AIDS in Africa

* “Cheap Drugs Are Only Part of Weapons Against AIDS” (April 8) highlighted a very serious and pressing problem about AIDS in Africa. As you clearly describe, AIDS drugs are not enough to solve the problem, which is accelerated because of poverty and lack of infrastructure, education and health care in Africa.

What you don’t mention is the U.S. lack of aid to Africa. The U.S. only gives 1/10th of 1% of its GDP in foreign aid, which is far from the U.N.’s target of 0.7%. Out of the U.S.’ 0.1% in foreign aid almost 25% goes directly to Israel. In other words, Israel (i.e., one small country with approximately 6 million people) receives more than twice as much U.S. aid than the entire continent of Africa, with 805 million suffering people and almost 30 million AIDS cases.

Surely, the almost $3 billion poured into the nuclear-arms-capable and technologically advanced Israel could buy a lot of drugs and food for Africa.

RENEE GROSS

Los Angeles