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Africa: 24m Africans HIV Positive, Says Akinkugbe

Razak Yusuf

28 November 2003

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Ibadan — Some 24 million Africans are currently known to have tested positive to the deadly HIV virus which is responsible for the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

Chairman, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan and Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Professor Oladipupo Olu Akinkugbe, revealed this yesterday at a commemorative lecture to mark the 10th anniversary of the transition of eminent expert in development Economics, late Professor Ojetunji Aboyade.

Akinkugbe told the distinguished gathering of scholars, experts and businessmen at the Development Policy Centre (DPC),Ibadan ,Oyo State founded by the late economist that the African HIV infection data is the highest of all the continents.

According to Akinkugbe, who delivered the anniversary lecture titled "Undeserved Yet Undeserved," pointed out that the figure is quite alarming when viewed against the fact that the global HIV infection figure to date stands at 35 million people.

The professor, who is the nation's leading expert on cardio-vascular and renal ailments lamented that the African people had been bogged down with a high infestation rate killer infectious diseases.

Said he "Africa features grim figures in this foreboding list of captains of death ... such as AIDS, tuberculosis, diarrhea diseases, malaria and measles ..."

"... Aside from the foregoing, there is a cluster of infective conditions that have either disappeared completely from the face of the earth ..."

He called for a faithful execution of development framework as outlined by the African Council for Sustainable Health Development (ACOSHED), The Global Fund, The Global Forum for Health Research and the New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD).

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