Dear Stef: Although this seems to be a simple question, I believe it is conceptually very complex. Allow me to precede my response with a disclaimer that I am not an expert in Africa, its problems, or it significant potential. There are many learned scholars and activists who have profound insights to offer (for example Jeffrey Sachs, Jared Diamond, David Landes)
From my experience and reading, I think that ‘poverty’ is the greatest struggle of Africa. That is also a simple, almost trite, answer. But what is underneath it? How is poverty manifested in Africa? Why is Africa poor? What can be done to address poverty in Africa?
What is Poverty in Africa?
There are degrees of poverty in the world. There is poverty everywhere, including the rich countries such as the United States. However, the developing world, also known as the 3rd world, or poor countries, has a great amount of ‘extreme poverty’. This is characterized by the great risk of relatively small changes in daily living resulting in extreme consequences, such as death.
In Mali and many places in Africa, there are few jobs. When people work, there pay is often very low. They cannot afford good food, their health suffers, and there is high incidence of disease and death. When people are sick, they cannot work, and their income is diminished further (if that is possible). They may die. There are few jobs because the economic infrastructure is very limited (roads, mail delivery, phone and Internet communications, railroads, airlines, banks). The infrastructure is limited because they are poor. (Sound circular?)
School systems are lacking money for books, teachers, buildings, and desks (there are often 4, 5 or 6 or more students per old text book and rickety wooden desk). Therefore the workforce has poor ability to be productive on new jobs. Many people, especially women, do not know how to read and write. Illiteracy rates have increased in recent years. Businesses and government agencies often do not know how to perform optimally. If they have ideas about how to improve, they are limited by money and infrastructure.
The health system lacks clinics and hospitals with adequate medicines and doctors. Often, people do not have the money to pay for the services at the existing facilities. There is no insurance, so all medical services need to be paid for at the time of use. No money, no treatment or medicine (refer to my previous story of my neighbor dying). Diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, and pneumonia cause many deaths. Guinea worm still exists (once ingested, the large worms travel throughout your body and exit in very painful ways, for example through your eyes).
AIDS exists, and in some countries is growing. Again, I am not the expert. I understand that there are a complex set of health, medicine, and cultural/behavioral issues involved. Some think that additional funds for education and medicine would go a long way to addressing this problem.
At times, corrupt government officials steal foreign aid that is given to their countries. This of course reduces benefits for the common person who is the intended beneficiary of the aid.
Why is Africa poor? After all, life originated in Africa. They should have had a head start in advancing. Very briefly, I understand that there is a combination of factors involved, such as: environmental, geographical, climate, cultural, agricultural, natural resources, business development, colonialism, corruption, and the economic/trade policies of the rich countries, which have contributed to poverty in Africa.
What can be done to address Africa’s poverty? This is a very current and high profile topic. There is not a full consensus in the world about what the answer is. Predominant solutions seem to revolve around the following approaches:
1. Direct aid to enhance the economic, health, agricultural, education, and communications infrastructures,
2. Emphasis on accountable and transparent government,
3. Implementing systems which can help poor families to ‘pull themselves up by the bootstraps’. The premier strategy here is ‘microfinance’. This involves providing small banks where the poor can take out small loans to improve their lives. A typical example is someone takes out a $30 loan. This helps them buy supplies in bulk, and sell them in a small kiosk. They increase their monthly profit by $10, which helps to provide food for their family.
4. Direct services and education, such as ‘Doctors Without Borders’, ‘Engineers Without Borders’, various teaching organizations, and the Peace Corps. The Peace Corps recruits people with skills needed in developing countries, then trains the volunteers in how to initiate sustainable projects in developing countries. I have heard good things about this approach J
An additional challenge for developing countries is expected to be ‘Climate Change’. Scientists expect that poor countries will be more impacted by changes in temperature and rainfall than rich countries. This does not seem right, because many scientists agree that it is the actions of rich countries that largely caused climate change. In any case, additional challenges in agriculture, water availability, disease, housing, and economy are likely to result for the 3rd world.
This is my short response to the question of ‘What seems to be Mali’s greatest struggle?’ Many of these sentences could be books in themselves. I hope this gives you some notion as to the complex nature of poverty in Mali, Africa, and the developing world.