforce availability make African countries a good place to invest and open new businesses.

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If you like this post please share it with your friends, and sign up to follow my blog by email at http://Savingafricafromliesthatkill.com.   Thank you.

The book: Saving Africa from Lies that Kill: How Myths about the Environment and Overpopulation are Destroying Third World Countries is available in print and eBook online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books a Million and in bookstores. If you like the book, please leave a review online at Amazon.com or other outlet.

Award-Winning Finalist in the Social Change category of the 2019 International Book Awards

Read the first chapter free through Bookfunnel at www.bit.ly/savingafricachapter1