Silent Tsunami

The Silent Tsunami

A tsunami per week in Africa.

The world donated or pledged $6 billion (including $950 million from the US) in the aftermath of the devastating Asian tsunami that killed more than 170,000 people. We applaud these sincere efforts to meet this tragedy.

There is a vast tragedy that doesn’t get front-page attention. Year after year, millions die of preventable causes. The U.N. reports that last year 1 million African children died of malaria, 1.5 million African children died of pneumonia, 800,000 African children died of diarrhea and dehydration, 500,000 African children died of measles. These deaths were preventable. In 2004, 2.3 million people died of AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. Last year over 7 million Africans died who could have been saved had they had the proper resources. Sadly, most of them were children. This is the equivalent of a tsunami every week. Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the UN's Millennium Project, calls this the “Silent Tsunami.”

The Associated Press recently reported that charities and relief agencies have stopped soliciting Tsunami relief funds and have even returned money because they have met the financial needs for relief. Long-term solutions will take time and effort, both in southeast Asia and in Africa. Members of the human family have been sensitized by the tsunami to the dire needs of people in developing countries. Now is the time to build on that sensitivity and expand the help to the larger, on-going needs in Sub-Saharan Africa.

These dire needs can be addressed with less money than one might imagine. Oral rehydration salts or other recommended home fluids could reduce deaths from diarrhea by 90%. Measles inoculations are inexpensive. Malaria treatment is effective when people can afford it, and treated mosquito nets could prevent millions of infections. We can’t prevent a tsunami; we can only mitigate its effects. But we can prevent measles, we can prevent deaths from diarrhea, malaria, pneumonia, and AIDS. AIDS prevention programs, such as the Stay AliveTM HIV/AIDS Prevention Education Programme, are saving lives today, but many more people need to be reached.

It’s wonderful that the need for tsunami relief is being met. However, the Human spirit of caring and sharing still burns strong in the hearts of those who want to help. There are so many who want to give more and there is so much more to do. Now is the time for people around the world to continue to reach out and take their effective response to the next level of life-saving results. Literally millions of lives can be saved each year from today’s ravages of preventable disease. Large numbers of deaths from malaria and measles would not be tolerated in a developed country. Should we tolerate them anywhere? 12 million children in Africa are orphans. Can you help them look toward a brighter future?

We call upon the hundreds of millions of caring people who have the capacity and the desire to help. Your involvement can make a life-saving difference. Contact your favorite charity and ask them what they are doing to help African children to survive and thrive. Contact your political representatives and ask them to give an effort for African lives commensurate with the need. Use your local efforts to raise awareness of this Silent Tsunami. Use your local influence to raise funds. School children, college students, community activists, corporate donors, and institutional funding can all contribute to make a significant difference. Every community in this great world has and can continue to reach out to help their sisters and brothers in the human family. And some of the greatest sorrow and greatest opportunity in the world today is among our sisters and brothers in Africa. We can help them. We must help them. Reach out today!

Kevin Clawson is the president of Reach the Children (www.reachthechildren.org), a New York-based international humanitarian development organization working in many countries in Africa.