Report on the Global HIV/AIDS epidemic

What makes people vulnerable?

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The end of the millennium allowed yet more African leaders to take a stand, and they
did. In Botswana, newly elected President Festus Mogae said his five-year term would
be devoted to fighting his country's priority problems: high unemployment, poverty and
the spread of AIDS.
There was significant activity in Kenya as well. After long opposition to condom use,
President Daniel arap Moi radically reversed his position in his New Year's address.
"Anything that can be said or done to halt the progress of the disease must be said and
done," he said. He was echoed in the United Republic of Tanzania by President
Benjamin Mkapa's own millennium discourse. "We must openly declare war on this
killer disease," he said. "Let us not feel shy to talk about it and look for means to solve
the problem."
Even more recently, President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria inaugurated the National
Action Programme Committee on HIV/AIDS by saying: "We are determined not to
allow our country to be overwhelmed by HIV/AIDS." He will directly oversee the highlevel committee, which will be staffed by his deputy and the ministers of health, education, information, defence, culture, women's affairs and youth development.
Further evidence that AIDS, especially as it affects Africa, is now at the centre of the
world's political agenda was its choice as the theme for the United Nations Security
Council's meeting in January 2000. The Chairman of that meeting, Vice-President Al
Gore of the United States, said that governments must consider the epidemic as a
threat to peace and security on the continent. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the
United Nations, told the Council that the "impact of AIDS is no less destructive than
that of warfare itself, and by some measures, far worse."
In their speeches, then, more and more politicians are confronting the reality of AIDS
and declaring their intention to do whatever it takes to reduce the spread and impact
of the epidemic. As many African and world leaders realize, fine words are an important start but will not by themselves make any difference to the course of the epidemic.
They must be followed up with budgets and with action.
In many places, however, ordinary citizens are still reluctant to acknowledge the relevance of AIDS to their own lives because of the shame and fear that surround this
fatal disease, and the discrimination directed at those affected. People with or suspected of having HIV infection may be turned away by health care providers, denied
jobs and housing, refused insurance and entry to foreign countries, thrown out by
their spouse or family, even murdered.

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