Reviews

Race Against Time

Lily Gontard

In Africa the AIDS/HIV pandemic is quickly, and not so quietly, killing two generations of Africans. Stephen Lewis’s book Race Against Time (Anansi) begins by introducing the eight Millennium Goals for Africa as established by the United Nations Millennium Assembly in 2. He then shifts to the reason that these goals will never be met within the fifteen years allotted by the Assembly: AIDS/HIV. This pandemic scours the continent and is seemingly unbeatable, because Africa doesn’t have enough health-care professionals to treat the sick and dying, and antiretroviral drugs that can relieve symptoms and limit the spread of the disease are too expensive and not widely available. Lewis points to villains: the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, politicians, domestic and international governments. He also points to heroes: orphans, sick people, grandmothers, caregivers, NGOs, politicians and activists. Lewis has been involved in Africa since 1998, and it is from his positions within the machinations of the UN, the WHO and UNICEF that he reports on the injustices that have battered Africa, hindered its recovery and let its people down time and time again. Race Against Time will illuminate and haunt you.

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Lily Gontard

Lily Gontard is a writer whose fiction, poetry and non-fiction have appeared in magazines including The Puritan, Cirque and Event. She lives in Whitehorse.


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