ECA Press Release No. 23/2004
EXPERTS, NGOS DISCUSS HIV/AIDS IMPACT ON RURAL COMMUNITIES IN AFRICA
Addis Ababa, 11 October 2004 (ECA) - Leading members of the global HIV/AIDS community and African NGOs meet in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Tuesday to discuss the impact of HIV/AIDS on Africa's rural populations.
The meeting is convened by the Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa (CHGA), a body set up last year to track the long term impact of the pandemic in Africa.
This "CHGA Interactive" session will focus on the way rural communities are being affected by HIV/AIDS, on the specific pressures experienced by women and ways to mitigate the problems. It will also discuss the problems of maintaining food security in the context of severe HIV epidemics.
This is the third CHGA Interactive. The first CHGA Interactive was held in Mozambique in March this year.
The second, in July, took place in Botswana and focused on treatment and care of people living with HIV/AIDS. Two further sessions are planned for Cameroon and Ghana. The goal of the CHGA Interactive is to exchange views with civil society organizations on the issues of AIDS and governance, informing civil society about the work of CHGA, and obtaining civil society inputs into CHGA's own deliberations and recommendations. CHGA's final report is due to be submitted to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in June 2005. The Commission is chaired by K.Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa and its patrons are the former president of Zambia, HE Kenneth Kaunda, and the former prime minister of Mozambique, HE Pascoal Mocumbi. The Commission includes prominent international figures among its members, including Joy Phumaphi, the World Health Organisation's assistant Director General, Peter Piot, head of UNAIDS and Richard Feachem, head of the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. (ENDS) (ENDS)
MEDIA ADVISORY
The Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance convenes three meetings this week around key thematic areas of research and its final report and is the focus of a plenary debate in the fourth African Development Forum, Addis Ababa.
1) CHGA Interactive Ethiopia meets October 12th on two interrelated themes: (i) Impact of HIV/AIDS on food security; and (ii) Impact of HIV/AIDS on Rural Livelihood. The purpose of the sub-regional interactive process is to solicit and delineate the recommendations of these key groups on CHGA’s final report.
2) CHGA will also convene its Third CHGA Commissioners' Meeting on October 13-14. Commissioners will meet to decide on the direction, structure as well as likely messages of the Commission’s final report.
Fifteen CHGA Commissioners have confirmed their attendance at the events, including CHGA Patrons HE Kenneth Kauanda and HE Pascoal Mocumbi, and Commissioners Peter Piot, Richard Feachem, Bassary Toure and Joy Phumaphi.
3) In addition to these activities, Commissioners will also attend a special ADF plenary session scheduled for the 14th of October on "the Impact of HIV/AIDS on Africa’s capacity to govern and the challenge of scaling up treatment."
The Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa is a UN system-wide initiative, involving partnerships with a number of UN agencies, as well as leading institutions, in Africa and internationally, on aspects of research, policy engagement and implementation. Under the Chairmanship of the
Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), K.Y. Amoako, CHGA works to understand the epidemic in all its aspects and its likely future implications.
For more information on the Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa, please contact Fabian Assegid, tel: +251-1 44-50-66 or 445408, E-Mail: fassegid@uneca.org.
CHGA Interactive meeting documents are available on our website: www.uneca.org/chga
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: http://www.uneca.org/
