African leaders to meet on AIDS

African heads of state are to meet in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, on Tuesday to discuss the way forward in HIV/AIDS management and control. The four-day gathering is a review of the 'Declarations and Frameworks for Action' adopted during the 2000 and 2001 summits on rolling back infectious diseases. "This summit promises to be different by going beyond making commitments to evoking bold, urgent and extraordinary action from African leaders," the local This Day newspaper quoted Ene Obi, of the US Agency for International Development, as saying. The gathering takes place against a backdrop of disturbing levels of related mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, estimated at up to 3.9 million new HIV infections in 2005, more than a quarter of the world's tuberculosis cases and over 80 percent of malaria deaths.