Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1995. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia, Inc. - 10 Dec 1995
Edmond Kizito / Reuter

"Education on (AIDS) prevention should be intensified and emphasised," the French researcher, one of the world's leading experts and a discoverer of the disease, told reporters in Uganda where a continental AIDS conference is being held.

"Research should also be done into African herbal treatment with a view of finding ways of controlling AIDS," he added, referring to traditional African medicines which people on the world's poorest continent have turned to in an effort to treat the disease.

Montagnier, Chairman of the World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention, said his group planned to establish several AIDS pilot centres throughout the world, whose primary role is AIDS training programmes as well as blood testing.

"The first centre in Africa will be based in Abidjan. It will be the only one in Africa," he said, but did not indicate when the facility in Ivory Coast's capital would be operational.

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), which destroys the body's immune system and leaves it vulnerable to other diseases, has hit Africa hard.

Some 11 million African adults and one million children have the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) which leads to AIDS, according to figures compiled by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the conference sponsor. These figures show registered cases and underestimate the overall infection, experts say.

If the present trend continues, WHO researchers say, by 2010 AIDS will lower the average life expectancy to 33 years from 66 in Zambia; to 40 years from 70 in Zimbabwe, to 40 from 68 years in Kenya and to 31 from 43 years in Uganda.

Delegates said AIDS was difficult to contain in Africa where facilities for basic hygiene, like running water and sanitation, are difficult to come by and where condoms, which provide the best protection, are often a luxury that most cannot afford.

Widespread poverty has also helped AIDS to spread in Africa by encouraging young girls to engage in prostitution at a very early age, said Omwony-Ojok, chairman of the state Uganda Aids Commission.

In Uganda, health ministry figures show 1.8 million people -- 10 percent of the total population -- have the HIV. Some 46,120 people are known to be suffering from full-blown AIDS but officials admit the total may be three times higher.

The Ninth International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Africa will appraise the latest developments in AIDS research and agree new strategies to deal with the crisis, said conference chairman Dr Sam Okware.

The five-day global forum is being attended by 3,000 delegates and observers and will be formally opened by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
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