This year's global theme to mark World AIDS Day is "Zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths." This theme has an even deeper meaning for Africa.
Africa's human capital investment is a relevant driver of its growing economies. Last year, the African Development Bank projected an economic growth of 5 percent for the region and despite the global fuel, food, financial and political crises, Africa has managed to maintain that equilibrium.
After almost five decades of development financing in Africa, the AfDB has helped achieve considerable gains in human development. But HIV/AIDS is a pandemic that can still reverse many of these gains if we do not continue to do our utmost to bring infections to the zero level. The vulnerability of women and girls to HIV remains particularly high in sub-Saharan Africa. About 76 percent of all HIV-positive women in the world live in this region.
As a development institution, the African Development Bank remains committed to the global effort to bring infection levels to zero on all fronts for African communities.
The rate of new HIV infections has already dropped by more than one-quarter in 22 African countries. This is encouraging, but a lot still has to be done.
