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AIDS number one worry for summit

    JOHANNESBURG

    HIV/AIDS is set to be a key concern for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit currently under way in Tanzania.

    Speaking ahead of the summit recently, SADC executive secretary Prega Ramsamy said until Southern Africa got a handle on the AIDS epidemic, regional development was out of the question.

    Reuters quoted Ramsamy as saying: "Our population is being destroyed. We can forget about development [unless AIDS is dealt with urgently]."

    He said despite external debt and political crises in Zimbabwe and Swaziland being high on the agenda, HIV/AIDS was the number one worry for regional leaders.

    The summit, to be held on the 25th and 26th of August, is also expected to approve an action plan for long-term food sufficiency for the region, which has been hit by three years of drought.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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