AIDS Crisis in Africa
A Backgrounder Prepared by the NCC Washington Office

AIDS Day 2000 - Word from the NCC
AIDS in Africa: A Generation at Risk
AIDS In Africa Worship Resources

If there is anything approximating a modern day “plague”, HIV/AIDS is it.  And if the church is to bear witness to an abundant life for all (John 10:10), the menace of HIV/AIDS which robs entire populations of life as well as the chance to grow old has to be confronted with all available resources.  The AIDS crisis in Africa is at long last receiving widespread attention.  It is a crisis of drastic proportions - crippling economic development, destroying families, producing thousands upon thousands of orphans, causing hundreds of deaths daily, and reducing the average life span of the work age population. 

Never before has the issue of AIDS in Africa received such widespread attention in the US Congress or in international fora.  When US pharmaceutical companies threatened to sue the South African government for producing its own anti-viral medicines and for plans to import parallel drugs more cheaply from other countries, the issue became a moral a dilemma of profits vs. access to life saving health care.   Although the World Trade Organization's rules clearly allowed South Africa to proceed with its own production of medicine and parallel imports, pharmaceutical companies were moving to tighten rules on intellectual property rights at upcoming negotiations within the WTO.   Vice-President, Al Gore initially backed the pharmaceutical companies, but in response to scathing public criticism, had to back down.   At the UN Security Council in January, he announced US plans to spend $150 million on research for AIDS treatment, education, and vaccine development as part of the FY2000 supplemental.   

AIDS statistics in Africa are all too familiar.  Africans represent only 12% of the global population, but account for 80% of deaths caused by AIDS.    Of the 33.4 million persons living with HIV/AIDS, 22.5 million live in sub-Saharan Africa.   By 2010, it is projected that more than 40 million African children will become orphans due to AIDS.  In sub-Saharan Africa, 55% of infected adults are women largely due to their inability to negotiate use of condoms.  A renewed US commitment to the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women would further compliment an overall policy on AIDS in Africa.  Although Africa accounts for more than 69% of worldwide AIDS cases, African governments only have $20 per person per year on health care.   In contrast, drugs to combat AIDS cost roughly $20,000 per person per year in western countries. Without investment in health care, Africa's labor force will be unable to compete, let alone enter into "mutually beneficial" trade relationships with other countries.

The advancement of US/African trade and debt cancellation initiatives has brought more direct attention to the current state of Africa's health.  No legitimate development plan can be of any value or use without a deliberate, effective, long-term plan to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and establish proper, affordable treatment. 

The growing concern about this crisis is reflected in Congress.  Currently, US congressional members have put forth many different initiatives to combat AIDS, reflecting differing approaches.  Proposals include the creation of an AIDS Marshall Plan Fund for Africa Corporation funded by private and governmental contributors, creation of an AIDS trust fund at the World Bank, and increased funding for AIDS response initiatives through existing USAID programs.  It is critical that AIDS and development advocates seize the current momentum on this issue to press for as great and as rapid a response as possible.