United Press International - Monday, 30 July 2001
William M. Reilly

Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis, just returned to U.N. headquarters said after his visit to East and Central Africa nations, meeting with high-level officials and grass-roots activists, he was "even more confident" that it would be possible to turn the tide of the pandemic despite the challenges facing the continent.

"We've all heard of the alleged crippling constraints -- from the tatters of the health infrastructure, to the absence of human resources, to bureaucracy that doesn't work," he said. "There is a lot of truth about those constraints but I want to say for one that it is a cruel and reckless distortion of reality to assume that the constraints must inhibit all intervention."

Added Lewis, "There is tremendous progress which can now be made in the face of the obstacles -- and indeed the entire continent can re-embrace survival and flourish if we overcome the obstacles."

Reasons for his optimism, Lewis said, were the "extraordinary and pervasive sense of awareness which now exists in country after country" that he visited. National leaders who had "undoubtedly overcome the denial which was explicit before" were now committed to battling the disease.

As an example, he said that in Kenya the government had paved the way for importing or even producing anti-retroviral drugs, while "impressive" efforts were continuing to produce a vaccine. Rwanda was making "extraordinary" efforts to cope, especially in preventing the mother-to-child HIV transmission, and Nigeria was taking unprecedented steps to combat the virus.

"It is the government's intention on Sept. 1 to begin a process of antiretroviral treatment in Nigeria which will be, at least initially, larger than anywhere else on the continent," he said. The effort would involve treating 10,000 adults and 5,000 children.

The Global AIDS and Health Fund proposed by Annan had "induced a spirit of hope and anticipation" among African countries, Lewis said.

In a related development, U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe said Annan had appointed Dr. Crispus Kiyonga of Uganda as the chairman of the Transitional Working Group for the establishment of the AIDS Fund.

Kiyonga -- acting national political advisor and minister without portfolio in Uganda's cabinet -- was previously Uganda's health minister and finance minister.

The Working Group will work through the end of this year to set up the fund in accordance with interim arrangements agreed upon during a Brussels meeting earlier this month between U.N. officials and representatives of the developed and developing nations, non-governmental organizations and the private sector.
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