AU summit focuses on fight against HIV/AIDS

African leaders meeting in Mozambique this week for the second African Union (AU) summit said the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis (TB) was a priority for the continent, and a new regional effort which would demand greater financial support from the international community was needed. Sixty million Africans have been infected or affected by HIV/AIDS, Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), told delegates during the Global Forum on Health and Development. Up to 1,000 adults and children die of AIDS each day in some of the worst affected countries in Africa. A significant number of the deaths are among young people, who provide the bulk of the labour force. "Only if AIDS is rapidly brought under control will social and economic development be able to flourish," said Piot. "This can become a reality if African leaders make it their business to invest in both AIDS prevention and care and treatment." AIDS activists also said although prevention programmes still needed to be scaled up, African leaders should take advantage of treating those living with HV/AIDS, especially stopping mother to child transmission of the virus. In sub-Saharan Africa some 58 per cent of those infected by the HI virus are women. "The price at which antiretrovirals are available to developing countries has dropped significantly, but the technical facilities and sustainable financing are still a major barrier," Piot said. "African governments must seize the opportunity to expand access to HIV care and treatment in their countries." The forum was the first-ever international videoconference on HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria to be held at a summit like this. It brought together African heads of state, UN officials, AIDS experts and academics from around the world. Earlier in the week, the Regional Director of the World Health Organisation (WHO, Dr Ebramim Malick Samba told journalists that HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB "are partly caused by poverty, and survive because of poverty." He added that during the summit he would "remind heads of state of the Abuja Declaration of 2001." Under the Abuja declaration, African leaders promised that the fight against HIV/AIDS would be at the forefront of development plans in their respective countries, and a target of allocating at least 15 percent of the annual budget to the improvement of the health sector would be set. Samba added that there was a great need for much more research in Africa on malaria, TB and HIV/AIDS. "Africa's research [input] is very low. We need to spend much more money on it." "Research is for the optimist," said Samba, who challenged African leaders to be more positive and take a longer-term view. "We need to be more optimistic, hard working and honest." During the forum, Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo stressed that 15 percent was not enough for the fight against the three diseases. He also highlighted the importance of education about the diseases, especially in the rural areas. According to UNAIDS, fewer than one in five people at risk of HIV infection in Africa are targeted by HIV prevention programmes. At the end of the videoconference, Mozambican Foreign Minister Leonardo Simao told journalists the leaders had shown a "strong political will" in the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB. He said a strong regional approach was required, and appealed to the international community for increased support. At least US $3 billion would need to be provided by the international community annually through the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. There has been an increase in global AIDS funding by a range of international donors including the United States, the United Kingdom, the World Bank’s Multi-country AIDS programme of grants to Africa, the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria and the Gates Foundation, as well as governments in affected countries. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), over $10.5 billion a year will be needed for prevention, treatment, care and support programmes in low- and middle-income countries. Authorities in Mozambique recently approved plans for the medical treatment of people living with HIV/AIDS. The government aims to upgrade the skills of workers in the National Health Service, so that they can provide integrated, good quality care to some 350,000 people infected by HIV/AIDS. An estimated 1.4 million Mozambicans are living with HIV/AIDS, and an estimated 600 people are newly infected each day.