Inter Press Service - September 15, 1999
Anthony Mukwita
"Some 200,000 people, most of them children and women, died in 1998 as a result of armed conflict on the continent of Africa," said Carol Bellamy, UNICEF's executive director, Wednesday at the 11th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Africa.
During the same year, Bellamy added, "two million people were killed by AIDS".
She challenged African leaders to consider new ways to tackle the crisis at the national level, and suggested that they set short-term targets to achieve specific goals for prevention and treatment.
"We know that most African countries which have been worst hit by the scourge, are also struggling with servicing foreign debt," Bellamy said, adding that " maybe if the debt burden is reduced, more resources could be allocated to fight AIDS."
"The international community, the UN, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and African leaders at many levels have worked tirelessly to bring peace to places like Liberia and Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo," Bellamy said.
Bellamy added that "the fight against HIV/AIDS" must be " at that same level of intensity and public visibility, and we must do it now."
The new African Partnership Against AIDS, launched Tuesday at the conference by the World Bank and UNAIDS, has set a goal to reduce HIV infections among young people between the ages of 15 to 24 by 25 percent in the most affected African countries by 2005, and in all African countries by 2010.
The international partnership also includes UNICEF, the United Nations Development Programme, and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Dr Ebrahim Samba, the Africa Regional director for WHO, said the cost of fighting AIDS is becoming too much for impoverished African countries. "HIV/AIDS has had a crippling effect on health systems in Africa...We must put greater resources towards stopping the continuing spread of HIV, but we must also support countries that face a looming health crisis over the next decade," Samba said.
The conference, which has brought together delegates from Africa, Europe and the United States, ends in Lusaka on Thursday. (END/IPS/am/pm/99)
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