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Note: This document is from the archive of the Africa Policy E-Journal, published
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Africa: HIV/AIDS Emergency
Africa: HIV/AIDS Emergency
Date distributed (ymd): 000216
Document reposted by APIC
+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Region: Continent-Wide
Issue Areas: +economy/development+
Summary Contents:
This posting contains a press statement and open letter from
the DC AIDS Network, calling for a continental state of
emergency to combat AIDS. In addition to measures directly
focused on AIDS, the statement highlights the need for
primary health care and for debt relief, in order to enable
Africa to deal with this crisis. It calls for African and
international response on a far greater scale in order to
address the severity of what the letter terms a "Holocaust."
For additional background information on-line on HIV/AIDS and
Africa's Health in general, consult the Africa Policy Web Site
health page (
http://www.africapolicy.org/action/health.htm).
For more information on the DC AIDS Network, write to the
Network at the e-mail address and postal address cited below.
+++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Press Statement
16 February, 2000
An Open Letter to African Heads of State, Political and
Religious Leaders calls for a Continental State of Emergency
to Combat the AIDS Holocaust
DC AIDS Network can be reached via e-mail at
DCAIDSGROUP@hotmail.com or by writing to DC AIDS Network,
6017 Cairn Terrace, Bethesda, Maryland 20817.
Washington DC [DC AIDS Network]: In an "Open Letter to
African Heads of State, Political and Religious Leaders on the
AIDS Holocaust" released today to coincide with the opening of
the National Summit on Africa in Washington DC (February
16-19, 2000), the DC AIDS Network, a Washington DC-based
advocacy group for Africa, has called for the declaration of
an "AIDS Continental State of Emergency" to combat the effects
of the deadly disease. Evoking memories of the devastating
effects of the 15th-18th Century Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade,
the letter decried the "extraordinary silence on the part of
the overwhelming majority of African political leadership in
the face of mass destruction of Africa from the AIDS virus"
and urged immediate action to stem the pandemic. It described
as "anemic" the $300 million pledged so far by the US
government on the AIDS war in Africa when compared with the
$16 billion war, refugee and drug combating efforts in Kosovo
and Colombia, and therefore called for "an international
African response [to be] be built to urge, cajole and demand
that Africa receive the same level of international response
from world governments, the pharmaceutical companies and
health care industries."
Among several recommendations made to the African leaders, the
letter called for an initiation of an "international Black
family debate and coversation" on the AIDS subject and
re-prioritization of African government expenditures towards
AIDS prevention; pressure on US pharmaceutical companies to
allow for more affordable drugs; debt forgiveness of African
countries to free up resources to address the AIDS crisis; the
building of easily accessible health care centers to prevent
and treat opportunistic diseases which make HIV/AIDS more
deadly; the establishment of national AIDS Funds; massive
education campaigns to stem apathy towards the deadly disease;
and special care of orphans of AIDS, with emphasis on
providing housing, education and health care for them.
Released February 16, 2000 to coincide with National Summit on
Africa, Washington, DC February 16-19, 2000
An Open Letter to African Heads of State, Political and
Religious Leaders on the AIDS Holocaust
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:
We, the living descendants and survivors of Africa's earliest
contact with the Western world and Africans living in America
appeal to you. We, the peoples of the Diaspora, whose
ancestors once thrived in the territories that are now known
as Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, Angola, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea,
Cameroon, the Congo and Senegal and all of the nations that
were depleted by the unspeakable trade in our African family
members implore you to declare an AIDS Continental State of
Emergency.
In the late 15th century, European nations declared war on
sovereign African nations. That war is commonly referred to
as the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. According to Black
scholars, such as Drs. Cheikh Anta Diop and Walter Rodney,
over 50 millions Africans were affected by the violent and
forced removal of men, women and children from our beloved
continent. This trade of African citizens to the western
world was the largest transfer of technological knowledge in
human history.
In spite of the fact that we were stripped of our citizenship,
no act of war or European trade in African populations, can
diminish our love of Africa or separate us from the spirits of
our unknown relatives, who may now be suffering or at risk of
contracting the AIDS virus. On their behalf and in the spirit
of Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, the father of Pan-Africanism, Presidents
Julius Nyerere and Kwame Nkrumah, we appeal to you for
concrete action in defense of the orphans, widows and future
generations of Africans who will succumb to this virus. Just
as Africa's population was decimated, and political and
economic contra-forces unleased a downward spiral setting
African development back by two centuries, so it is with AIDS.
This pandemic, uncontrolled, will set Africa back again. The
time to act is now.
We have been confounded and mystified by the extraordinary
silence on the part of African political leadership, in the
face of mass destruction in Africa from the AIDS virus! How
does one explain, in the context of the AIDS holocaust that
not a single African Head of State attended the 1999 World
Conference on Aids held in Lusaka, Zambia - not even the
President of Zambia? How will history record and justify this
deafening silence as millions of African peoples face certain
death, entire families destroyed and millions of children
orphaned? Thousands of years of indigenous agricultural,
medicinal and cultural knowledge may vanish forever.
We, however, congratulate courageous African leaders who have
begun to act, resulting in a reduction in the growth rate of
HIV/AIDS in Uganda and Kenya. We gratefully acknowledge the
establishment of national AIDS councils in several countries,
most recently in Nigeria.
History often teaches painful lessons - but we fail to learn
at our own peril. The lives of Black people have been forever
devalued when compared to the lives of whites. One can only
imagine the scale of international intervention if 5,000
French or English people were dying of AIDS daily. The
international community spent $1.50 per day for each refugee
in Kosovo, but responded quite differently to the conflicts in
Sierra Leone and Rwanda by allotting the daily expenditure of
only 11 cents per day per refugee.
The United States has recently proposed a new investment of
$150 million dollars bringing the total financial commitment
to approximately $300 million to help Africa fight the AIDS
crisis. Many of these dollars will be paid to pharmaceutical
companies that have held Africa hostage to costly drugs and
legal advisors over patent protection laws while millions of
people die. Consider that the US spent approximately $15
billion to support the war efforts in Kosovo and recently
provided $1 billion to Columbia to assist their drug
intervention efforts. An anemic $300 million from the US for
the AIDS war on the African continent is indeed meager.
The present US foreign policy towards Africa can not claim to
have human rights, justice or the interest of the impoverished
majority as one of its centerpiece concerns. President
Clinton, during his recent and historic trip to Africa vowed
that the US would never allow conflict in Africa to escalate
to the order of the Burundi/Rwanda massacre-scale without the
US attempting to intervene in some positive way. Since that
trip, Angola, Sierra Leone and other countries have descended
on a downward free-fall, without the US even attempting to
give lip service to the notion that African people are
equivalent on the scale of humanity to Europeans.
An international African response must be built to urge,
cajole and demand that Africa receive the same level of
international response from world governments, the
pharmaceutical companies and health care industries. But
first, the international Black family, especially Black
churches and associations, must organize and respond to this
holocaust. We demand equity with the white world in the
distribution of relief. It would be a secondary tragedy of
unparalleled proportion for Africa to wait for the US or
Europe to respond.
As the European and American public joyfully celebrates the
dawn of the 21st century with unprecedented financial
stability and wealth, Africa is facing one of its most
devastating challenges - survival. Africans and Africans of
the diaspora must assume new responsibilities in the
unprecedented war against AIDS.
The Problem: ------------
As you are aware the scope of this holocaust is beyond human
comprehension in the magnitude of its devastation. For
example:
- The AIDS crisis is draining Africa of its best and brightest
workers, farmers, school teachers and children, indeed of its
very future and existence. More than 5,000 people with AIDS
die each day in Africa and epidemiologists expect that
figure to climb to approximately 13,000 by the year 2005.
- Within the next 10 years, it is projected that there will be
40 million AIDS orphans in Africa. That is roughly
equivalent to twice the US Black population. These children
often have to leave school to become care givers for their
parents.
- AIDS orphans are at risk for all forms of abuse, including
prostitution and pornography, placing them also at risk of
contracting HIV/AIDS.
- As you are aware, in Zambia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and many
countries in Africa - business managers factor death rates
from AIDS into their hiring practices - by expecting to lose
two out of three workers within a short period of time.
- Food production, particularly in Southern Africa has been
impacted by this crisis, for example, maize production in
Zimbabwe declined by 61% last year due to illness and death
from AIDS.
- AIDS is causing funeral homes to remain open 24 hours a day
in certain countries in order to meet demand. The
environment is being adversely impacted. Deforestation is
taking place, not because of energy needs, such as housing
or fire wood, but coffin production. It has become the
highest growth business sector in many countries.
We realize that the problems of Africa are enormous. Civil
society has paid a heavy price for the fragility and
volatility of the African economic, environmental and
political millieu - civil wars, famine, desertification, land
mines, poor educational systems, military intervention and
corruption. Yet, the AIDS virus threatens to wipe out an
entire generation of Africans. We recognize that the war
against AIDS is not a traditional war replete with guns, tanks
and landmines. This war is much more insidious but no less
deadly.
Recommendations: ----------------
- We ask you as leaders of the African world to initiate an
international Black family debate and conversation on a
subject which includes poverty, sexual mores, rape, debt and
sustainable development as the essential elements of the
AIDS crisis. In addition, a discussion should take place on
re-prioritizing African government expenditures towards AIDS
prevention education, safe drinking water and primary health
care rather than acquisition of guns and submarines.
- We must work together to pressure US pharmaceutical
companies to release African countries from austere
intellectual property and patent right laws in order to
produce generically-cheaper AIDS drugs. Initially, US
government officials warned African countries against such
activities. We believe that it is morally indefensible for
the US government to impose arbitrary restraints on African
leaders in their quest for affordable AIDS drugs.
- In addition, we are convinced that debt forgiveness will
contribute significantly to the ability of African countries
to amass the resources to address the AIDS crisis and other
issues of development. We support the establishment of a
fund designed to address the issue of AIDS.
- We are demanding that Africa is treated on an equal parity
with European nations in the distribution of relief support.
- We urge you to build Health Care Centers within easily
accessible locations in both urban and rural areas, with
adequate staffing to prevent and treat diseases, such as
cholera, tuberculosis, STDs, malaria etc. that weaken the
human immune system thereby increasing susceptibility to
HIV/AIDS.
- We urge African leaders to establish AIDS Fund through
solicitation from indigenous and international
philanthropists to stem the surge of this holocaust. This
Fund should be managed by leaders internationally respected
for their selflessness and integrity.
- We urge to embark on a mass education campaign to stem the
apathy towards this deadly virus. In addition, we are
asking you to challenge the faith-based communities to
mobilize time and resources to minister to the spiritual and
physical needs of those afflicted with the HIV/AIDS.
- The problem of orphans of AIDS and their sexual exploitation
in pornography and prostitution should receive immediate and
effective attention. Efforts should be made to provide
housing, education and health care for AIDS orphans.
Let us assume this awesome task of reconstruction and
development for the African continent and her peoples of the
diaspora for the sake of generations yet unborn. We believe
that this noble undertaking, at the dawn of the 21st century,
will represent a qualitative advancement in the cause of human
civilization and restore and invigorate historic bonds. We
thank you for your consideration.
Respectfully and with Warmest Regards,
Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo
Chairman, DC AIDS Network, Washington, D.C.
Dr. Bolaji Aluko
Chairman, Department of Chemical Engineering,
Howard University
Secretary, DC AIDS Network
Chair, Nigerian Democratic Movement
Minister Dr. Segun Adebayo
Director, Church Outreach
DC AIDS Network
Mr. Mark Harrison
Project Director
General Board of Church and Society
The United Methodist
Church* (for identification purposes only)
Washington, D.C.
Dr. Jeanne Tougara
Howard University
Department of History
The Honorable Kango Lare-Latone
President, Global Contact, Washington, D.C.
Reverend Emory Searcy, Jr.
Field Organizer
Call to Renewal/Sojourners
Washington, DC.
Reverend Alice Davis
National Organizer
Call to Renewal/Sojourners
Washington, D.C.
Mr. Acie L. Byrd, Jr.
Political Analyst;
Human and Civil Rights Activist, Consultant
Washington, D.C
Ms. Nicole Christian
Youth Coordinator
DC AIDS Network
Washington, D.C.
Dr. Mohammed El-Khawas
Professor of History/Political Science
University of the District of Columbia
Washington, D.C.
To endorse this letter, and for further information or to get
involved, please send an e-mail to
DCAIDSGROUP@Hotmail.com or
write to DC AIDS Network, 6017 Cairn Terrace, Bethesda,
Maryland 20817
This material is being reposted for wider distribution by the
Africa Policy Information Center (APIC). APIC's primary
objective is to widen international policy debates around
African issues, by concentrating on providing accessible
policy-relevant information and analysis usable by a wide
range of groups and individuals.
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