United Press International - Friday, 14 July 2000
Ed Susman, UPI Science News

"Let us not equivocate," Mandela said at the closing address at the 13th International World AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, "a tragedy of unprecedented proportions is unfolding in Africa. AIDS in Africa is claiming more lives than the sum total of all wars, famines and floods, and the ravages of such deadly diseases as malaria." Mandela said scientists and people need to use current knowledge to fight the disease with improved education, preventive tactics and safe sexual practices. He decried that "so much unnecessary attention around this conference had been directed toward a dispute that is unintentionally distracting for the real life and death issues we are confronted as a country, a region, a continent and a world."

Mandela, the first president of the new, post-apartheid South Africa and cited as "the icon of the century," referred to a raging debate between the scientific community and Mandela's successor, President Thabo Mbeki, who has publicly questioned whether AIDS is caused by human immunodeficiency virus, the virus towards which virtually all medical attacks have been made.

"The challenge is to move from rhetoric to action," Mandela said to applause from the delegates, "and action at an unprecedented intensity and scale. AIDS is clearly a disaster, effectively wiping out the development gains of the past decades and sabotaging the future." The comments from Mandela were welcomed by conference chairman Dr. Hoosen Coovadia, professor of pediatrics at the University of Natal, Durban. "He has stilled the foment in my heart with his words," Coovadia said. Mandela pointed to strides made in cutting HIV-infection risks in Uganda, Senegal and Thailand. "Promoting abstinence, safe sex and the use of condoms and ensuring the early treatment of sexually transmitted diseases are some of the steps needed and about which there can be no dispute," he said.

He also urged:

-- Ensuring that people, especially youth have access to voluntary testing and confidential HIV counseling.

-- Introducing proven methods to prevent mother-to-child infection with the virus.

-- Addressing the stigmatization and discrimination that people living with HIV face.

--Providing safe and supportive environments for people affected by HIV/AIDS.

--Aggressively treat opportunistic infections that arise when an HIV-ravaged person's body loses its ability to defend itself against bacteria and fungi and other organisms.

Dr. Helene Gayle, director of the National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, said, "President Mandela gave an extraordinary speech, conveying the sense of what the meeting was about. He left the delegates with a sense of his commitment and a sense of optimism. He again showed why he is one of the greatest leaders of our time.

She said Mandela instilled in the 12,700 attendees at the meeting that "it's not about rhetoric, it's about action."

Earlier Friday, Mandela signed a contract with the US Agency for International Development that will pour $5 million of the next three to five years into the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund. The funds are earmarked to mobilize community support for children infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS.
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