• English Site
• > SPIEGEL Magazine

Henning Mankell on AIDS in Africa

"Lofty Talk and Empty Promises"

Henning Mankell, the 58-year-old, best-selling Swedish author, splits his time between Sweden and Mozambique. He recently spoke to SPIEGEL about the AIDS catastrophe in Africa.

SPIEGEL: British Prime Minister Tony Blair wanted to make the struggle against AIDS and poverty in Africa the main issue on the agenda of the European Union and the G-8 last year. Has the "decisive humanist battle" that you call for finally begun?

Mankell: I had really hoped that this time there would be something more than lofty talk and empty promises. But much more would have had to be done for that to happen.

SPIEGEL: Such as?

Mankell: Take the struggle against illiteracy, for example. Knowledge is the basis for every form of enlightenment. A person who can't read or write won't learn anything about contraception or culture either. But millions of children and adolescents are unable to go to school in Africa. And yet changing that wouldn't cost more than what Europeans spend on dog and cat food every year.

SPIEGEL: Eleven thousand people are infected with HIV every day, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Has the world forgotten Africa?

Mankell: We're definitely not doing enough in the struggle against African poverty. And we can't talk about AIDS without talking about poverty as well. How can we accept, for example, that so many nurses and doctors have to leave their impoverished countries of origin to earn money in Europe? Today there are more doctors from Malawi in Manchester than in Malawi. It would be so easy to raise their salaries a little at home.

SPIEGEL: About 60 percent of those infected are women unable to defend themselves against the traditions their societies have inherited.

Mankell: If we don't improve the situation for women, we're not going to get a grip on the AIDS catastrophe. They shoulder most of the responsibility in everyday life and for the livelihood of their families, but they have no say in politics. And often they don't even have any self-determination or right of decision over their own bodies. That has to change. They need to be given more possibilities for becoming economically independent so they can decide about their own lives.

SPIEGEL: The Bill Gates Foundation has donated $500 million to Africa. Multinational corporations are starting education campaigns for their local workers. Did AIDS have to become a strain on the economy before such measures were taken?

Mankell: It's sad and a bit disgusting that corporations only begin to act when their workforce dies off, like in South Africa. And yet they could see the catastrophe coming for years. And it's also terrible that we need rich private donors to do some of what should have been done a long time ago.

SPIEGEL: It also appears that more and more celebrities are needed to get the message out. What is it they can achieve that governments can't?

Mankell: Perhaps many people prefer listening to us than to the politicians.