OUAGADOUGOU, Dec 11 (AFP) - Demands for increased funds to Africa to fight the AIDS pandemic on a war footing dominated discussions Tuesday at a UN conference on AIDS in this poverty-stricken continent.
Africa, the world's worst-hit region, urgently needs resources to fight the scourge, delegates said.
World Bank official Debrewerk Zendwie said: "We must ensure Africa has the capacity to carry out and sustain its own response."
"AIDS thrives on poverty and social exclusion," Zendwie, in charge of World Bank AIDS projects in Africa, told a continental AIDS meeting that began here on Sunday.
"If contributory causes are not addressed, Africa will remain vulnerable. If they are addressed, it can benefit development.
"Africans should never be denied these therapies," Zendwie said, referring to tritherapies, and in particular, anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs). "The question is how and when, not if and perhaps."
Zendwie said Africa could not afford to wait until proper infrastructure is in place before access to these new treatments was opened up.
"Africa cannot wait until the ideal infrastructures exist. Building infrastructures and access to ARVs can go hand in hand," she said.
"The World Bank is committed to helping African countries," she said.
The World Bank released 500 million dollars in aid for the health sector, in particular for fighting AIDS, in September 2000, and the same amount will be granted again, the official said.
She urged African governments to step up the fight against the pandemic, noting: "African governments are increasingly showing the necessary leadership."
An encouraging sign is that "the international response is more strategic, comprehensive and collaborative with a broad consensus," she added.
Stephen Lewis, a special representative of the UN secretary general for AIDS in Africa, earlier urged the world community to donate generously.
"2002 must be a breakthrough year for international donors," he said, adding: "We have waited long enough. If I were an African leader, I would be running out of patience with the donor community."
Lewis also alluded to the September 11 terror attacks and the overwhelming global response to them.
"While the world seems capable of responding to the terrorist impact, it seems incapable of responding to the cumulative impact of AIDS," he said.
"There is more than enough money available. ... The money is there, we simply have to make the decision to release it," he said.
Other issues, including access to superior AIDS treatments, notably tritherapies, have dominated the conference.
Experts stressed that such treatments were vital for Africa, which accounts for 70 percent of global AIDS-linked deaths.
"Access to anti-retrovirals is maybe a utopia, but it is a necessary one," said Aliou Sylla, a doctor from Mali.
"Don't start an ideological battle here. The anti-retrovirals are an element of competence against AIDS. Let us try and get them for free," he said to thunderous cheers.
In rich countries, the arrival of tritherapies in 1996 revolutionised AIDS treatment -- a phenomenon which has had virtually no effect in Africa given the costs involved.
Despite the signing of several pacts between African countries and leading global pharmaceutical companies for cheaper medicines, especially anti-retroviral drugs, access to treatment for the average African is still limited and far too expensive.
Some 30,000 people in Africa have benefited from tritherapies, a figure the UNAIDS agency has dismissed as "minute."
The agency said that of the 40 million people today living with AIDS or HIV, 28.1 million live in sub-Saharan Africa, and the continent witnessed 2.3 million AIDS-related deaths this year.
UNAIDS said that in the absence of proper treatment, most HIV-positive Africans are not expected to survive the present decade.
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