EARTH SUMMIT: HIV/AIDS and sustainable development
Meaningful and sustainable development cannot occur if the HIV/AIDS
epidemic continues to drain human resources, the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS
(UNAIDS) said in a new report released for the Earth Summit in Johannesburg.
"By robbing communities and nations of their greatest wealth - their
people - AIDS drains the human and institutional capacities that fuel
sustainable development," the report said.
Speaking at a media briefing on Thursday, UNAIDS Executive Director Peter
Piot said HIV/AIDS had to be adequately reflected in declarations emerging from
the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
The objectives of UNAIDS during the summit would be to ensure that HIV/AIDS
was recognised as a cross-cutting and critical issue of sustainable development.
There had been "a lot of talk" about the pandemic, but not enough
written on it in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, he added.
The report, "HIV/AIDS, Human Resources and Sustainable
Development", details how the epidemic is affecting global human capital
and suggests strategies to mitigate its impact.
In countries hard hit by the disease, the need for health care is expanding
massively at a time when the epidemic is claiming its heaviest toll among health
workers. Consequently, the capacity of health systems to provide care is being
eroded.
But according to the report, targets such as the one set by African leaders
at the 2001 Abuja Summit to increase health spending by 15 percent would not
match the needs generated by the epidemic. "Especially if treatment access
is to expand beyond the mere 30,000 Africans who were receiving antiretroviral
therapy in early 2002," it added.
While acknowledging that universal access would not happen immediately, Piot
urged governments not to wait in rolling out drugs. "The need for treatment
is today," he said.
The epidemic has created a "double-jeopardy situation" in education
systems. It reduced the quality of training and education and left fewer people
to receive the benefits of learning, the report noted.
Expecting households to cope with the disease without support from the
broader society was "unrealistic". Studies in AIDS-affected countries
in Africa and Asia indicated that income in AIDS-affected households could be
less than half that of average households.
An increasing demand for the income-earning labour, household maintenance,
child care and nursing work of women, made them particularly vulnerable. A
survey in Zambia in 2000 revealed that 65 percent of households disintegrated
after losing a key adult female family member.
"The food emergencies sweeping through Southern Africa highlight how
vulnerable many countries are to shocks that disrupt food production and
consumption. In each of the affected countries, HIV/AIDS constitutes a shock of
considerable proportion," the report said.
This underlined the need to tackle rural development, food security and
agricultural policies together with the epidemic, it added.
While there was a lot of "doom and gloom" surrounding the epidemic,
results were possible, Piot said at the briefing. "The key is to implement
AIDS in wider development strategies," he added.
"A step forward occurs when the HIV/AIDS response is made everybody's
business ... Just as mobilisation around environmental concerns has made
environmental impact assessments a key part of policy-making, AIDS impact
assessments need to become commonplace," the report said.
To access the report: http://www.unaids.org
[ENDS]
[This Item is Delivered to the "Africa-English" Service of the UN's
IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations.] Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs 2002
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