National dialogue on HIV/AIDS

A national conference on HIV/AIDS has been held in Burkina Faso to strengthen efforts to combat the disease and provide more help to people living with HIV/AIDS, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), reported on Tuesday. Burkina Faso, one of the countries hardest hit by HIV/AIDS in West Africa, has a seven percent infection rate among its adult population. The disease, UNDP said, could reduce life expectancy from 59 years to 44 years by 2010, and increase the poverty rate from 45 per cent in 1997 to 54 per cent by 2010. "HIV/AIDS jeopardizes the country's ability to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, which call for halving severe poverty by 2015 and also include the target of halting and then reversing the spread of the disease in the same timeframe," said UNDP, which helped to organise the conference. Some 500 participants, including members of parliament, recommended that HIV/AIDS prevention activities be integrated into all development programmes and called for greater involvement of civil society organizations, more support for HIV/AIDS-related activities in all provinces and the establishment of national and local funds to support people living with the virus. Foreign Affairs and Regional Cooperation Minister Youssouf Ouedraogo said the government would implement the conference's recommendations to raise awareness of the impact of HIV/AIDS on human development. UNDP Resident Representative Christian Lemaire said UNDP and the National AIDS Control Council aimed to empower local communities in the campaign against the virus, using the UNDP Human Development Report to help shape policies. For further information, go to the UNDP-Burkina Faso country site