World Bank shifts HIV/AIDS focus in Africa
The World Bank on Wednesday unveiled a four-year strategy to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa that shifts focus from emergency response to long-term development.
The bank said it would provide at least 250 million US dollar a year for HIV/AIDS initiatives based on country demand and establish a grant incentive fund of 5 million dollar annually to promote analysis and health and education projects.
– With AIDS the largest single cause of premature death in Africa, we cannot talk about better lasting development without also committing to stay the course in the long-term fight against the disease, said Elizabeth Lule, manager of the banks AIDS Team for Africa.
The unit devised the strategy by consulting widely with African countries, people living with AIDS, UN-agencies, non-government organizations and private companies.
The bank report says that “more than 60 percent of the people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa are women; and that young women are six times more likely to be HIV positive than are young men. As a result of the epidemic, an estimated 11,4 million children under age 18 have lost at least one parent”.
Lule says that interventions are needed to protect young women, who are often vulnerable to infection from older men, who may have multiple partners. Poverty also plays a role, often causing many women and girls to become prostitutes to raise money to feed themselves and their families.
The change was made possible after billions of dollars in grant funding became available from the US Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the Geneva-based Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria which alone has committed 10,7 billion dollar to fight disease.
The World Bank has sent 1,5 billion dollar to more than 30 African countries to fight HIV/AIDS since 2000.
The Bank said it would concentrate on advising countries on how best to manage the new international funding, and at the local level try to help governments take a long-term view on how to best tackle the disease.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
