ESCALATING CRISIS IN RURAL AFRICA MAIN CONCERN AT ECOSOC MEETING OF MINISTERS, UN AGENCY HEADS IN NEW YORK, 30 APRIL

ESCALATING CRISIS IN RURAL AFRICA MAIN CONCERN AT ECOSOC MEETING

OF MINISTERS, UN AGENCY HEADS IN NEW YORK, 30 APRIL

A coordinated United Nations system approach to the deadly triad of heightened food insecurity, a rampaging AIDS epidemic and severely debilitated public agencies that is laying waste to much of the countryside of sub-Saharan Africa will be among the topics of discussion tomorrow at a meeting of United Nations agency chiefs and governmental representatives, under the auspices of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

An increasing toll in life and an unravelling of the social and economic fabric in severely affected countries, especially in southern and eastern Africa, is characterized by a three-way vicious cycle:  as AIDS decimates the working-age population, food production and distributiondeclinesslow, reducing nourishment and heightening vulnerability to the disease.  Similarly, illness and death among the public sector, which is typically one of the largest employer s in these countries, reduces the capacity of the government to support farmers and to contain AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other tropical killers.

The interrelated nature of the crisis in southern and eastern Africa highlights the importance of a coordinated approach to rural development in all regions, which is the theme ECOSOC is dealing with tomorrow, as well as at its high-level meeting beginning 30 June in Geneva.

According to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), three quarters of the world’s poor live in agricultural areas of the developing countries and depend largely on agriculture and related activities for their livelihoods.

Lennart Baåge, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development; Food and Agriculture Organization Director-General Jacques Diouf; and Under-Secretary-General Ibrahim Gam bar i, the Special Adviser on Africa, will be the first three speakers in the 30 April morning session, beginning at 9:45 a.m. in the ECOSOC Chamber.

Among those leading round-table discussions from 11:15 to 1:30 p.m. will be United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Carol Bellamy and United Nations Population Fund Executive Director Thoraya Obaid.  The Minister and Adviser

to the Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Mesfin Abebe, will lead one of the round tables beginning at 3 p.m., as will Edward Rugumayo, Ugandan Minister of Tourism, Trade and Industry.

For more information or to arrange interviews, contact Tim Wall of the Development Section of the United Nations Department of Public Information,
tel.: 1-212-963-5851, e-mail: wallt@un.org.

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