>Subject: [Nigeria-AIDS] 10 presidents, Annan, Clinton meet as AIDS
>summit opens
>
>Panafrican News Agency (Dakar)
>April 26, 2001
>Posted to the web April 26, 2001
>
>Segun Adeyemi
>Abuja, Nigeria
>
>The African Summit on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other Related Infectious
>
>Diseases opened in Abuja Thursday with several African Heads of
>State, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and former US President Bill
>Clinton attending.
>
>As organisers awaited the arrival of more leaders, those at the
>opening session included host President Olusegun Obasanjo, Togolose
>President and OAU Chairman Gnassingbe Eyadema, Malian President and
>ECOWAS Chairman Oumar Alpha Konare and Arap Moi of Kenya.
>
>Others were Presidents Moammar Kadhafi of Libya, Sam Nujoma of
>Namibia, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Blaise Campaore of Burkina Faso and
>John Kuffour of Ghana.
>
>Former Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings and President of the 55th
>session of the UN General Assembly Harry Kurikeri are also attending,
>
>and so are top officials of UN agencies like WHO Director-General Gro
>
>Brundtland and UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy.
>
>The two-day Summit, organised by the OAU to forge a common strategy
>against HIV/AIDS, which has devastated the continent, took off on a
>dramatic but surreal note, as the grim realities of the disease were
>brought home to those in attendance by a drama piece entitled "The
>Victim."
>
>Nigerian Health Minister Alphonsus also showed the audience a number
>of People Living With AIDS (PLWAs).
>
>They included Ibekwe Angela, an Accountant who discovered her HIV-
>positive status when she was compelled to undergo a test before her
>wedding, and Olabiyi Matimilola, a medical doctor.
>
>One of the PLWAs, Mohammed Farouk, urged the summiteers to
>turn "consensus to action," and called on the society to stop
>discriminating against infected people.
>
>"We are not victims but people living with HIV/AIDS," he said. "For
>us, AIDS means Africa is destined to survive."
>
>Demonstrating that the disease has disproportionately targeted young
>people more than any other group, Abayomi Mighty, 17, held the crowd
>spellbound with his presentation, which evoked strong reactions from
>the leaders.
>
>Mighty, who said he represented the nine million children who have
>lost their parents to AIDS, said though he was happy to be speaking
>to Heads of State, he was quite sad to note the devastating effect of
>
>the disease on youths across Africa.
>
>"The millions of children that I represent do not have enough
>information about HIV/AIDS," he said while calling for the
>dissemination of more information on the disease.
>
>He also sought increased allocation of resources to efforts to enable
>
>young people acquire skills that could get them gainfully employed
>and the need to protect infected young people.
>
>The Summit, which was preceded by a two-day Ministerial session to
>prepare the draft Abuja Declaration on HIV/AIDS, as well as a draft
>Plan of Action and the draft Mechanism for Implementation, is to
>underscore the fact that leadership, commitment, resources and
>poverty alleviation are critical factors in the control of infectious
>
>diseases in Africa.
>
>During the meeting, the leaders are expected to develop and
>concretise policies, strategies and structures to ensure adequate
>control of the diseases, and also develop processes and procedures to
>
>ensure higher degree of political commitment at controlling the
>impact of the diseases.
>
>----------
>
>Copyright © 2001 Panafrican News Agency. Distributed by AllAfrica
>Global Media (allAfrica.com).
>
>Summit Media Centre
>Tel: 234-9-2345381,2345413, 2345415
>Fax: 234-9-2345487
>Media Contact: Mr. Omololu Falobi
>Summit websites: www.fmh-abujasummit.org
>                  www.oau-oua.org/afrsummit/index.htm
>Email: [log in to unmask]
>
>

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