Inter Press Service - September 13, 1999
Lewis Machipisa

Many more delegates also publicly voiced grave concern over the no show of African presidents to the meeting on the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome(AIDS) pandemic in Africa.

Not one head of state or government in Africa, including the host president Fredrick Chiluba who had been scheduled to officially open it, bothered to attend the opening of the ICASA conference, which runs until Sep. 16. A president's pre- conference, which had been scheduled for Sep. 12, had to be cancelled.

To the thousands of delegates who have converged here in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, this is a clear signal of the lack of seriousness and political will that African leaders commit to combating the disease, which now poses the foremost threat to development in Africa.

Some 5000 delegates from all over the world are attending the conference whose theme is 'Looking Into the Future, Setting Priorities for HIV/AIDS in Africa'. It had been hoped that African leaders would converge to undertake a critical appraisal of the response to the epidemic, and to stimulate the dialogue around issues relating to current and future priorities in the response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa.

Since the maiden ICASA conference in 1985, millions of Africans have died of AIDS.

According to Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS, there is now an HIV prevalence of more than 30 percent among women in some Eastern and Southern African cities.

In another stark example of the prevalence of the disease, the UNAIDS Executive Director noted that "one teacher in Cote d'Ivoire dies from AIDS almost every school day. The current situation should make us incredibly angry or incredibly sad."

According to figures from UNAIDS, it is now estimated that seven out of 10 people newly infected with HIV in 1998, lived in Sub-Saharan Africa. Among children under 15, the proportion is nine out of 10.

For example in Zambia, the chance that a 15-year-old will die of AIDS is 60 percent. In Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, current estimates show that more than one person in five, between the ages of 15 and 49, is living with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) or AIDS.

"These numbers are so staggering that they challenge the limits of our comprehension," noted Calisto Madavo, vice- president of the World Bank, Africa Region. "This epidemic is not only claiming lives, it is changing the very nature of life in Africa."

AIDS is now much more than a health problem, said Madavo. In more than a dozen countries, most of them in Southern and Eastern Africa, life expectancy by early next century will be 17 years shorter because of AIDS -- 47 instead of 64, a 25 percent reduction in life.

"Suppose for a minute that one of the building blocks of development in a country were to decline by a similar amount. A 25 percent drop in farm output would be considered an agricultural collapse," said Madavo, who conceded that the World Bank had not done enough to help combat the pandemic.

Not a single Sub-Saharan country spends more than one percent of the health budget on AIDS. In almost all African countries, the health budget is far below that of defence.

"Governments must lead and the international community must be prepared to support through a vigorous response and at once," appealed Madavo. "Only governments can create more favourable conditions for others to play their roles."

Madavo pledged more resources to deal with the disease. But he warned that the struggle was not mainly about money. "Without commitment, no amount of money can make a difference." (END/IPS/lm/pm/99)
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