'Time not to make yet another resolution or declaration' - OAU Sec-General
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Statement by H.E. Salim Ahmed Salim, Secretary-General of the Organi-
sation of African Unity at the Technical/Ministerial Meeting, 24
April 2001
Your Excellency Mr. Atiku Abubakar, Vice President of the Federal Re-
public of Nigeria,
Honourable Ministers,
Deputy Executive Secretary Lalla Ben Barka,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is an honour for me to have the opportunity of addressing you at
this preparatory meeting of the African Summit on HIV/AIDS, Tubercu-
losis and other related Infectious Diseases. I wish on behalf of the
OAU and my own behalf to express sincere thanks and gratitude to
President Olesugun Obasanjo, to the Government and the people of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria for the very warm welcome and hospitality
accorded to us since our arrival in this country. Increasingly, the
city of Abuja is becoming an important venue for the deliberation of
critical issues concerning the destiny of African people.
The gravity and magnitude of the HIV-AIDS pandemic need no overstat-
ing. We are only fully aware of the horrendous statistics and the
heart-wrenching accounts of its devastation to our people as well as
to our social and economic systems. At every level, numerous resolu-
tions and declarations have been made, institutions established, and
plans of action formulated. And yet, the agony and suffering con-
tinue, and no dent has been made in containing this pandemic. To com-
pound the situation, in the past decade, we have also seen a massive
resurgence of other deadly diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria,
and many that are associated with HIV/AIDS.
Our leaders will be convening in Abuja in the next two days. This,
and not even to simply underscore the gravity of the spectre in our
midst. All those have already been done sufficiently.
The Abuja Summit must be a Summit with a difference. It is intended
to forge a common front for action. It should be an action-oriented
Summit aiming at pooling together, in a strategic manner, the Conti-
nental energies and those of our partners in confronting this deadly
pandemic.
During the past two decades of living and fighting this pandemic we
have acquired a lot of experience. Together with the trauma and dev-
astation we have had to endure, there have been also occasions of op-
timism and achievement from some of the efforts made.
The Abuja Summit cannot ignore this past experience. Definitely, the
factors that have impaired our capacity to contain the spread of HIV-
AIDS need to be unravelled. In the same manner, those which have
brought about some ray of hope need to be capitalized upon and en-
hanced.
We have reached a critical point for our very survival. We need to
confront this challenge head-on and to mobilize ourselves in total --
in fact, as I have asserted elsewhere, we need to enter into a combat
mode. Like in all combat situations, and in the particular cases of
defending our very survival, all our energy and resources must be mo-
bilized and effectively deployed.
I am confident that in your deliberations you shall underline the
primary role of prevention in containing the spread of this pandemic,
particularly among the youths whose vulnerability is on the rise. We
must make every effort to make sure every youth in Africa is aware of
the virus. We must go further: we must change behaviour. Our greatest
resource in this respect is young people themselves. We must locate
where the children are, whether it be in schools, on the street;
every household; every marketplace; every football match - the mes-
sage has to reach: awareness and knowledge and the importance of
changing behaviour.
An important aspect of dealing with this disease is to destigmatize
it. HIV/AIDS knows no ethnicity, colour, race, or social status. Any-
body who is not prevented can be infected. We need to extend compas-
sion, love and care to the victims. They should be neither discrimi-
nated nor looked down upon. Victims deserve dignity and respect which
is accorded to every person. We need to be open about this disease.
This is the only way we can deal with it. Let us find ways of remov-
ing the prevailing stigma.
Accessibility to affordable drugs has been a vexing issue in the past
four years. The recent development in South Africa relating to the
withdrawal of the suit filed by the large pharmaceutical companies is
encouraging. I do hope that the implications of that case will be ad-
dressed and the necessary steps that need to be taken by other Afri-
can countries also examined. In the meantime, I wish to call upon
drug manufacturers and the International Community as a whole to re-
alize that in our Global Village it is reprehensible for one part to
live in affluence, prosperity and to have a capacity to overcoming
adversities, while the others live in misery, agony, and even denied
the means of overcoming a deadly pandemic such as HIV- AIDS.
Definitely, the issue of drug affordability is critical. At the same
time, it is important that appropriate infrastructure is developed
that permits accessibility across the entire population. There is a
need, therefore, for addressing the consolidation of a comprehensive
care for HIV-AIDS victims and the impact on related diseases.
In order to fight this pandemic, tuberculosis and other related in-
fectious diseases, we do recognize that we need a massive expansion
of financing basic health programmes across Africa, with a special
emphasis on HIV/AIDS. We recognize that the primary responsibility
for mobilizing resources must come from within Africa itself. Never-
theless, we are also aware that no matter how hard we try, the eco-
nomic and social reality of our countries can not allow us to cope
with the resource requirements to fight this pandemic. We, therefore,
need international assistance. We need large amount of resources, not
in a token or symbolic form but massive amounts, on a sustainable ba-
sis, to be able to fight this disease.
Mr. Vice President, Let me now conclude my remarks. In the fight
against the pandemic, we face many challenges. We have to combat
stigma. Prevention of the spread of infection has not been easy ei-
ther because it involves behaviour change. Caring for AIDS affected
children and widows, and providing affordable comprehensive care
should be some of our immediate priority areas. In our strategies for
prevention, let us target youth who are the window of hope.
Control of HIV infection will not be complete unless we address pre-
vention of mother to child transmission. Enabling people to have ac-
cess to drugs is crucial.
In conclusion, I wish to underline that we at the OAU will remain at
the frontline of this struggle. For, we believe that all our endeav-
ours in conflict resolution; promotion of peace, stability and secu-
rity; economic cooperation and integration; and the improvement of
the welfare of African people will be meaningless if we allow our-
selves to be decimated by this pandemic.
I thank you.
Other Speeches Made Today
- Statement by Deputy Executive Secretary of UNECA, Mrs. Lalla Ben
Barka, at the Technical/Ministerial Meeting
- Opening Statement by Miss Yinka Jegede, a Young Person Living With
AIDS
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