Reviews

Race Against Time: Searching for Hope in Aids-Ravaged Africa by Stephen Lewis

bibliotequeish's review

5.0

Books that deal with tough subjects can often feel daunting.
All I can say is if you are going to read any of the Massey Lectures, this one should definitely be on your list.

cb_reads_reviews's review

4.0

Stephen Lewis’s 2005 Massey Lecture, “Race Against Time” is a highly critical overview of the UN Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), eight goals with aims to significantly improve the lives of Africans. Lewis, Canada’s former Ambassador to the UN from 1984-1988, UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa from 2001-2006, is in a unique place to comment on the state of the socio-political environment vis-a-vis the AIDS pandemic. Focusing on the MDGs and giving some historical background to the status of women and children, as well as the macroeconomic impositions of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, Lewis proposes concrete solutions towards achieving success on the MDGs and calls out Western Nations for their unwillingness to live up to their promised 0.7% of GNP financial support (about $50 billion per year in 2005, across developed nations). He points out the folly of the IMF/WB loans and conditions - pointing out the incongruency of pay-for-system fees in healthcare and education, especially in the face of a devastating AIDS pandemic. He makes more than a few suggestions that the more than $200 billion dollar debt across Africa should be forgiven in order to further meaningful development across the continent, while improving the lives of children, including the many orphaned by AIDS and of women. Access to education, to free AIDS treatment, and to steady food supplies being the needed support.

andrean's review

2.0

Lewis provides some interesting and insightful information as to the inner workings of the UN. His passion for the continent of Africa is evident. However, I don't think the speeches read very well, especially for a UN outsider. At times the book reads as extremely preachy and sanctimonious. I appreciate Lewis' aknknowledgment of how the west has played a significant role in the current demise of many African countries but he ignores the complexity of the issues Africa faces. I struggled to finish the book as it became quite dull and repetitive.