Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia - Wednesday November 5, 2003
Marta Odallah

Lula, on the third leg of an African tour, said Brazil's technical and policy know-how could be a big help for Mozambique, which like much of Southern Africa is gripped by some of the worst HIV /AIDS infection rates in the world.

"We intend to produce anti-retroviral drugs here in Mozambique in the shortest possible time," Lula told a joint news conference with host Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano.

Lula gave no details on his plan to produce anti-retroviral drugs but has made promoting Western financial help for Africa's infrastructure and general social and economic development a theme of his tour.

He arrived in Mozambique Tuesday from Angola and Sao Tome and Principe -- the three Portuguese-speaking countries on his five-nation tour. He will also visit regional economic giant South Africa and Namibia.

Early this year, a senior official of the continental group African Union (AU) said Brazil would build three plants to manufacture cheap anti-AIDS drugs in Africa, offering a lifeline to millions of sufferers in the world's poorest continent.

Brazil has been heralded as a pioneer in making copycat anti-AIDS drugs, to the ire of the pharmaceutical industry, and is now held as a model in the fight against AIDS, having kept HIV-infections to less than one percent of its population.

Africa is home to more than 70 percent of the estimated 42 million people worldwide infected with HIV, the virus that causes the deadly disease.

In the southern tip of the continent, infection rates in some countries are in excess of 30 percent and experts say average life expectancy of people in some countries will drop below 40 by 2010 as the disease shortens the lives of millions.

A prevention campaign combined with a successful strategy of negotiating better prices on AIDS drugs by threatening to issue compulsory licenses has slashed AIDS-related deaths in Brazil. Africa hopes to draw from Brazil's experience.

Lula and Chissano also signed a package of agreements on cooperation in a wide range of areas -- including agriculture, education, health and technology.

In South Africa, Lula and his host Thabo Mbeki will discuss reform of the United Nations, improving bilateral economic ties, and accelerating cooperation between the 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Latin America's Mercosur trade group, South African officials said.

(Additional reporting by Manoah Esipisu)

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