CHGA urges govts to respond to needs of women and orphans

The life expectancy of African women has been dramatically reduced by their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, while the number of orphans created by the pandemic is soaring, Paulo Roberto Teixeira of the Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa (CHGA) told PlusNews. Teixeira was speaking in the Cameroon capital, Yaounde, at the end of the fourth regional interactive meeting of the CHGA, where African government officials and NGOs discussed strategies to tackle African women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and problems affecting orphans and vulnerable children. "Women are the most vulnerable group today in Africa exposed to HIV/AIDS," said Teixeira who had served as Brazil's health minister as well as director of the World Health Organisation (WHO). Among recommendations reached at the two-day meeting was the "immediate adoption of policies by African governments to tremendously increase the amount and access to male and female condoms to the populations", Teixeira said. According to CHGA official Hilda Tadria, one of the major challenges facing Africa was to include orphans in the formal education system as well as wipe out the discrimination of HIV-positive orphans by communities. CHGA commissioners called for the strengthening of the capacity of families and communities to respond to the psychosocial needs of the orphans and vulnerable people. The commission was launched by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2003 to address some of the key HIV/AIDS challenges facing African governments. It is due to complete its report in 2005.