OUAGADOUGOU, Dec 11 (AFP) - A World Bank official said Tuesday that Africa should be given the resources to fight AIDS and that its people should not be deprived of new therapies, not matter what the cost.
"We must ensure Africa has the capacity to carry out and sustain its own response," Debrewerk Zendwie, in charge of World Bank AIDS projects in Africa, told an ongoing continental AIDS meet here.
"AIDS thrives on poverty and social exclusion," she said. "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 made available.
"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 would be granted again, the official said.
She urged African governments to step up the fight against the pandemic, noting: "African governements are increasingly showing the necessary leadership."
An encouraging sign was that "the international response is more strategic, comprehensive and collaborative with a broad consensus," she added.
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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