NAIROBI, Dec 4 (AFP) - Seven multinational companies, which operate in developing countries, have promised to step up HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programmes in Africa to combat the pandemic, according to a statement obtained by AFP Thursday.

The statement said the firms would invest millions of dollars in developing or improving infrastructure and healthcare training programmes, as well as building clinics and training healthcare workers to help support the public sector in the war against HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Africa south of the Sahara is the region severely hit by the pandemic, where some 26.6 million people were stricken in 2003 by the HIV virus that causes AIDS, more than half of the 40 million worldwide.

The continent has 11 million AIDS orphans, about four-fifths of the world's total.

The seven firms -- Anglo-American, Chevron-Texaco, DaimlerChrysler, Eskom, Heineken, Larfage and Tata Steel -- are working under Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GBC-HIV/AIDS), a group of more than 120 firms worldwide, which was launched on Wednesday to fight the pandemic in Africa.

"This is a partnership we have not done enough to incorporate, the business community," US Secretary for Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson said in Nairobi on Wednesday night. "We need everybody to join with us in this fight, a fight and a war that we cannot afford to lose."

"We came to Africa to increase private sector engagement in the war against HIV/AIDS and this announcement is exactly the kind of innovative idea we want to promote," Thompson said, urging African governments to work in partnership with the firms in order to access funds from the UN Global Fund for AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

"Leveraging the resources of companies in this way is a great new opportunity for communities to realise the opportunity for the Global Fund," he added.

"The continent of Africa has been ravaged for far too long by this HIV virus scourge. Millions of people have died and millions of children have been left as orphans," Thompson explained.

The firms have set up pilot pilot programmes in Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa, ranging from giving AIDS patients anti-retroviral drugs to setting up effective preventive mechanism, the statements said.

UNAIDS chief Peter Piot welcomed the move, saying the contribution from the private sector would make it possible to achieve the World Health Organisation (WHO) goal of treating around three million HIV/AIDS patients in the world by 2005.

The US Global AIDS Coordinator Randal Tobias, said: "As we work to more broadly engage resources to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the private sector has an enormous important role to play. I applaud the leadership demonstrated by the seven companies."

"We can beat this pandemic if we work together," concluded Richard Feachem, Executive Director of the UN Global Fund.

GBC-HIV/AIDS president Richard Holbrook said: "This is only the beginning of what companies can do. I urge the companies around the world to join these seven and other members of GCB-HIV/AIDS in the fight against AIDS."

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and World Economic Forum also pledged to help in the drive against AIDS in Africa, according to the statement.

031204
AF031251

©AFP 2003. All Rights Reserved. AFP articles contained on the AEGiS web site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without AFP's prior written permission. You may make one copy of each article for your personal, non-commercial use only; more copies would require AFP's prior written permission. 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/

AEGiS 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 2003. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

©1990, 2003 - AEGiS. AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content.