Addis Ababa — The 4th African Development Forum (ADF), in its two day deliberation called for strong leadership to tackle the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa where close to 30 million people are living with the virus with poor access to antiretroviral (ARV) drugs.

Leading members of the global HIV/AIDS community and African NGOs were gathered on Tuesday to discuss the impact of HIV/AIDS on Africa's rural populations.

The meeting, convened by the Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa (CHGA) underlined the need for strong political commitment to fight this regional health crisis.

The commission report, presented yesterday stated that in 2003, some 2.3 million Africans died of AIDS while an estimated 3.4 million contracted the HIV virus.

"This brought the number of people living with the virus on the continent to 29.4 million. Without access to effective antiretroviral medication, most of these people will die in the next 10 years, joining the 19.2 million Africans already claimed by the pandemic since the early 1980s," commission said.

President Girma Woldegiorgis told the gathering that across Africa, HIV/AIDS is creating a downward spiral of social, economic and human deprivation, which in turn produces a fertile environment for the spread of the virus. "Action is needed at the grass root levels to fight this epidemic," he added.

CHGA's final report is due to be submitted to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in June 2005.

CHGA will also convene its third CHGA Commissioner's meeting on October 13-14.

The Commission, which comprised 15 Commissioners, is expected to decide on the direction, structure as well as likely message of the Commission's final report.

The Commissioners will also attend a special ADF plenary session scheduled for the 14th of October on "the impact of HIV/AIDS on Africa's capacity to govern and the challenge of scaling up treatment."