SINCE many African countries may not completely realize the Millenium Development Goals {MDGs} by 2015, there is need for African governments to find new sources of funding to keep the quest alive beyond that date, especially regarding the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
This was the view articulated on Thursday afternoon at the United Nations by President Goodluck Jonathan while co-chairing with former US President Bill Clinton and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon among others, the Countdown to Zero HIV/AIDS infection event, a part of the three- day high level summit, which ended yesterday at the New York headquarters of the UN.
The eight MDG goals include "Combating HIV/AIDS" with 2015 as the target date, and there are fears that international donors may dwindle in their support after that date, which is only four years away.
But according to Jonathan, since it is not likely that many African nations would have achieved that particular MDG goal by then, there is need for "other creative methods of generating funds."
"We cannot rely only on donor funds to fight the malaise, especially considering that the MDGs is to wind down in the next four years. I believe there is no African country that can say we can get out of it in the next four years," he said.
This is why, according to President Jonathan, African leaders and governments should start thinking of other means of sustaining the fight against HIV/AIDS.
According to him, "I have a number of ideas of my own, especially at the ECOWAS where Nigeria controls about 55 percent of the economy," but he said he would like to consult with other leaders in Sub-Saharan African nations on how to raise new funding sources, noting that "the time is now for Africa to find a lasting solution."
President Jonathan also announced that Nigeria would host the Abuja Plus 10 AIDS summit later this year to review the progress of the Abuja Declaration made in 2001 that African governments should dedicate at least 10 percent of their budgets to health matters, including HIV/AIDS.
The Countdown to Zero event on Thursday afternoon marked the launching of a global plan seeking to eliminate new HIV infections among children and keep their mothers alive, in an effort to save millions of lives across the developing world.
Jonathan said Nigeria was committed to that plan and also preventing the discrimination of people living with the virus by sponsoring a human rights bill in the National Assembly to prevent employers of labour from stigmatizing HIV patients.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his own speech, said "we are here today to ensure that all children are born healthy and free of disease. We are here to ensure that their mothers live to see them grow. This is every mother's wish – and we can make it a reality." The UN reports that "significant progress has been made in the past decade in reducing mother-to-child transmission, with infection rates among children born to mothers living with HIV, having declined by 26 per cent from 2001 to 2009, according to the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS.
UNAIDS believes that the virtual elimination of this scourge is possible by 2015, but stresses that much more needs to be done to prevent mothers from dying and babies from becoming infected with HIV.
HIV is also the leading cause of maternal mortality in developing countries.
"If it pains us to see a baby contract HIV in the developed world, that pain is felt just as much when a baby contracts HIV in the developing world," noted the Secretary-General.
"African mothers, Asian mothers, Latin American mothers all feel the same love for their children as mothers everywhere. They deserve exactly the same options for treatment."
A key element of the plan is to ensure that all women, especially pregnant women, have access to quality life-saving HIV prevention and treatment services – for themselves and their children.
Ban noted that some regions have nearly achieved no new infections from mother to child, and called for greater efforts to help others achieve this goal.
"If we push hard... with your continued help... with the will to do what is right for the world... we can spread this success to mothers everywhere," he said at the event.
UNAIDS Executive Director Michael , in his own remarks, said "We believe that by 2015, children everywhere can be born free of HIV and that their mothers can remain healthy...This new global plan is realistic, it is achievable and it is driven by the most affected countries."
The launch of the global plan is one of several events taking place this week as part of the three-day high-level meeting of the General Assembly on AIDS, which began on Wednesday and ended yesterday Friday.
Source: The Guardian.