Bay Windows - National News, November 10, 2000
Laura Kiritsy, Bay Windows staff

The conference, held at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Cambridge, marked the first time that key African leaders have met in the United States to forge a stronger agenda on AIDS in Africa. Twenty-four African countries were represented among the 180 participants in the conference, including President Festus Mogae of the Republic of Botswana ù a country where 36 percent of the general population is thought to be infected with HIV ù and Prime Minister Hage Geingob of Namibia. U.S. AIDS Czar Sandra Thurman also attended the summit.

With approximately 24 million of its people living with HIV/AIDS and 4 million new HIV infections in 1999 alone, sub-Saharan Africa is facing a drop in life expectancy to age 30 within the next decade. Demographics of many countries are being dramatically altered by the deaths of people during their most productive years, leaving behind a population of impoverished orphans.

Given the recent publicity the AIDS crisis in Africa has received, Richard Marlink, director of the Harvard AIDS Institute, said, ôThe level awareness around AIDS has been raised in the past year and a half to where weÆve read about it on the cover of all our magazines and newspapers. This was not a meeting to try to raise the level of awareness but rather to establish the principles of how we can work most effectively together.ö

The result of the summit was a document called the ôPrinciples of Collaboration to Confront AIDS in Africa,ö defining the partnership between the United States and African governments and African organizations to combat the disease. The document outlines three major tenets of the partnership, the most important being that Africa must take the lead in the partnership. This pre-condition was put forth by Prime Minister Geingob of Namibia, who addressed the summit Nov. 13.

In his remarks, Geingob called on leaders to intensify support ôWith African nations and not for African Nations; plan together with African nations and not for African nations in mobilizing human, technical and financial resources.ö Geingob specifically called attention to the substantial debt and endless poverty in which most African nations exist, and asked for financial support in the form of grants rather than ôexperts, lines of credit or debt.ö Geingob also encouraged African nations to take responsibility for ôimplementing home-grown solutions using local expertiseö to educate, conduct research and mobilize research against AIDS/HIV.

The second principle stipulates that both the U.S. and Africa must make a long-term commitment with mutual accountability and sustainable solutions to end the epidemic. ôPeople who disagree donÆt take their football and go home at the end of the day,ö said Marlink. ôso à itÆs establishing long-term collaborations with a long-term plan.ö

Lastly, the ôPrinciples of Collaborationö mandates that partnerships created to address the epidemic be made with the public health and human rights of Africans in mind.

While taking into account existing U.S. efforts, the summit focused on Africa-specific prevention, treatment, survival and action against HIV/AIDS, given that the profile of the epidemic is so drastically different from other areas of the world. For example, African AIDS is primarily a heterosexual epidemic, said Dr. Max Essex, chairman of the Harvard AIDS Institute. Furthermore, a different viral strain called HIV-1-C is responsible for the majority of African infections.

A common theme in the fight against AIDS/HIV in Africa was the issue of finances. ôI think what we need is a new awareness within the U.S., within the U.S. government, that many more of our resources, financial and otherwise, need to be denoted specifically to a resolution of these problems with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa,ö said Essex at a post-summit news conference Nov. 14. ôWe do quite a bit of AIDS research, here in the U.S. and in the West in general. Most of it is not directed to problems of developing countries and not nearly enough of it is directed specifically at the disproportionate level of this problem in sub-Saharan Africa.ö

Echoing his sentiments, Awa Marie Coll-Seck, M.D., director of department policy, strategy and research at the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), pointed out that, in Africa, access to advanced care is most often limited to a minority of people who can afford private treatment of the disease. Without increased funding, no country in Africa will be able to finance care for its people. ôWe need really to organize resources also at international level,ö she said, including the involvement of the private sector ù pharmaceutical companies, for example.

New treatments should be the priority for African nations, said Milly Katana, executive board member of UgandaÆs Global Network of People Living with AIDS, noting that past responses to the epidemic are no longer ôcommensurate with the magnitude of the problem.ö Katana called for increased access to medicines to treat opportunistic infections, which are the primary killers in Africa. She also emphasized the need for anti-retroviral treatment to restore the health of the infected population. Like her colleagues, Katana sees answers in greater financial resources for the poverty-stricken continent through international partnerships. ôDuring the summit the hope for survival for Africa has been brought forth as an integrated vision. To support à this integrated vision calls for all humanity to marshal efforts including resources to deal with threats Africa is facing,ö she said. ôTreatment is the priority.ö

Perhaps the strongest call for assistance at the news conference came from Botswanan President Mogae, who expressed disappointment with U.S. leaders for merely making ôsympathetic noises,ö about AfricaÆs AIDS crisis, particularly around the pressing issue of permission to access generic drugs. Mogae pointed out that many nations are far too deep in debt to afford anti-retroviral drugs for their people. ôMost pharmaceutical companies have come forward and are offering us discounts. Some of these discounts are very generous,ö he stated, but they are still more than countries can afford and they therefore are still not able to take full advantage of them. Mogae sees such access to generic drugs, which would bring medication into affordable price ranges, as a key weapon in taking immediate action. t
001110
BY001101

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2000. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2000. AEGiS. 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. .