While globalisation has garnered some benefits for the urban elites in Africa - information, communication and technology - these positive outcomes have not reached the urban poor and rural folk who form over 80 percent of African populations.
Over 60 percent of Africans live below the poverty line. Meanwhile, every day in Africa, HIV/Aids kills 6,500 people; 9,500 people are infected with the HIV virus; and 1,400 newborn babies are infected during childbirth or by their mothers' milk.
These statistics are grim enough on their own, but even harder to swallow when it becomes clear what role globalisation plays in hindering lasting solutions.
Not only did this loss of jobs mean people could no longer afford basic social services, such as education, health, sanitation, and water, but SAPs also adversely affected the ability of African governments to raise revenues and provide services to their people.
While SAPs plunged Africa further into poverty, trade rules continue to harm Africa - and its ability to solve the HIV/Aids crisis. In 1980 Africa had a six percent share of world trade. By 2002 this had dropped to just two percent despite the fact that Africa has 12 percent of the world's population.
If Africa could regain just an additional one percent share of global trade, it would earn $70 billion more in exports each year, several times more than what the region currently receives in foreign aid.
While fair trade could be Africa's ticket out of the vicious cycles of poverty, unfair trade rules like this trap Africa at the gates.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is the place where these rules are written. But of the 38 African nations who belong to the WTO, 15 nations have no representative at all at the headquarters in Geneva. In contrast, most rich nations have dozens of staff to protect their trading interests.
If Africa could have its rightful share of world trade, it could easily raise its own resources to pay for HIV/Aids interventions. Currently, most HIV/Aids interventions are not sustainable as the funding comes with conditions.
While generic anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) are now free and available in most sub-Saharan countries, another hurdle is being erected. Europe is about to conclude Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries that will essentially set up free trade areas between these regions and Europe.
For Africa, this means government will lose much needed tariff revenues, necessary to fund social services, including Aids medications. This is problematic because a balanced diet and good nutrition need to go hand-in-hand with taking ARVs.
The first casualties of EPAs will be farmers and their agricultural products, which do not enjoy the subsidies that those from Europe do. This means those living with HIV/Aids will have a further problem - the ability to access food will be limited as farmers give up farming due to unfair competition from cheaper European farm products.
This is likely to bring untold suffering to many people considering that agriculture in Africa employs about 70% of the labour force. Those working in manufacturing industries risk losing their jobs too, as those industries close due to competition from more established industries in Europe.
In a word, EPAs will bring massive loss of revenue at the individual, household and national levels throughout Africa, a situation that does not help the war on Aids in Africa.
African governments and other global development actors serious about helping Africa should advocate for fair trade to help the continent pay its own bills. HIV/Aids should be treated as a development issue rather than just a health issue.
It is therefore imperative that other sectors of development (particularly global trade) be reviewed and challenged globally, so that Africa can solve its own problems, including putting in place a sustainable HIV/Aids program.
Nanjakululu, a policy and advocacy officer at the Agency for Cooperation in Research and Development (ACORD), wrote this from Nairobi, Kenya
