Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Cresent Societies - 22 September 2003
Pekka Reinikainen in Nairobi
"If we bury our educators, if the workers who build our roads die, if the mothers and fathers of our children are perishing, then this is not just an emergency. This is a question of the survival of the nations of sub-Saharan Africa."
Shimelis is very clear on one point û time is running out. In countries like Botswana, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, between 30 and 40 per cent of the population is infected.
"If the present situation continues unabated these nations are in fact risking their very existence within a couple of generations. What can be done has to be done now. If we do not reverse this catastrophic tragedy the rest of us will eventually be in the same danger," President Shimelis says. "This possibility is totally unacceptable!"
He stresses that with HIV/AIDS being such a pressing issue in Africa, many important related questions tend to get bypassed, such as the crucial role of the elderly.
"Because so many parents are either unable to take care of their children or have died, it is left to the grandparents to care for their grandchildren. They need significant support," Shimelis says.
"We try to take care of people who test positive for HIV, but we ignore those testing negative. Yet, they need encouragement in maintaining their HIV-negative status. They could become important and credible messengers in our fight to prevent infections, if we use the window of opportunity available to us at Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) Centres."
Shimelis Adugna is an ambassador of an initiative to present an East African HIV/AIDS Pledge to the statutory meetings of the Red Cross Red Crescent family this coming autumn. Senior officials from regional Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are currently finalising the pledge.
The first proposed goal is curbing mother-to-child transmission of HIV. The initiators of the pledge are building on a vision that National Societies, governments and other willing partners would commit themselves to reduce mother-to-child infections in their respective countries by a third by the year 2007.
"This means that there will have to be a comprehensive testing and counselling system for pregnant women. Reaching the goal also requires a sustained policy of provision of anti-retroviral medicine to all HIV positive mothers so that their children do not become orphans," Shimelis points out.
"We have been fighting a losing battle for years now. We need successes to finally turn the tide. That requires setting realistic goals. I genuinely believe in aiming at it being normal for pregnant women to access antenatal care services to reduce risk of transmission," he adds.
The pledge initiative was discussed by the technicians at the Red Cross Red Crescent HIV/AIDS Satellite Meeting from 19 to 20 September in Nairobi Kenya.
Over 50 Red Cross and Red Crescent delegates from 12 African countries, as well as representatives from several donor National Societies and the Federation, spent two days discussing and evaluating the progress made by the Movement in the areas of prevention, care, partnership with People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), fighting stigma and discrimination, and managing HIV/AIDS in the workplace.
The satellite meeting was organised by the Eastern African RC-Net Health and Care Working Group together with the Federation's Regional Delegation in preparation for the 13th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA), which got under way in Nairobi on Sunday.
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