Addis Ababa — The former Prime Minister of Mozambique, Pascoal Mocumbi, has warned of devastating consequences for Africa if HIV-positive people are not given treatment.

"The very future of our societies is tied to keeping these people alive," he told hundreds of delegates at the African Development Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

"There is no escaping the fact that the loss of teachers, health workers and civil servants at the rates witnessed today threatens deterioration and eventual collapse," he said. "The cost of writing off HIV-infected people is too high to contemplate."

Mr Mocumbi was giving a preview of the likely findings of the Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa that is due to report to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in June 2005.

Mr Mocumbi is a patron of CHGA, as is former President of Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda.

He said that there are still gaps in knowledge of HIV's impact on governance, particularly on the skills base in all sectors of society even though such knowledge was vitally needed.

"We have little or no information on the ramifications of mortality amongst senior government officials? What effects are such losses having on the delivery of public services, economic development and national security?" he asked. "At what point might institutions or states as a whole simply cease to function?"

Mr Mocumbi said CHGA's work would help governments understand the impact of AIDS on human capacity and related planning and budgetary implications.

He called on governments to rethink their growth and development strategies taking HIV/AIDS into account. "There is no evidence that any country has begun to address comprehensively the human resource planning challenges raised by the HIV epidemic," he said.

CHGA aims to provide governments with practical recommendations on up-scaling prevention, treatment and care programmes who need it. Mr Mocumbi acknowledged that extending the lifespan of the HIV-infected remains Africa's greatest challenge.