AU tackles health issues
2006-05-03 09:27
Abuja - African leaders will gather on Thursday in Abuja to discuss the battle against HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria on the continent at an African Union-organised summit.
The summit, to be attended by senior government figures from at least 18 African countries, will go "beyond making commitments to evoking bold, urgent and extraordinary action from African heads of states and government towards ensuring that the targets set at this summit towards the prevention and control of the three diseases are met by 2010," the African Union (AU) said in a statement.
"The ultimate goal is to free Africa from the shackles placed upon her by HIV/Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and to alleviate the suffering, death and poverty which result from these epidemics, and so provide the platform for further socio-economic development," it continued.
Focus on health care
Nigerian Health Minister Eyitayo Lambo said the summit, held at the instigation of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, "should allow Africa's leaders to reaffirm their commitment to fighting these diseases and achieving the goals set down by the Abuja Declarations of 2000 and 2001, as well as the UN's Millennium goals".
Health ministers from 24 countries and finance ministers from about 10 countries have also confirmed their attendance.
"This summit is organised around the theme of 'universal access to care for HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria across Africa by 2010'," he said.
The diseases are the three biggest causes of mortality in Africa and threaten the continent's human and socio-economic development, the AU said in its statement.
Africa is home to around a tenth of the world's population, but accounts for 60% of those suffering from HIV/Aids.
The AU said that in 2005, between 2.8 million and 3.9 million people in the region became newly infected with HIV, while 2.4 million adults and children died of AIDS.
Africa accounts for more than a quarter of all the tuberculosis cases reported in the world, while 90% of the half billion malaria cases recorded annually occur in Africa, it said.
The United Nations children's agency Unicef puts the number of children who have lost at least one parent to Aids in Africa at 12.3 million. Eight out of ten of the world's orphans are African, said Unicef's spokesperson in Nigeria, Christine Jeaulmes.
Abdoul Dieng, regional advisor for UNAids, which along with Unicef is acting as a partner in the summit, told AFP it would focus on Africa's progress in tackling the diseases.
"An evaluation of what has been achieved since 2001, based on our research, will for the first time be presented to the heads of state to determine the extent to which the resolutions have been applied," he said.