Share & more
Africa will figure high on the agenda of the UN Security Council this month, starting on Monday with a discussion of the impact of AIDS on peace and security in the continent.
The spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in New York on Thursday that the session would mark the first time Council had met specifically to discuss a health issue.
Monday’s session will be chaired by Al Gore, also marking the first time a US vice president will have taken part in a Council meeting. Annan will give a speech during which he will, the UN said, “suggest that the Council’s role in the battle against AIDS must be to prevent conflict contributing to the spread of the disease”.
According to UNAIDS, which has termed the impact of AIDS in Africa as “catastrophic”, one quarter of the continent’s people have been personally affected by pandemic that is “wiping out all development gains” achieved over decades.
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