BERLIN, Nov 24 (AFP) - The AIDS pandemic ravaging Africa is tantamount to "mass murder by indifference," says Stephen Lewis, the UN special envoy on AIDS in Africa.
"We spend tiny sums to keep people alive while we spend huge amounts to make war," he says in an interview to appear Thursday in the German weekly Die Zeit, noting that the UN AIDS agency spent 4.3 billion dollars last year while war and reconstruction in Iraq will cost 200 billion dollars as of the end of 2004.
Speaking ahead of World AIDS Day on December 1, Lewis said: "Africa lost its geostrategic interest after the end of the Cold War. ... But there has always also been underlying racism towards Africa and Africans, which of course no one is prepared to acknowledge."
"This is why I speak of mass murder through indifference. Rich countries don't worry enough about poor countries," he said.
Lewis, a Canadian, also lamented that most African AIDS patients cannot afford anti-AIDS drugs, even if they had access to cheaper generic versions.
"We must start supplying free medications," he urged, adding that today "responsibility resides less with pharmaceutical companies than with governments."
Africa is home to nearly two-thirds of all those living with HIV or AIDS in the world, and three-quarters of women AIDS patients.
In 2004, some 3.1 million Africans contracted the virus which destroys immunity to disease and 2.3 million died of it.
AIDS has driven life expectancy below 40 years in nine African countries: Botswana, the Central African Republic, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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