06 Jun 2006: ISS Today: UN Strengthens Call for a Global Battle Against AIDS
06 June 2006: UN Strengthens Call for a Global Battle Against AIDS
AFRICAFOCUS
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Barely three weeks after the African Union endorsed a Common Position on HIV and AIDS, African delegates in New York are reneging on the strong commitment they made to providing access to services for HIV prevention, care and treatment to all those who need them in Africa.
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Commentary
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While the 2006 Global AIDS Report paints a grim picture of the presence and impact of the HIV & AIDS epidemic on Sub-Saharan Africa, the African Union, in a meeting of Heads of States Summit in Abuja over the period 2-4 May, committed themselves to five points aimed at prevention, increasing access, care and treatment of victims, especially women, by 2010.
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However, once the unanimous decision was submitted to the United Nations special meeting, Egypt, South Africa and Gabon reneged on what has become known as the Common African Position (CAP), aligning themselves with the United States, Pakistan, the European Union, Japan and a number of Islamic countries.
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But what explains this volte-face? One side of the argument in the ensuing debate, is that the UN New Strategy for combating the disease contained in the declaration motivated for increased access that includes groups such as sex workers, adolescents, women and injecting drug users. The dissenting countries want these groups eliminated from the targeted vulnerable community. The second reason is that the increased access threatens the pharmaceutical industry, an element that has so far remained outside the control of states in their strategy to fight the epidemic. Consequently, the industry is thought to have influenced the postures adopted by countries, especially from the Developed North. Finally, there is still a sense that African governments have still to accept the reality of the pandemic and therefore lack urgency in their prioritization of policies aimed at fighting HIV & AIDS.
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Nigeria has publicly rebuked the decision by the three African states for breaking ranks with the CAP, and in the wings are civil society groups that have received encouraging support from Namibia and Kenya. In the light of this divisive behaviour by member states, it therefore remains a moot question how the African Union is going to address future multilateral negotiations.
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Martin Rupiya
