The San Francisco Chronicle - Saturday, July 8, 2000

It is sadly fitting that the conference is being held in a host country where -- according to UNAIDS, the U.N. agency that deals with AIDS -- more people are living with the deadly virus there than any other nation on Earth.

Twenty percent of South Africa's adult population is infected with HIV, nearly double what it was only two years ago, reports Chronicle Staff Writer Sabin Russell who is covering the meeting of 10,000 scientists, researchers and activists that starts tomorrow in Durban.

About half of the 15-year-olds in African nations hardest hit by AIDS -- including South Africa -- will eventually die of the disease, according to a UNAIDS prediction. An entire generation is at risk.

The location of the weeklong conference has created unprecedented interest in Africa's AIDS crisis, which has ravaged the continent with little attention from Western nations preoccupied with their own lesser battles with the disease.

Statistics on the pandemic are stunning. UNAIDS reported last month the disease has killed 18.8 million people worldwide and infected another 34.5 million -- 85 percent of them in Africa.

Average life expectancies fell six years in 45 sub-Saharan African nations during the past decade because of AIDS, according to The World Health Organization.

The AIDS toll in human lives -- illness, death, broken families and orphaned children -- is being reflected in a devastating impact on African economic progress, education, trade, investment and development.

The sheer magnitude of the tragedy has finally focused international attention on Africa, and moved Western nations to act. Yesterday, a German drug company -- Boehringer Ingelheim -- announced it will donate its drug Viramune free of charge for five years to developing countries to help prevent mother- to-child HIV infections.

The drug giveaway was part of an initiative by five large pharmaceutical companies to dramatically reduce the cost of HIV treatments, which cost about $12,000 a year, far beyond the reach of most Africans.

The frustrating search for a vaccine, the holy grail of AIDS research, remains a distant glimmer on the horizon. Meanwhile, drug companies must be persuaded to slash costs of AIDS medicines or give them away free. If they won't reduce their prices enough, governments should subsidize the costs.

While waiting for a cure, Western nations must intensify AIDS education, prevention and treatment programs in Africa and the developing world. Testing and counseling should be universally available; AIDS medicine should be free to needy patients, and impoverished nations should be given debt relief to free up cash for the fight against AIDS.

A desperate Africa cries out to the consciences of the Western world for help, and can no longer be ignored, whatever the financial cost.

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