SHARING IDEAS

COOPERATION SOUTH
Is devoted to critical analysis and discussion of development issues of importance to the South. To this end, it welcomes the exchange of ideas and experience from all sectors, disciplines and viewpoints, and from sources ranging from policymakers and scholars, to practitioners and community activists.
Readers wishing to take an active part in this dialogue are invited to comment on articles published in the journal and to contribute articles for possible publication. Letters and manuscripts, which are subject to editing, should be sent to the Editor in Chief, Cooperation South, as follows:
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Special Unit for TCDC, United Nations
Development Program One United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017
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E-mail: cosmas.gitta@undp.org

Breaking the Silence on AIDS in Africa
It is never my custom to use words lightly. If twenty seven years in prison have done anything to us, it was to use the silence of solitude to make us understand how precious words are and how real speech is in its impact upon the way people live or die.
I come from a long tradition of collective leadership, consultative decision making and joint action towards the common good. We have overcome much that many thought insurmountable through an adherence to those practices. In the face of the grave threat posed by HIV/AIDS, we have to rise above our differences and combine our efforts to save our people. History will judge us harshly if we fail to do so now, and right now.
Let us not equivocate: a tragedy of unprecedented proportions is unfolding in Africa. AIDS today in Africa. AIDS today in Africa is claiming more lives than the sum total of all wars, famines and floods, and the ravages of such deadly diseases as malaria. It is devastating families and communities; overwhelming and depleting health care services; and robbing schools of both students and teachers.
Business has suffered, or will suffer, losses of personnel, productivity and profits; economic growth is being undermined, and scarce development resources have to be diverted to deal with the consequences of the pandemic.
HIV/AIDS is having a devastrating impact on families, communities, societies and economies. Decades have been chopped from life expectancy and young child mortality is expected to more than double in the most severely affected countries of Africa. AIDS is clearly a disaster, effectively wiping out the development gains of the past decades and sabotaging the future.
Earlier this week we were shocked to learn that within South Africa, 1 in 2, that is half, of our young people will die of AIDS. The most frightening thing is that all of these infections which statistics tell us about, and the attendant human suffering, could have been, and can be, prevented.
Something must be done as a matter of the greatest urgency. And with nearly two decades of dealing with the epidemic, we now do have some experience of what works.
The experience in a number of countries has taught that HIV infection can be prevented through investing in information and life skills development for young people. Promoting abstinence, safe sex and the use of condoms, and ensuring the early treatment of sexually transmitted diseases are some of the steps needed, and about which there can be no dispute. Ensuring that people, especially the young, have access to voluntary and confidential HIV counselling and testing services, and introducing measures to reduce mother to child transmission have been proven to be essential in the fight against AIDS. We have recognised the importance of addressing the stigmatisation and discrimination, and of providing safe and supportive environments for people affected by HIV/AIDS.
The experiences of Uganda, Senegal and Thailand have shown that serious investment in and mobilization around these actions make a real difference. Stigma and discrimination can be stopped; new infections can be prevented; and the capacity of families and communities to care for people living with HIV and AIDS can be enhanced.
The challenge is to move from rhetoric to action, and action at an unprecedented intensity and scale. There is a need for us to focus on what we know works.
We need to break the silence, banish stigma and discrimation, and ensure total inclusiveness within the struggle against AIDS;
We need bold initiatives to prevent new infections among young people, and large scale actions to prevent mother to child transmission, and at the same time we need to continue the international effort of searching for appropriate vaccines;
We need to aggressively treat opportunistic infections; and
We need to work with families and communities to care for children and young people to protect them from violence and abuse, and to ensure that they grow up in a safe and supportive environment.
For this there is need for us to be focussed, to be strategies, and to sustain the effort until this war is won.
We need, and there is increasing evidence of, African resolve to fight this war. Others will not save us if we do not primarily commit ourselves. Let us, however, not underestimate the resources required to conduct this battle. Partnership with the international community is vital. A constant theme in all our messages has been that in this interdependent and globalised world, we have indeed again become the keepers of our brothers and sisters. That cannot be more graphically the case than in the common fight against HIV/AIDS.
Except from Nelson Mandela's closing statement at the 13th International AIDS Conference, Durban, 14 July 2000.
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