CONFRONTING HIV/AIDS "A POINT OF HONOUR, NOT A SOURCE OF SHAME", SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS PARTNERS AGAINST AIDS IN AFRICA

Press Release
SG/SM/7247

CONFRONTING HIV/AIDS ‘A POINT OF HONOUR, NOT A SOURCE OF SHAME’, SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS PARTNERS AGAINST AIDS IN AFRICA

Following is the statement by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the meeting on international partnerships against HIV/AIDS in Africa, delivered on 6 December:

Let me first of all welcome you to United Nations Headquarters. I think we all know why we are here. The world faces a humanitarian emergency in Africa beyond the imagination of those who do not live there. The scale of this emergency requires us to act decisively, with the full weight of the community of nations.

Twenty years ago, the global community had not even heard of AIDS. Today, the AIDS pandemic -- unexpected, unexplained, unspeakably cruel -- presents us, especially in Africa, with a tragedy we can barely comprehend, let alone manage.

Africa's southern and eastern region, with less than five per cent of the world's population, is home to more than 50 per cent of those living with HIV. It is where 60 per cent of all AIDS deaths have happened so far. And it is where a whole generation of children is now losing its parents to AIDS. By the end of this year, the global epidemic will have left 11 million orphans -- and 90 per cent of them will be African children.

All this is an unbearable tragedy and burden for millions of individuals and their families. It is also devastating the economies of their countries. It is taking away both breadwinners and those who look after the young, the old, and the infirm. It is destroying the very fabric of society. AIDS leaves poor societies poorer still, and thus even more vulnerable to infection. It brings in its wake discrimination, prejudice, and often violations of human rights. It is taking away not only Africa's present, but also its future.

This unprecedented crisis requires an unprecedented response -- a response from all of us, whoever and wherever we are. A response that makes humanity live up to its name. The epidemic is terrible, but we are not powerless against it. Already strong forces of hope and faith are showing us what can be done. In many cases, Africa itself is leading the counter-attack.

Most African governments have now understood that the first battle to be won in the war against AIDS is the battle to smash the wall of silence and stigma surrounding it -- and that official recognition of the problem is the

first step towards dealing with it. They are also speaking out, making a real effort to involve the whole of society in the struggle.

In Uganda, the battle against AIDS has been given top priority. From the President down, every possible medium has been used to get the message out, so that virtually every Ugandan knows about AIDS -- and knows what has to be done to stop it spreading. As a result, Uganda is one of the first African countries where levels of infection have been stabilized. In Botswana, a nationwide plan for combating AIDS was launched by President Mogae last year, with 80 per cent of the funding coming from within the country. In Lesotho, the AIDS budget has been doubled. In Namibia, the cabinet has approved a new national AIDS programme; and in South Africa a new partnership, involving all branches of Government and civil society, including the private sector, was launched last October. These are just some of the African countries which are now backing up words with deeds.

Community groups and non-governmental organizations in Africa are doing remarkable work, both to limit the spread of AIDS and to alleviate the suffering it causes. Groups like the Women and AIDS Support Network in Zimbabwe are educating, counselling, and organizing women and girls to make informed choices about their own health; to communicate with sexual partners about HIV and safer sex; and to lobby policy-makers for better protection of women's health. They also provide compassionate care for women affected by HIV/AIDS -- both those infected with the virus themselves, and those whose lives are devastated by the illness of their loved ones.

The women in this Network helped teach Zimbabwe -- and the world -- that this disease feeds on the unfair treatment of women by men. And they organized a successful petition drive to persuade the Government to make female condoms available throughout the country.

Private corporations, too, can play a critical role in this battle -- for instance by providing premises for HIV education, by giving protection and support to their employees, and by taking a lead within the wider community.

In Nigeria, the Chevron oil company has taken an imaginative and tenacious approach to HIV prevention, working to protect the wider community as well as its own workforce. In South Africa, the electricity-generating company Eskom, which has over 37,000 employees, has for the last six years made HIV/AIDS one of its strategic priorities. As a result, it can now guarantee benefits to employees with AIDS and their families, and has funded clinics which offer tests, immune-system monitoring, and medical support. In Zimbabwe, Rio Tinto has taken steps to protect its skilled workforce. It has formed AIDS action groups, led by volunteer employees, to act as counsellors and lead education campaigns among their colleagues. And it is providing condoms to the largely male staff in its mining camps, many of whom face long periods of separation from their wives.

And throughout southern Africa medical research projects, education efforts and social support mechanisms are being backed by the new public-private partnership "Secure the Future", to which Bristol-Myers Squibb has donated $100 million for the next five years.

These are encouraging examples. But they are far from being enough. A crisis on such a scale calls for a comprehensive and coordinated strategy. That is the purpose of this meeting: to plan a response that is commensurate with the scale of AIDS in Africa. A response of partnership among all actors -- governments, business, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and local people. A response of action on all fronts.

Over the past year, many agencies and donors have come to realize that we must have such a strategy, if we are to have any hope of defeating AIDS in Africa. We are here today to formulate that strategy and to build that partnership. The following, I believe, must be our priority objectives: to break the conspiracy of silence at every level; to meet the needs of those already infected and their families; to make effective treatment available, at a price African societies can afford; to speed up the work on developing a vaccine; and to use every available means to halt the spread of the disease. To achieve those objectives, we need to create new institutions and mechanisms and, of course, to mobilize resources.

This is the first gathering of all the partners who need to come together to build such a comprehensive response. Amazingly, it is the first time in the fight against AIDS that members of African Governments have sat down together with the United Nations and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) donors; with the private sector and foundations; and with members of international civil society. It is a unique chance for each of us to learn from the others' experiences, to hear what others have to offer, and to understand what others need from us. It is an opportunity to move beyond flag- waving, boundary-setting and turf-squabbling into working together in a truly coordinated response, at the country level as well as in formulating global strategy.

Each one of us has a specific part to play. First, the actual work of care and education can only be done by local people working in their own communities. It is they, the poorest and the weakest, who are bearing the greatest burden. Inspired by their example, all of us must make ourselves their true partners. We must listen to their needs and their assessments, and give them the strategic support they so richly deserve.

Second, political leaders in Africa must continue to provide the vision and purpose to drive national responses forward. That leadership cannot come from the outside. We look to African Governments to take the lead in obliterating the stigma surrounding AIDS at every level of society, and thus make every man, woman and child in their countries understand that facing up to it is a point of honour, not a source of shame. It is up to them to convince donors and corporate partners that they mean business, and fighting this disease is their top priority.

Third, NGOs -- both national and international -- must engage from top to bottom their need in making policy and in implementing it. They are invaluable partners in both advocacy and in the field. They must speak up on behalf of the men, women and children affected by this epidemic; they must work to ensure their need, rather than high visibility, is guiding all our efforts; they must insist on transparency and accountability from Governments, and from international organizations -- and also from themselves.

Fourth, the corporate sector and foundations must work with all the other partners to find ways of easing the epidemic's worst impacts; to help fund and run programmes of prevention and therapy; to protect and educate the local workforce; to educate and convince their own shareholders and clients; to address the need for affordable medicine and research into a vaccine. Fifth, we in the United Nations system must make the struggle against AIDS a true priority in our work throughout Africa, on an equal footing with our work for peace and security. Each in its own sector must provide best practice and authoritative guidance: the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in health; the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in responding to the needs of children and young people; the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank in social and economic policy; the United Nations International Drug Control Programme in fighting the drug-related spread; the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in education.

And all of us -- every fund, every programme, every agency -- must coordinate our efforts. Today, I ask all United Nations agencies working in sub-Saharan Africa to put this issue at the top of their agenda, and to seek guidance and leadership from UNAIDS. Which means, of course, that UNAIDS must be ready and able to provide that leadership, both intellectual and organizational. This partnership must be more than the sum of its parts.

Finally, donors -- the OECD countries -- must make more resources available to fight the epidemic. The money now being spent by the international community in fighting AIDS in Africa is less than a drop in the ocean compared with the $22 trillion combined Gross National Product of the world's high-income countries. The challenge of AIDS cannot be met without resources. But donors can and must do more than that. They must adopt policies and priorities that meet the needs of the countries affected. And they must raise awareness in their own countries that AIDS is not over. That AIDS is far more than a medical problem. That AIDS is far more than a national problem. That AIDS is a threat to an entire generation -- indeed, a threat to human civilization as a whole.

Today we start a period of intense planning and development. Over the next two days, we will explore better ways of responding to the epidemic, as individuals, as members of our respective organizations and Governments, and as partners. By next May, at the latest, we must have an agreed plan of action. And each year, we must be able to report significant progress in meeting our goals. We have only five years to meet the target set by the special session of the General Assembly last June -- that, in the most affected countries, infections in young people aged from 15 to 24 should be reduced by one quarter before the year 2005.

Our response so far has failed Africa. From now on, let us resolve that failure is not an option.

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