African nations need money to fight AIDS pandemic

Date: Sept. 16, 1999
Time: 11:07 am

"Poor countries need more than encouragement, they need income support, debt relief and strong social safety nets in the fight against HIV/AIDS," Bellamy said today during the 11th International Conference on AIDS and STDs in Lusaka, Zambia. "Most of all, they need resources."

She praised the efforts of sub-Saharan African governments to cope with the AIDS pandemic and challenged leaders to consider new ways to attack the crisis. With the spread of the virus straining resources and capabilities, she suggested that governments should set short-term targets for prevention and treatment, a strategy that will depend on support from developed countries.

"The key is to recognize the poor as key actors in their own development rather than passive recipients of services and commodities dispensed by health care workers, teachers, religious leaders and others," Bellamy said

The US spends approximately $880 million a year fighting HIV/AIDS every year, while battling 40 000 new cases annually. Africa, which faces 4 million new cases a year, spends only $149 to $160 million annually.

"Some 200 000 people, most of them children and women, died in 1998 as a result of armed conflict on the African continent," Bellamy notes, "yet 2 million Africans were killed by AIDS in that same year."

The conference ends today.

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