New UN body to fight HIV/AIDS, Annan

An effective African response in the fight against HIV/AIDS was critical now more than ever, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said this week.

Annan told world leaders on Thursday at the Franco-African summit in Paris, France that he was setting up a high-level commission on HIV/AIDS and good governance in Africa to help stem the spread of the disease.

The commission will study the links between AIDS and governance in various sectors, including agriculture, youth and the military, and will provide advice on efforts to bring the pandemic to heel.

In many parts of the continent, and southern Africa in particular, HIV/AIDS was the main underlying cause of the current humanitarian emergency, he said.

"Because of the disease, farming skills are being lost, agricultural development efforts are declining, rural livelihoods are disintegrating, productive capacity to work the land is dropping, and household earnings are shrinking," Annan said.

The pandemic was killing the most productive members of society and "ushering in a governance and development crisis of catastrophic dimensions."

Despite progress made by many African leaders to improve public awareness and prevention of the pandemic, much more was needed.

"I encourage you to support the initiatives of the many courageous grass-roots groups and community organisations battling the pandemic. I hope you will allocate greater shares of your national budgets to health care systems, and in general bring the full force of your office to this issue," Annan said.

He also appealed to African leaders to pay greater attention to the "extraordinary proliferation of AIDS orphans", whose
numbers have now reached 11 million.

The pandemic, however, would only be controlled if African women, the social group most affected, were genuinely empowered. "If you want to save Africa, you must save Africa's women first."