Africa remains determined to fight AIDS

According to the UN AIDS Programme (UNAIDS) the impact of HIV and AIDS has been felt by more than 15 million children globally.

“It is also significant to note that even though Sub-Saharan Africa constitutes slightly more than 10 percent of the world’s population, it is home to more than 67 percent of people living with HIV and AIDS globally,” said Dr Skweyiya.

He was addressing a satellite session of the XVI International AIDS Conference on managing the complexity of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, ending today in Toronto, Canada.

In noting these and other trends, the minister said “away with one size fits all solutions”.

“We require tailor-made solutions, which should be directed by Africans themselves, and supported by all our partners including international organisations such as the United Nations,” he said.

The minister welcomed the conference, saying it was yet another opportunity to assess global progress, identify future challenges and work out collective mechanisms to bring to a halt the disease’s devastating impact.

In assessing global progress and Africa’s progress in particular, Dr Skweyiya said it was important to note that the epidemic was not spreading at the same rate in all African countries.

It is more prevalent in Southern Africa, decreasing in East Africa and remaining stable in West Africa.

However, Dr Skweyiya said even that categorisation was “too simplistic”.

A closer examination of the situation in Southern Africa reveals that Angola continues to have very low HIV and AIDS prevalence, and yet its neighbour Botswana has the highest rates.

Similarly, Zimbabwe is experiencing a decline in HIV prevalence, while South Africa is starting to experience stabilisation.

The findings of South Africa’s National HIV and Syphilis Antenatal Sero-prevalence Survey for 2005 show that HIV infection rates have remained at a similar level as they had been in the last year 2004 (29.5 percent) and in 2005 (30.2 percent).

However, women in South Africa tend to be infected early in their youth, with infection rates peaking around the ages of 25-29 years.

With respect to population projections, it is estimated that 18.8 percent of persons in the 15-49 year age group in South Africa are HIV infected.

This is an estimated 4.9 million people in that age group in the country.

In East Africa, Kenya continues to show declines in HIV prevalence, while Uganda has remained stable and Ethiopia shows signs of levelling off.

West Africa is also not homogenous, decreasing in Burkina Faso but increasing in Ghana.

The minister said this clearly showed regional disparity with regards to the magnitude of the pandemic.

“This also probably reflects the requirement for different and innovative responses, which evidence the complexity of the pandemic.”

These complexities include the disproportionately higher infection rates in urban and informal settlements, which have been fuelled by poverty and migration, among others.

“No doubt the latter is occasioned by the continuous and vicious cycle of no work opportunities and limited choices in rural Africa, which ultimately leads to large-scale poverty and social exclusion.

“Thus in assessing this progress we must ask the hard questions related to the integration of HIV and AIDS planning and research in all our development plans and programmes, including our economic policies and programmes.”

He also called for the strengthening of the family, saying the social impact of the epidemic resulted in family, community and social disintegration, evidenced by the increasing number of orphans, child headed households, and vulnerable children affected by HIV and AIDS

“This negative impact is further complicated by the inability of the extended family system to provide such children with basic requirements such as shelter, food, medical care, education, love and support,” he said.