Brazzaville, 08 March 2006 -- The continental consultation on Scaling Up Towards Universal Access to HIV and AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support in Africa ended Wednesday in the Congolese capital with the adoption of the Brazzaville Commitment  French  Portuguese

The meeting recognized that the movement towards universal access to prevention, treatment and care offered  a unique opportunity for the African continent to remobilize communities,  civil society and governments. The six-page “Brazzaville Commitment” thus identifies  the  main obstacles to the rapid and sustainable scale up of existing programmes and services, and proposes concrete measures to address them.

Key among the obstacles identified are very a high dependence on unpredictable external funds; lack of harmonization and alignment of  national priorities as well as the “imposition of spending ceilings and heavy conditions”; inadequate skilled human resources;  weak health systems and delivery services; lack of good governance; weak management, monitoring and evaluation systems; inadequate distribution of services between urban and rural areas, and widespread stigma against people living HIV and marginalized groups including orphans,  migrants and sex workers.

The remaining obstacles outlined in the document are the high vulnerability of women and girls (an issue inadequately addressed by existing legal frameworks and programmatic measures); challenges related to the affordability, accessibility and acceptability of commodities for prevention and diagnosis; and recurring conflicts and natural disasters which displace populations, degrade infrastructure and weaken the social fabric.

The Brazzaville Commitment recommended key actions for overcoming these obstacles to HIV and AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support in the region.

These are related to sustainable financing, aligned with national priorities; acceleration of the implementation of national programmes, while increasing access and coverage of prevention and treatment services; the assurance that investments in the national AIDS responses are not blocked because of macro-economic concerns and external conditionalities; the establishment of mechanisms for health worker training, accreditation and quality assurance; the building and strengthening of health systems, and ensuring affordability of, and accessibility to, commodities, technology and essential medicines.

Others include the adoption of measures  which take into account  human rights and gender considerations such as the  reduction of stigma and discrimination; support for the right of people to know their HIV status without fear of discrimination; the promotion of proactive and affirmative action for people infected and affected by HIV, and promotion and support, by the African Union,  for an audit of legal instruments  to verify  continent-wide harmonization of laws and policies on national AIDS goals on stigma, discrimination and related equity issues.

Participants also recommended that African Heads of State lead a social movement from 2006 to 2010 to:

• Provide accurate and reliable information on HIV/AIDS and make available a package of services  to citizens within  a rights-based framework
• Develop national monitoring and evaluation systems,  and
• Set national targets (for the period 2008-2010) to aid Africa’s development in order to be on track for the sixth Millennium Development Goal which aims at halting and reversing the spread of HIV by 2015.

The Brazzaville consultation, convened by the AU with the support of UNAIDS, WHO, ECA and DFID, was attended by more than 250 participants from the 53 member states of the African Union. Participants included health ministers, government representatives, parliamentarians, national AIDS councils, faith-based organizations and civil society organizations and people living with HIV.

The outcome of the three-day consultation, which will be presented to the African Union Special Summit in Abuja, Nigeria, in May, will constitute Africa’s contribution to the 2006 United Nations Summit on AIDS scheduled for June in New York.

For more information contact:

Technical contact

Abdoul Dieng

Tel. in Addis Ababa: +251 11 544 3550

Email: abdoul.dieng [at] undp.org

Media contact

Samuel  Ajibola

Tel. in Brazzaville:  + 242 6537022

Email: ajibolas [at] afro.who.int