HIV/AIDS considered "natural disaster"

Namibia's Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Libertina Amathila, has urged delegates at a disaster management meeting of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to consider HIV/AIDS a "natural disaster". Amathila said the epidemic had become a drain on national budgets, and argued that HIV/AIDS threatened the socioeconomic fabric of society, because of the "huge score of orphans that must be cared for by society". She called for closer regional cooperation in the mobilisation of resources to fight the epidemic, and said it was imperative that SADC applied a regional approach to dealing with current and future disaster relief operations. The daily newspaper, New Era reported that the deputy prime minister also drew attention to the need for participation by communities directly affected by disaster, particularly in the process of improving national and regional planning.