Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Fides Service) - Today May 13, an appeal to fight AIDS in Africa was signed by 13 African health ministers attending an International Conference organised in Rome by the Sant'Egidio Community.
AIDS is a silent threat to Africa and to the rest of the world. The fight and the victory over AIDS are a priority which cannot be postponed by those who have at heart the future of the planet.
“This is why we, ministers of health, experts, men and women working to promote justice and protect human dignity gathered in Rome at the invitation of the Sant’Egidio community, on behalf of our peoples and our conscience, appeal to operators and international agencies and leaders of economically advanced countries to make the struggle against AIDS become immediate decisions and commitments”, the ministers declared.
AIDS strikes all over the planet but 70% of the patients today are born and die in Africa. The virus has infected 30 million men, women and children: this number is destined to increase if they are left without treatment and without adequate financial, scientific and human resources for the necessary prevention and therapy.
The force of numbers and the suffering of so many men and women in sub-Saharan Africa reveal that interventions to prevent, when separated from therapy, are not sufficient to stop an epidemic which takes the same number of lives as a world war.
AIDS increases poverty. Not only does it humiliate and shorten life; it closes the doors to hope and the future because it swallows up young people and adults, knowledge and skills which are the indispensable premise for an authentic future.
“Like the rest of the world we hope that this disease will be overcome with a vaccine. But for Africa it could come too late. Therapy which allows the patient to live with the virus and to live well, is available, but only in the rich world. But the right to life cannot depend on geography. The right to therapy is a new human right; it is the human right of which Africa today reminds more fortunate countries. This is why we ask for help from developed countries and all those who have the power to decide in this field to offer access to therapy in people in Africa with the high standards of quality which this challenge demands.
We ask for the cost of antiretroviral therapy and everything which serves for diagnosis and treatment be lowered to prices compatible with our countries’ scarce resources. We ask this in the same of this human right called right to treatment. We ask this in the name of intelligent globalisation able to globalise solidarity.
Yes, to governments, companies, men and women of good will everywhere in the world we propose a new coalition to fight AIDS in Africa, for a future with a human face, for all” the minister concluded. (AP) (13/5/2004 Agenzia Fides; Righe:39; Parole:508)
