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Carol Bellamy issues challenge on HIV/AIDS pandemic |
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| Wednesday, 15 September 1999: The countries of
sub-Saharan Africa need a massive infusion of resources if they are to make any
significant headway against the growing pandemic of HIV/AIDS, UNICEF Executive
Director Carol Bellamy said today. In an address to the XIth International Conference on AIDS and STDs in Africa meeting in the Zambian capital, Ms. Bellamy called the pandemic "the world's most terrible undeclared war" saying it had turned sub-Saharan Africa into a killing field. "Some 200,000 people, most of them children and women, died in 1998 as a result of armed conflict on the African continent," Ms. Bellamy said, "and yet 2 million Africans were killed by AIDS in that same year." "Poor countries need more than encouragement," in the fight against HIV/AIDS, the Executive Director said. "They need income support, debt relief and strong social safety nets. Most of all, they need resources." Ms. Bellamy called on the international community to "eliminate the staggering inequities and inequalities that are contributing to the spread of the pandemic - along with many other consequences of global poverty." With the explosive spread of the virus straining resources and capabilities at all levels, she challenged African leaders to consider new ways to attack the crisis at the country level, suggesting that they set short-term targets for achievement of specific goals for prevention and treatment. While praising the efforts of sub-Saharan African Governments to cope with the pandemic on various official levels, Ms. Bellamy said it was important to help mobilize communities to help themselves. "The key is to recognise the poor as key actors in their own development," Ms. Bellamy said, "rather than as passive recipients of services and commodities dispensed by health care workers, teachers, religious leaders and others.'' The UNICEF chief called special attention to rising numbers of AIDS orphans, the problem of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and the need to give youth a primary role in efforts to inform young people about the dangers posed by the pandemic and how they can protect themselves. "The international community, the United Nations, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and African leaders at many levels have worked tirelessly to bring peace to places like Liberia and Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo," Ms. Bellamy said. "We must ratchet up the fight against HIV/AIDS to that same level of intensity and public visibility - and we must do it now." According to US Government figures, the United States spends $880 million a year fighting HIV/AIDS, in the face of 40,000 new cases annually. But Africa, which must deal with 4 million new cases a year, spends only between $149 million and $160 million. "This is simply unacceptable," the UNICEF chief said. She said UNICEF was moving to significantly strengthen its support of governments and non-governmental partners to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa, bolstering staff in regional and country offices while stepping up country-level support for practical action. At the same time, UNICEF, with the help of UNAIDS partners, is working to coordinate closely with other UN agencies. Though care-givers throughout sub-Saharan Africa are rendering heroic services in tending to orphans and the terminally ill, she said, the traditional African way of relying on the extended family to care for children orphaned by AIDS is becoming increasingly untenable. "Many households can barely afford to keep the children, let alone afford to send them to school - and as a result, orphans are often among the first to be denied the right to an education. Given these worsening conditions, it is clear that alternative models of orphan care are needed." Because mother-to-child transmission of HIV is the leading cause of infection among young children in Africa, Ms. Bellamy said it was essential to encourage all women to learn their HIV status. She also called for support of preventative measures, including advice on infant-feeding options. Ms. Bellamy noted that UNICEF has taken the lead in efforts to reduce the risk of mother-to-child HIV transmission, and has begun pilot interventions in 11 countries to provide voluntary and confidential testing and counselling for pregnant women. Women found to be HIV-positive will receive one of the recently developed short-course anti-retroviral drug regimens along with advice on infant feeding options and support for the method of their choice. Ms. Bellamy said UNICEF was also working on an urgent basis with WHO and other partners of UNAIDS to assess the promising implications of the drug, Nevirapine, whose effectiveness has undergone initial study in Uganda by the US National Institutes of Health. The indications are that Nevirapine can reduce HIV transmission by 50 per cent with a single dose to mother and infant - at a per-treatment cost of about $4. Noting that the future course of the HIV/AIDS pandemic lies in the hands of young people, Ms. Bellamy said it is "absolutely vital to arm them with the knowledge they need to protect themselves and their communities." She said UNICEF had moved to redouble its efforts to mobilise and support programmes to address the rights of young people to development and to participation. These include supporting the right of adolescents to information and life skills, which UNICEF and its partners are doing through a range of activities in schools and through NGOs and the media in countries like Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia; and promoting youth-friendly health services in countries like Zambia and Kenya. |
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| Please email media@unicef.org with comments or requests for more information, quoting CF/DOC/PR/1999/38 |
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