World Bank launches US $3 billion-a-year AIDS plan

Cash-strapped African governments unable to mitigate the effects of HIV/AIDS on their populations may need not wring their hands any longer. A World Bank initiative launched on Tuesday - and which could serve as a blueprint for future aid to the continent - will boost Africa's fight against HIV/AIDS by making it the focus of all development efforts. The initiative will see the World Bank allocating up to US $3 billion annually to the fight against HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, the region worst hit by the global pandemic. "The strategy stands on four pillars (starting with) advocacy to position HIV/AIDS as a central development issue and to increase and sustain an intensified response," the Bank's regional vice-president for Africa, Callisto Madavo, said at the launching ceremony. The launching of the plan,'Intensifying Action against HIV/AIDS in Africa: Responding to a Development Crisis' was timed to coincide with the 11th International Conference on AIDS and STDS (ICASA) conference in the Zambian capital. Over 3,000 delegates, including medical doctors, researchers, social workers and journalists are attending the four-day meeting. According to the United Nations, AIDS has killed over 11 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. A further 22 million people in the region are living with the HIV/AIDS virus. The pandemic has strained the resources of the continent's poor countries. According to reports, HIV-infected patients occupy 50 to 80 percent of all beds in urban hospitals in countries such as Zambia, Zimbabwe and Cote d'Ivoire.