African Heads of State and Government reaffirmed their commitment to provide bold leadership for the AIDS response in Africa during the AIDS Watch Africa (AWA) meeting held on 14 June on the side lines of the 25th African Union Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The need to invest in health, particularly for the sustainable financing of Africa’s massive HIV treatment programme, came under the spotlight. Participants stressed that, in order to end the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030 in Africa, it is critical to expand treatment coverage and ensure that the millions of people in Africa currently receiving antiretroviral treatment continue to have uninterrupted access for the rest of their lives. Furthermore, investing in local production of antiretroviral medicines, increasing domestic spending and continuing to implement the African Union Roadmap on shared responsibility and global solidarity for AIDS, Tuberculosis and malaria response in Africa were highlighted as key elements to achieve the 90-90-90 targets.
UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibé, urged African leaders, the AU Commission, representatives of regional economic communities, development partners and civil society present to ensure that the significant investment that has already been made is not lost.
“AU recognises that health is a critical aspect of sustainable social and economic development. People say that investment in health is an investment in the future. This is not sufficient. Investment in health is an investment in us all.”
Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe and African Untion Chairperson
“We are not at the end of the AIDS epidemic yet, but we have seen great improvement. If we tackle the epidemic together, we will succeed in ending AIDS.”
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, African Union Commission Chairperson
“Our biggest issue is inequity. Unless everyone has equal access to health services it will be difficult to transform our health system. Africa can do it and can continue to show the rest of the world that it is able to transform the future of global health.”
Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director
“Now is the time to accelerate and get the commodities we need for the prevention and treatment of AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.”
Mark Dybul, Executive Director, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria
