Anti-AIDS summit concludes with call to fight epidemic

The African Summit on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other Infectious Diseases ended here Friday with the signing of a declaration calling for an expanded effort to combat AIDS.

The two-day summit, which was preceded by technical and ministerial meetings, was attended by UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, who urged for the creation of a $7-10 billion global fund to fight infectious diseases in Africa. "The fund will be governed by stakeholders which will be made of donors, the UN system and groups dealing with people infected by HIV/AIDS," he said, noting that the resources would be disbursed with an emphasis on "action at the country and community level."

The Secretary-General also expressed hope that by the time of the General Assembly's June special session on HIV/AIDS, "governments and others would have already made announcements of how much money they are going to put into the Fund."

"If we do not win here in Africa, we are not going to win it anywhere else," Annan warned.

As part of his personal commitment to galvanizing international support to combat the epidemic, Annan will travel to Philadelphia, United States, on Monday to make another appeal, this time to the Council of Foundations. The Council's membership, comprising over 1,800 foundations, had in 1999 combined assets of some $318 billion and grants totaling an estimated $14 billion.