Our work in Africa is an investment in a shared future. At less than a penny a day per American, our development assistance is helping millions of Africans improve their own lives. I would also point out that our total annual foreign assistance to Africa costs less than half the price of a single B-2 bomber or Seawolf submarine, and constitutes a sound strategic and financial investment in preventing costly, destabilizing crises. A quarter of all African children will die before their fifth birthday from disease and malnutrition. If current trends continue, by the year 2020 one out of every four African children will suffer from malnutrition.
Malnutrition already is a cause of over a third of deaths of children under five in Africa.
Only half of Africa's primary school-age children are in school, and less than 50 percent of those entering first grade will complete their primary education. In Ethiopia and Mali, school enrollment is below 30 percent. Infant mortality continues to decline on the continent, yet infant mortality rates in the region are almost twice those found in Asia and Latin America. Unfortunately, AIDS is also reversing many improvements in public health. AIDS is expected to decrease life expectancy in some African countries by as much as 20 years by the year 2000.