Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia, Inc.; Saturday, December 6, 1997
Matthew Bunce

The Monitoring the AIDS Pandemic (MAP) Network said a mosaic of AIDS epidemics across Africa painted a grim picture but it said more voluntary testing and early prevention efforts could help to curb the virus's spread.

It was presenting its recommendations at a news conference ahead of Africa's top AIDS conference in Ivory Coast's commercial capital of Abidjan.

"Tremendous efforts are needed to develop capacities for voluntary HIV testing leading to early care and support," said Daniel Tarantola, director of Harvard School of Public Health's International AIDS programme and co- chairman of the group.

Africa accounts for two-thirds of the estimated 30.6 million people in the world infected by the HIV virus that causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), which kills by destroying the body's resistance to disease.

"Of 10 pregnant women with HIV around the world, eight are in Africa," said Tarantola. "Of 10 children infected with the AIDS virus each year, nine are in Africa."

Africa also has 7.4 million of the world's nine million AIDS orphans.

Isaac Bibila Macauley of Cameroon's Ministry of Public Health said one third of pregnant women seen at clinics there were infected with HIV, although the rate of the spread of the virus was stabilising.

The 10th International Conference on Sexually Transmitted Disease and AIDS in Africa opens late on Sunday and runs until December 11.

MAP said it wanted a sharp focus on AIDS prevention and some AIDS workers said Uganda, which is importing millions of female condoms and has a strong government-led anti-AIDS strategy, could be regarded as a model.

"In Uganda we are seeing a drop in the number of HIV cases in 15 to 19-year- olds," said Peter Way, senior research analyst at the United States' Bureau of Census.

Cameroon and Zimbabwe are promoting condom usage and condoms are increasingly being used in South Africa where infection rates have rocketed. Infection rates among pregnant women in southern Africa are running as high as 45 percent.

"We have to persuade people to buy condoms rather than just hand them out," said Tarantola, arguing that this would encourage greater commitment to their use.

MAP also wants to cut the levels of sexually transmitted diseases which it said increased the likelihood of HIV infection.

One test in Mwanza in Tanzania showed HIV infections dropped by two-thirds in a community where diseases such as syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhoea had been targeted.

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