This Generation's Moon Shot

(2 of 2)

This year millions of people gathered to persuade world leaders to invest more in fighting poverty and disease in Africa. In July they listened: the Group of Eight pledged an additional $50 billion annually to poor countries, half of it for Africa. The G-8 also agreed to write off $56 billion in old multilateral debt for 38 of the world's poorest countries. And they promised to get AIDS drugs not just to everyone who can afford them but to everyone who needs them--a great promise, if they keep it.

We must keep the pressure on our governments if we want them to follow through. As voters and taxpayers, we must give our leaders permission to invest just a fraction of our taxes in $5 mosquito nets and drug treatments that cost pennies apiece. Right now in Washington, Congress is deciding whether to provide $3.6 billion in global AIDS funding, including $600 million for the global health fund, thanks to Democrat Dick Durbin and Republican Rick Santorum. If this money is not approved, people across Africa will have to be taken off lifesaving medications. How mad is that?

Beating AIDS and extreme, stupid poverty, this is our moon shot. This is our civil rights struggle, our anti-apartheid movement. This is what the history books will remember our generation for--or blame us for, if we fail.