OUAGADOUGOU, Dec 9 (AFP) - French Health Minister Bernard Kouchner on Sunday urged African nations to be more vocal in demanding treatment against AIDS and promised them France's assistance in this regard.
"If the countries of Africa do not themselves say they want the treatment, it is not us who can do that for them," Kouchner told a press conference in the Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou.
The conference was held just hours before the opening of the 12th international conference on AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases in Africa (CISMA).
Kouchner said he regretted "the absence of an African demand" and urged concerned nations actively to press their demands for treatment at a "crucial" meeting in Brussels next week on a UN move to create a global fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
Kouchner, who is due to meet with his African counterparts before the opening of the conference, said denial of treatment would mean complicity in the "condemning of tens of million people to death."
He said French authorities wanted between 20 and 30 percent of the global fund to be spent on AIDS treatments, notably anti-retroviral drugs.
He said the United States, which had earlier opposed this idea, had done an about turn on the issue.
Kouchner said France had donated 150 million euros for a North-South programme aimed at forging protocols for distribution of AIDS medicines and drugs and the follow up of treatment.
He said 12 other countries were involved in the project and stressed that it showed France's commitment to fighting AIDS.
011209
AF011298
Copyright © AFP or Agence France-Presse, 2001 - AFP stories and photos shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. AFP news material may not be stored in whole or in part in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use. AFP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions in any AFP news material or in transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages whatsoever. As a newswire service AFP does not obtain releases from subjects, individuals, groups or entities contained in its photographs, graphics or quoted in its texts. Further, that no clearance is obtained from the owners of any trademarks or copyrighted materials whose marks and materials are included in AFP photos or materials. Therefore you will be solely responsible for obtaining any and all necessary releases from whatever individuals and/or entities necessary for any uses of AFP stories, photos or graphics. http://www.afp.com/
ÆGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, the National Library of Medicine, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2001. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
©1990, 2001 - ÆGiS. ÆGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All materials appearing on ÆGIS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of ÆGIS and the Sisters of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, or the party credited as the provider of the content.
