ECA Press Release No. 25/2004
Africa's Future Depends on Treatment for People Living with HIV, AIDS Commissioner Warns
Addis Ababa, 14 October 2004 (ECA) – The former Prime Minister of Mozambique, Pascoal Mocumbi, has warned of devastating consequences for Africa if HIV-positive people are not given treatment.
"The very future of our societies is tied to keeping these people alive," he told hundreds of delegates at the African Development Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
"There is no escaping the fact that the loss of teachers, health workers and civil servants at the rates witnessed today threatens deterioration and eventual collapse," he said. "The cost of writing off HIV- infected people is too high to contemplate."
Mr Mocumbi was giving a preview of the likely findings of the Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa that is due to report to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in June 2005.
Mr Mocumbi is a patron of CHGA, as is former President of Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda.
He said that there are still gaps in knowledge of HIV’s impact on governance, particularly on the skills base in all sectors of society even though such knowledge was vitally needed.
“We have little or no information on the ramifications of mortality amongst senior government officials…
What effects are such losses having on the delivery of public services, economic development and national security?” he asked. “At what point might institutions or states as a whole simply cease to function?”
Mr Mocumbi said CHGA’s work would help governments understand the impact of AIDS on human capacity and related planning and budgetary implications.
He called on governments to rethink their growth and development strategies taking HIV/AIDS into account. “There is no evidence that any country has begun to address comprehensively the human resource planning challenges raised by the HIV epidemic,” he said.
CHGA aims to provide governments with practical recommendations on up-scaling prevention, treatment and care programmes who need it. Mr Mocumbi acknowledged that extending the lifespan of the HIV- infected remains Africa's greatest challenge.(ENDS)
MEDIA ADVISORY
The Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance (CHGA) CHGA is chaired by the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, K.Y. Amoako and was set up in 2003 to consider the long-term impact of the AIDS pandemic on Africa and make recommendations. It concluded its third meeting on Wednesday evening, 13 October 2004. The two CHGA patrons and 13 commissioners were present, including Peter Piot, Richard Feachem, Bassare Toure and Paulo Teixeira.
Members of the Commission Thursday morning addressed a plenary session of the African
Development Forum hosted by the UN Economic Commission of Africa at his conference centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to report back on their meeting and give a preview of what will be contained in the final
CHGA report in June 2005.
On Monday October 12, over one hundred Ethiopian civil society members including NGO
representatives, policy makers and UN agencies from across Africa met in a “CHGA Interactive” session to discuss the impact of HIV/AIDS on rural communities and on food security.
The meeting discussed key challenges such as the burden of increased health care costs, failing rural safety nets; and the problems of elderly caregivers and foster parents. Those present called for a holistic response encompassing prevention, mitigation strategies and increased access to treatment and care.
For more information on the Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa, please contact:
Fabian Assegid,
Tel: +251-1-445066 or 445408, Email: fassegid@uneca.org.
The fourth African Development Forum was opened Monday 11 October 2004 in Addis Ababa by Ethiopian Prime Minister, H.E. Meles Zenawi. Details of the opening session, audio and video clips, speeches, documents and the programme can be found at http://www.uneca.org/adf/
Issued by the ECA Communication Team P.O. Box 3001
Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Tel: +251-1-44-58-26 Fax: +251-1-51-03-65 Email: ecainfo@uneca.org Web: www.uneca.org
