Concrete action needed from ICASA - Soyinka

The week-long International Conference on HIV/AIDS and STI's in Africa (ICASA), which began on Sunday in Abuja, Nigeria, must deliver concrete steps for curbing the spread of the virus, said conference president Professor Femi Soyinka.

"We are going to come up with a plan that we can follow-up, that is realisable, to deal with HIV in the continent both in terms of preventing new infections, and caring for people already infected and affected," Professor Soyinka told PlusNews in an exclusive interview on Sunday, at the opening of the conference.

Unlike past conferences where concrete monitoring and evaluation strategies were not provided to measure the progress made in combating the virus, Professor Soyinka said this lapse will be corrected.

"The governments need to put things in place to slow down the rate of infections, make drugs accessible and affordable, and care for children and orphans. We don’t want leaders just saying they are committed, we want actions," he promised.