It is regrettable, if understandable, that the plight of Africa was suddenly blasted from the public mind by the recent bomb attacks in London and Turkey.
Though considering how short-lived the modern-day attention span is, it's doubtful that much interest would have endured beyond the Live 8 concerts and the G8 summit anyway.
Whatever the prevailing circumstances, it is vitally important that the G8 leaders aren't allowed to lose interest or be similarly deflected from the task at hand. For, irrespective of what else is happening in the world, it doesn't alter the fact that Africa is still crying out for immediate and sustained assistance.
The plight of that continent and its peoples remains as critical as it was last month and has been for past decades - and things will remain that way until properly addressed.
To best determine what form international support should take, we first have to dump the meaningless platitudes and soundbites that, too often, are presented and accepted as all-encompassing solutions, and actually learn more about Africa and how it came to its present state. It is only by gaining a fuller understanding of the place and its recent history that we can hope to arrive at realistic and long-term answers to its problems.
To this end, a recently published book, The State of Africa - A History of Fifty Years Of Independence by Martin Meredith, is essential reading. As the title suggests, it charts in detail the history of Africa and its individual countries from the heady days of independence in the 1960s to its subsequent decline during the almost half-century since.
Meredith begins by explaining how the European powers staked claims to almost an entire continent during the late 19th century. That they had little if any practical knowledge of the place didn't hinder them in the slightest.
In their haste and greed, they just carved it up by drawing arbitrary lines on outmoded maps, often slicing straight through traditional societal structures. The end result was that about 10,000 separate African polities were amalgamated into 44 European colonies and protectorates.
Consequently, tribal, religious and ethnic tensions were inbuilt from the birth of most modern African states. In the invariably brutal nature of colonialism, these divisions were exploited and used to advantage by the governing authorities: in the process, storing up feelings of hatred and resentment between differing groups that still manifest to this day in periodic outbreaks of violence.
A particular, though by no means isolated, example of this was the divide-and-rule tactic employed by the Belgians in their dealings with the Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda.
Over decades thousands of people from both sides died in sporadic outbreaks of ethnic violence until ultimately, in April 1994, about 800,000 Tutsis were massacred by Hutus in Rwanda. An overspill of refugees flowing into neighbouring states such as Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda and the former Zaire, sparked further violence and destabilised the immediate region.
Meredith explains how, throughout Africa, the initial euphoria of the 1960s and attempts at nation- building soon gave way to dictatorial rule and the emergence of tyrants.
Hardly surprising, as in a majority of countries at independence, the black population was almost totally lacking in any experience of politics, never mind government or civil administration, and - apart from some tiny elites - had been denied even the most basic education.
Corruption, patronage, wars, despotism, drought, famine and, as though to top it all, the emergence of Aids have all conspired to ensure that countless millions of African people have died and are dying still.
During the Cold War era, "friendly tyrants" such as Joseph Mobutu were propped up with aid from the West, even though it was common knowledge that most of it was being appropriated for personal use. At the same time, many African leaders played one side off against the other as each vied to extend their sphere of influence or, at the very least, stop their opposite number from extending theirs.
Often, while people starved, international food and monetary aid was being channelled directly into a leader's coffers; or being distributed by him as patronage among the cronies who kept him in power; or being used as a direct substitute for government money while he treated the state's assets as his personal bank account. Seldom did more than a tiny fraction of aid reach those most in need.
It is a sad fact that nowadays corruption is endemic throughout Africa. A 2002 report estimated that about $148 billion - amounting to more than a quarter of Africa's entire GDP - was being lost annually to corruption.
The message for G8 leaders is clear: if Africa is to be rescued, then most governments and politicians there will have to be bypassed.
Either that, or continue bolstering the personal fortunes of tiny elites as millions of people continue to suffer and die - and we can no longer allow that to happen.