The hope of eliminating HIV/AIDS within the sub-Saharan African region is being threatened as allied nations now back down on agreed terms of financial donations needed to fight the menace. Board Chairman of a major formidable alliance against HIV/AIDS in West Africa, Abidjan- Lagos Corridor Organisation (ALCO) and the Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, Prof John Idoko, gave the revelation in Abuja, yesterday.
Idoko, who said at the meeting of the board in Abuja said; "When the organisation was created in 2002 by the Heads of State of the five member countries with the support of the World Bank and UNAIDS, not only was it agreed that countries should make a yearly contribution of $80, 000 to the organisation, the countries themselves made a commitment to do so.
"But, the contributions are not forthcoming. I wish to use this opportunity to remind us of our commitment and duty towards the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Organisation. It is our duty as members of the board to ensure that the organisation performs well."
The meeting, which had in attendance representatives from Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Cote D'Ivoire, said there was need to step up advocacy and resource mobilisation as the only way to sustain the project. Idoko noted that the activities of the project had been funded largely by the generosity of donor partners, emphasising that there was need for the trend to change.
In a remark, Country Coordinator of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/ AIDS (UNAIDS), Dr. Bilali Camara, said 66 per cent of the total number of people living with HIV in West and Central Africa were in these five counties of the corridor, where, he said 68 per cent of the total new HIV infections occurred in that same region.
He gave the statistics of the disease within the region thus: "Looking at the epidemiological picture of HIV in these five countries, the prevalence varies between 1.1 per cent and 3.2 per cent with a total number of 4, 282, 000 people living with HIV at the end of 2012. "That same year 306, 000 new HIV infections occurred and 293, 300 people died of AIDS-related diseases resulting in a staggering number of 2, 903, 000 orphans.
"The epidemic is impacting disproportionately upon women in general and in particular, young women and also the most at risk populations." He noted that only 20 to 40 per cent of the resources spent on AIDS come from domestic sources, stressing that the five Abidjan-Lagos Corridor countries have a long way to go to build a sustainable national HIV response.
"The African Union's call for 'shared responsibility' has to be upheld and more domestic resources should be invested in HIV/AIDS and other endemic diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis, which have been for so long compromising the development of Africa.
