Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Associated Press - Thursday, Dec. 7, 2000
Hrvoje Hranjski, Associated Press Writer
"We are here because we are determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of AIDS, which in a fraction of our lifetime has brought unimaginable sorrow to Africa and the world," Annan told a U.N. conference on AIDS that brought together more than 1,500 African leaders, policy makers and international donors.
In the last two decades, 13.7 million out of the 16.3 million people killed by AIDS have been Africans, depriving the poverty-stricken continent of productive workers and reducing economic growth.
"We face a terrible epidemic, but we are far from powerless against it. We can halt the spread of AIDS. We can reverse it," Annan said.
Uganda, which once had the highest AIDS rate in the world, organized a public awareness campaign that has resulted in the HIV infection rate dropping from 30 percent in the early 1990s to about 8 percent last year, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said.
"If we could work together in the liberation struggle against colonialism, if we could conquer apartheid together, why can't we conquer HIV/AIDS?" Museveni said.
Striking a critical note, President Festus Mogae of Botswana, now the most severely affected country in the world, said African leaders are being called to respond to "a supreme test of our commitment to our people."
"Can all of us honestly say that we have assigned, instructed and mobilized our best professionals to move with the speed and sustained determination to deal with this as the greatest development emergency of our time?" Mogae said, calling on African nations to divert funding from the military to fight AIDS.
The conference heard that most Africans cannot afford antiretroviral drugs to treat the HIV virus that causes AIDS.
"Since 24.5 million out of 34.3 million people living with AIDS are in sub-Saharan Africa, we are, potentially, big customers. The market for ARV drugs is here," Uganda's Museveni said.
He disagreed with the notion that the companies should reduce the costs of the drugs, because it would discourage further research.
"Instead, I propose that African countries should combine efforts and reimburse the money the successful pharmaceutical companies spent on research and development, plus a negotiated profit level. Thereafter, the drug companies should lower the prices," he said.
Mogae said Africa should unite in negotiating affordable prices for all drugs in a comprehensive care package.
Annan said the gathering, organized by the U.N. Commission for Africa, was a breakthrough in fighting AIDS. The secretary-general was on an eight-day tour of Africa that will end Saturday in Eritrea.
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