Maputo — The Italian Initiative against HIV/AIDS has guaranteed that it will continue to fund anti-AIDS activities, beyond the initial two year period, in the ten African countries covered by the initiative.
The coordinator of the programme for all ten countries, Shu- Shu Tekle, speaking to AIM during an international seminar on AIDS in Maputo, said that the Italian government has given the green light to continue the programme.
The initiative began in 2001, covering Mozambique, Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. 500,000 US dollars was allocated to each country for a two year period.
Tekle said there are now guarantees that Italy will finance the programme for a further two years, but he did not say how much money would be involved, or whether the funding would be more or less than that made available for the first two years.
In the case of Mozambique, the Italian Initiative has so far benefitted only the central province of Sofala, one of the provinces worst hit by the AIDS epidemic.
Tekle said Italy is negotiating with OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) to persuade members of the oil cartel to support these ten African countries.
Meanwhile, participants in the Maputo seminar have stressed the need for training and education as key components in the struggle against HIV/AIDS. They also called for improved technical support particularly in preventing the transmission of HIV from mothers to their babies, and for NGOs working on AIDS to be based in the communities. The representatives at the Maputo meeting from the ten countries, have welcomed the Italian Initiative. They say it has helped strengthen national health services, improve the purchase and distribution of drugs, and train health providers.
The stressed that in Africa difficult access to health care and to medicines is an important obstacle in the struggle against AIDS.
They lamented that, because of the high cost of anti- retroviral drugs, African countries have not benefitted from the improved survival rates, and lower infection rates, that are associated with anti-retrovirals in the developed world.
