Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Chicago Tribune - April 29, 2001
That an emergency exists is already obvious, given that two-thirds of the 36.1 million people infected with HIV on the planet live in sub-Saharan Africa. What's extraordinary is the African leaders finally seemed to start moving together to reinforce the notion that only a global effort will suffice to combat a global plague.
Many hoped the conference in Abuja with 22 heads of state and high government officials from 43 African nations would mark the turning point in Africa's so-far losing struggle against HIV/AIDS. It ought to. African leaders are to be commended for recognizing the need to work together to raise alarm, awareness and funds, at home and abroad, to make this their top priority.
"We are an endangered continent," observed the host, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, noting that 11.6 million Africans have died from AIDS in the past 15 years. "The sad reality is we are a dying continent and it will be a challenge to prevent a monumental catastrophe."
The catastrophe is already well under way. What's new is that the rest of the world is finally catching on.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan became the first global leader to put an actual price tag on the kind of global effort it will take to fight the AIDS epidemic effectively from Africa to India to Asia. Annan called at the Abuja conference for a global trust fund of between $7 billion and $10 billion to battle the deadly disease.
That is a staggering figure, but truth be told, it would probably be only a start. Annan pointed out that it would be little more than 1 percent of the world's annual military spending. Perhaps, but nations will be reluctant to donate to such a fund unless it is spent wisely as well.
The Bush administration seems to have discerned the importance of a global effort to combat AIDS. Secretary of State Colin Powell has put a new emphasis on Africa, and he is working with Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson to study the AIDS pandemic to come up with what Thompson calls a "Marshall Plan" to cope with the crisis.
Thompson is soliciting views from pharmaceutical companies and exploring international resources to find how best to fight the disease. He says a plan could range from building roads and hospitals to disseminating drugs and doctors to inspire a global effort.
Some things are already clear at the outset. Prevention must be the key priority: stop the further spread of the disease. That means seeking a vaccine, distributing drugs that prevent transmission of AIDS from mother to child, and intense education efforts on how HIV/AIDS is contracted. Beyond prevention, anti-retroviral drug therapies should be available at reduced prices in poverty-stricken places such as Africa.
Pharmaceutical companies recently withdrew a lawsuit in South Africa aimed at preventing the importation of cheaper anti-AIDS drugs. But that's just a start. South African AIDS victims are beset by problems faced all over Africa--poverty, poor education, traditional healers prescribing bad solutions, and a woefully inadequate medical infrastructure.
Leadership is essential, as well--South African President Thabo Mbeki not long ago questioned whether HIV causes AIDS. Until African leaders speak with one voice, without equivocation, about the AIDS crisis and how to combat it, no global effort will succeed.
May Abuja be the turning point.
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