PRESS BRIEFING BY UN POPULATION FUND

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY UN POPULATION FUND

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had donated $57 million to strengthen efforts to protect young people in Botswana, Ghana, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania against HIV/AIDS, Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), announced this morning at a Headquarters press briefing.

Joining Dr. Sadik were Daudi Ngelautwa Mwakawago, Permanent Representative of the United Republic of Tanzania, as well as Leutlwetse Mmualefe, Yaw Odei Osei and Fred Beyendeza, Deputy Permanent Representatives of Botswana, Ghana and Uganda, respectively. Those Governments, in partnership with UNFPA, two United States-based international non-governmental organizations -- PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health) and Pathfinder International -- and local groups will implement the programmes.

The largest ever private donation for HIV/AIDS programmes would fund a five- year initiative to expand national campaigns in the four countries that would educate youth about preventing HIV/AIDS and ensure that they could protect themselves, she said. As to the amount each country would receive, $7.9 million would go to Botswana, $14 million to Ghana, $15.3 million to Uganda and $16.5 million to the United Republic of Tanzania. An additional $3 million would go towards programme coordination, technical assistance, advocacy and monitoring.

The countries were selected, in consultation with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), based on need, demonstrated political will to address HIV/AIDS and government requests for such programmes, she continued. While Uganda and Botswana were obvious choices, Ghana and United Republic of Tanzania were countries in which cases of HIV/AIDS were on the rise and the political will, at the highest level, to deal with the issue existed.

She went on to say that during the five-year review held last year of the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994), governments had set a goal to reduce HIV/AIDS in young people aged 15 to 24. Also, at least 90 per cent of young people should have access to the means to prevent HIV/AIDS by 2005. In addition, HIV/AIDS prevention and control, particularly for young people, was among the initiatives mentioned in the Secretary-General's millennium proposal, which he announced yesterday.

She said that a reduction in infection rates could be brought about through the various components of the initiative, such as education, communication, advocacy, skills development and reproductive health information and services. The initiative also had a regional component for coordinating and providing technical assistance for implementing the programme in the four countries. Further, it had a component for sharing the experiences of the four countries with other countries.

Mr. Mwakawago said that the people of Tanzania were struggling to stem the tide of HIV/AIDS. The grant and the partnership with PATH and Pathfinders International would intensify efforts already undertaken by various stakeholders in the country and go a long way in saving future generations of Tanzanians. The need was huge and would require huge resources. He appealed to other institutions and countries to emulate the Gates Foundation in order to help defeat the scourge of HIV/AIDS.

Population Briefing - 2 - 4 April 2000

The long-standing partnership between the Ugandan Government and UNFPA had focused on three areas, namely reproductive health, population and development strategies and advocacy, stated Mr. Beyendeza. While some progress had been made, further assistance was needed, particularly in programmes addressing children, youth and women. Forty-seven per cent of Uganda's 20.8 million people were under the age of 15, the age at which most Ugandans become sexually active. The majority of young people lived in rural areas and faced various reproductive health problems. Two million Ugandans, mostly women and young people, had AIDS.

That posed a number of challenges for his country, he continued. In 1995, the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey established that the country had reached almost universal awareness about HIV/AIDS. At the same time, the necessary behavioural changes had not been consistent with the level of awareness. Also, access to health care was still very poor and some of the existing facilities were inadequate. While current national programmes, in conjunction with UNFPA, only covered about 18 per cent of the population, the new initiative would extend coverage to 100 per cent of the population.

The rapid spread of HIV/AIDS in the world, particularly in Africa, was a challenge to the economic and social development of the continent, said Mr. Osei. The loss of productive members of society and the soaring number of children orphaned by the pandemic were of grave concern to Ghana, which had put in place policies and programmes in such areas as the education of the girl child and HIV/AIDS prevention. The grant was an enormous support for his Government's efforts.

The HIV/AIDS situation in Botswana was alarming, Mr. Mmualefe stated. The AIDS rate among pregnant youth was 29 per cent for those between 15 to 19 years of age, 43 per cent for those between 20 to 24 and 45 per cent for those between 25 and 29. As the fight against HIV/AIDS required a multi-sectoral and coordinated approach, the Government had established a National Aids Coordinating Agency to coordinate all efforts at the national, sectoral and district levels. A National AIDS Council, chaired by his President, had been established to guide the implementation process and to mobilize awareness campaigns.

The initiative launched today was very timely in that it would go a long way in augmenting the resources that could be spent on combating HIV/AIDS, he continued. The problem at hand was enormous, it involved behavioural changes and it might not be resolved in the short-term. As a nation, Botswana was totally committed to the cause of fighting HIV/AIDS and would utilize the resources in the most optimal and transparent manner.

In response to a question on why behavioural changes in Uganda had lagged behind the near universal awareness of HIV/AIDS, Mr. Beyendeza replied that change had been very difficult and could possibly be attributed to particular factors, such as culture.

Dr. Sadik added that the problem of adolescents was universal. Young people often believed they were not vulnerable. Girls, in whom HIV/AIDS was more prevalent, were often not able to protect themselves. An important component of the initiative announced today was promoting behavioural change. The programme focused on youth, as opposed to the general population, due to the increasing number of AIDS cases among young people. In sub-Saharan Africa half of all new cases of HIV infection were among young people aged 15 to 24.

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