Africa: What Should Africa Expect From UN AIDS Summit?

25 June 2001
allAfrica.com
By Ofeibea Quist-Arcton

Johannesburg — It has taken some African leaders years to see the light. Others appear still to be in denial about AIDS, but an impressive number is expected at the United Nations’ headquarters in New York this week, to attend the first UN General Assembly Special Session on AIDS. Some 3,000 conference goers, including politicians, scientists, advocates, activists, health specialists and business executives, are gathering to discuss AIDS, 20 years after the first case was reported.

Twenty-five million Africans, of 36 million people worldwide, are infected with AIDS or HIV, the virus that causes the syndrome. Stephen Lewis, the United Nations’ AIDS envoy for Africa, is both encouraged and discouraged by the global picture' 'Everybody has come to this late. The world has been seized and galvanized only over the last 18 months or so. And in the meantime, 17 million people have died in sub-Saharan Africa'. But, adds Lewis, there is some progress to 'slowly, incrementally, painfully turn things around'.

The United Nations hopes the meeting will agree a 'declaration of commitment’. The UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan, and some African leaders, have put an annual price tag of US$7 -10bn to begin to have an impact on AIDS in Africa. A study published in the journal Science, on Friday, estimated that the poorest nations would require US$9.2bn a year to tackle AIDS, half of which would be needed for sub-Saharan Africa.

But a dispute continues on how such funds and limited resources should be spent. One side is adamant that money should go on anti-retroviral treatment, which is not widely available in Africa. The opposing camp is firmly behind AIDS’ prevention campaigns and more fundamental health services.

But treatment versus prevention is not the only argument. There is no agreement among delegates about a final declaration that would specifically identify some groups vulnerable to AIDS, including prostitutes, prisoners, intravenous drug users and homosexuals. Many Muslim nations argue that this would offend religious beliefs. The United States is also opposed to these groups being mentioned. Others contend that it is vital to highlight people most in need of international efforts to fight AIDS.

Annan will be trying to boost contributions to a global AIDS fund, a 'personal priority’ which he launched this year. So far, the United States, Britain and France have chipped in, with other funding from private organisations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. But the wealthier nations of the world, where anti-retroviral AIDS drugs are freely available, will not be sending their presidents and prime ministers to New York for the Special Session on AIDS.

The American Secretary of State, Colin Powell, will be leading the 40-member US delegation, which will include the head of the pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer. Some drug companies have drastically reduced the price of their AIDS medication, while, in court, others have resisted cheap copies of their brand name products.

Of the two dozen heads of state expected in New York, most are African, from countries where the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is high. One notable absentee from the list of African leaders is President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, where the largest number of people in the world (4.1 million) are living with HIV and AIDS. Though his nation is one of the worst affected by AIDS, Mbeki caused an international furore when he publicly questioned the link between HIV and AIDS last year.

The South African president is on an official visit to Washington this week, but will not be attending the New York UN AIDS’ gathering. He is, instead, sending his ministers of health and of foreign affairs . Mbeki’s government has been criticised for failing to supply anti-retroviral drugs to HIV-positive pregnant women to prevent the transmission of the virus to their unborn babies. By 2005, life expectancy in South Africa is expected to plummet by 17 years.

Kenya and Nigeria, each with more than 2 million people living with AIDS and HIV, are sending high level delegations to the UN Special Session. Botswana and Zimbabwe, where at least 20 percent of the adult population are infected with the virus, as well as Ethiopia, Lesotho and Swaziland, also hard hit by AIDS, are sending senior envoys.

Peter Piot, the executive director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) which has a presence in more than 100 countries, says: 'It’s leadership that will ultimately be the driving force that will reverse and eventually halt the devastation of this epidemic.'

He noted that there was now fresh momentum among political leaders and public health officials to taken on the AIDS battle, adding, 'but what is truly astounding is the leadership we are seeing at the community level, and in grassroots organizations'.

The United Nations has praised Senegal, Philippines and Thailand for taking bold steps to combat AIDS. The UN has also singled out HIV-positive Burundians and Ugandans who have set up support groups which have become key players in the prevention and care of AIDS. In the past ten years, Uganda - one of the first African countries to implement a national anti-AIDS strategy and set up an early prevention programme -- has succeeded in lowering the HIV infection rate in adults from 14 percent to 8 percent.

Three days of conferences, meetings, workshops, round-table discussions, presentations at UN headquarters will end on Wednesday. Two giant AIDS’ ribbons were hoisted across the secretariat building on Friday, lighting up the New York skyline over the weekend.

A multi-coloured patchwork quilt, remembering the millions of people who have lost their lives to AIDS in the past twenty years, was symbolically rolled out at the start of the Special Session in New York on Monday. AIDS is being called the worst pandemic experienced by humanity in 600 years. Health experts note that the bubonic plagued wiped out 25 million people in Europe in the 14th century.

The UN cites AIDS as the killer of more than 22 million people in the past 20 years.

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