AIDS Devastates Health Sector in Africa: African Health Ministers Meet to Intensify Efforts Against Epidemic

To meet these challenges head on, governments in vulnerable countries need to expand and
intensify their responses rapidly.
"This is a time of great opportunity," said Dr Piot. "National governments and the international
community are finally waking up to the impact of this epidemic, and are now deeply serious about
reversing the damage of the last decade."
The three-day meeting signals the intention of African governments to prepare their health systems
for both HIV prevention and care on an increased scale. Participants are evaluating AIDS control
activities in Africa and assessing the role and responses of health sectors in reversing the epidemic.
The meeting is also identifying realistic approaches to what can be done within Africa's limited
means, as well as defining a framework for the African health sector's contribution to the International
Partnership Against AIDS in Africa.
Worldwide, 33.6 million people are now living with HIV or AIDS, 23.3 million of them in sub-Saharan
Africa. Just last year, 2.6 million people died of AIDS, the highest death rate in any single year since
the start of the epidemic.
For more information, please contact Anne Winter, UNAIDS, Geneva, (+41 22) 791.4577, Dominique
de Santis, UNAIDS, Geneva, (+41 22) 791.4509, Andrew Shih, UNAIDS, New York, (+ 1 212)
584.5024 or Flore Hazoume, UNAIDS, Ouagadougou ([phone] or ([phone]. You may
also visit the UNAIDS Home Page on the Internet for more information about the programme
(http:/www. unaids. org).