New World Bank boss to prioritise AIDS and poverty

Incoming World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz says he plans on making African issues, including HIV/AIDS, a top priority of his term, which starts at the beginning of June.

Wolfowitz said the organisation had a "uniquely important role in overcoming the troubled continent's development challenges".

The Wall Street Journal quoted him as saying: "In Africa you have this combination of real, degrading poverty, combined with the most appalling health conditions. I can't stress enough how important it is that the first priority of the bank is Africa, and the poorest people of Africa."

Wolfowitz noted that while AIDS and malaria were also problems elsewhere, they were nowhere on the same scale as in Africa.