Inter Press Service - July 28, 1999
Lewis Machipisa

According to the AF-AIDS, an independent e-mail forum provided by the Fondation du Present, a Swiss-based non-governmental organisation (ngo), only three developing countries devote more than one percent of their health budgets on HIV/AIDS.

The latest World Bank report, 'Confronting AIDS - Public Priorities in a Global Epidemic', also shows that none of the 11 developing countries that spent more than they received from donors over the past several years - which were also less than one percent of their health budgets - were African.

AF-AIDS says decision-makers view AIDS expenditure as a luxury that only more 'wealthy' nations can afford.

Many writers, contributing to the AF-AIDS discussion, titled 'What Governments Do and Say: Political Commitment and HIV/AIDS in Africa', have urged African governments to put in more money to fight HIV/AIDS.

"Experience has shown that active government involvement in the health sector is crucial if diseases, particularly AIDS is to be overcome," says one writer. "Only governments have the means and mandate to finance the public goods necessary for the monitoring and control of the disease..."

The discussion is intended to highlight issues in the lead up to the Eleventh International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) in Africa (ICASA), titled 'Looking into the Future: Setting priorities for HIV/AIDS in Africa', to be held in Lusaka, Zambia, on Sep 12-16.

According to Alex Otieno of the US-based Case Management Uniform Access Project geared towards helping People Living With HIV/AIDS, "governments are responsible for...the mobilization of resources and the availing and maintenance of infrastructure that are related to disease prevention and health promotion."

According to the United Nations, HIV/Aids is the number one killer in Africa. In its annual report, Progress of Nations 1999, the UN Children's Fund (Unicef), says the AIDS pandemic has surpassed armed conflict as the number one killer in the region.

Of the 144 million people who have so far succumbed to Aids globally, more than 11 million have been Africans. Last year alone, two million people in Africa died from the virus, it says.

A staggering 48 percent of world's HIV/AIDS cases are in eastern and southern Africa, making it the hardest hit region in the world.

Last year alone, Unicef says, some 1.4 million men, women and children in the sub-region region died of Aids, twice the number of people killed in the 1994 Rwanda genocide.

But even with such horrific figures, political commitment is lacking. "Africa is in dire straits. With most governments cash- strapped, inefficiently organised or faced with cross-border or internal strife, they are less likely to avail resources for such epidemics," Otieno says.

"It is, therefore, no surprise that Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Kenya are faced with serious problems with regard to health in general and HIV in particular. The case of South Africa is also illustrative given the history of Apartheid and racism and their impact on access to health," he adds.

Only Senegal and Uganda, Otieno says, have developed clear policies to fight the disease.

In Zambia, Jacob Shakumenzya Malungo, who is Researcher, Trainer, Advocator and Counsellor in HIV/AIDS, says, "Quite often, international agencies have had to take a leading, instead of a supplementing, role."

"In many cases, this has resulted in usage of foreign literature when the potential in the country is vast," he says.

"For Africa to move forward in dealing with HIV/AIDS, it is my contention that there has to be a combination of grassroots efforts, non-governmental organisations activism, the involvement of human rights lawyers, and of course political commitment," says Malungo.

Otieno says the role of the West also is crucial but should not be over-emphasised. "Partnerships between institutions and governmental departments of the North and South are almost impossible to ignore when we are dealing with a global health crisis".

"It is incumbent upon Africans and all concerned parties to ensure the mobilisation of public opinion and resources to deal with the pandemic," he says.(END/IPS/lm/mn/99)
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