PHA-Exchange> situation in sub saharan africa response on the WHO civil society initiative of 18/2/02

Sun Apr 7 06:50:17 PDT 2002

1.Most multinationals have policies which dont favour
developing countries.
a) working with big organisations who do not have
grassroot contact / touch.
b) most dont address the real needs e.g poverty
reduction, reduction in arms sales to 3rd world,real
health grassroot issues.
2. A lot of good proposals are just in in paper. the
north unwilling to provide funds or implement these
good resolutions to help 3rd world-Agriculture ,
health,sanitation, environmental isssues and
sustainability, pollution and toxic waste.Agenda 21 is
an example - reducing pollution to avoid destroying
ozone layer.
3. most resolutions passed at international
conferences, conventions or w/shops seen to benefit
the particular big northern organisations which have
some vested interest, yet they pose to be campaigning
for 3rd world or the south.
A case in hand in the HIV/AIDS issue.Aids is the
biggest killer in sub saharan Africa more than any
other continent on earth.The iisue of HIV/AIDS in
africa has been discussed  at its highest level in
most international forum attended by all UN bodies
which matter including WHO,IMF,World bank etc.The
HIV/AIDS pandemic apthy in Africa has been echoed time
and again in all meetings of these organisations which
hold the key to assisting in curbing the disaster.
However,despite having full knowledge on the african
status of HIV/AIDS,these bodies who have the might and
ability to assist Africa curb the parademic have kept
mum and turned their attention and priority to other
non core issues which probably rank in higher priority
according to them than the HIV/AIDS parademic.
       It is not possible to address the poverty
eradiction programme in sub saharan Africa in
isolation. Without addressing the underlying causes
like - 
1) HIV/AIDS
 2)Wars and Conflicts
3)Sale of Arms to factions and ethnic groups
HIV/AIDs is the real and major cause of poverty in sub
saharan Africa and no poverty eradiction programme can
succeed without  Properly and adequately addressing
the problem. The pandemic disrupt and completely
dismantles the entire family unit which is the
economic mainstay of  a society.
Example : both parent die of Aids leaving eight
children all in school. In such a family for example
the first born is left in high school (form
4).According to African family financial ability, only
the child in form 4 will  go through to exam level,
the rest will drop out of school with nobody to
provide all the basic need leave alone education.
Immediately this family will start scrumbling 
_children running away to be street boys, join
prostitution etc.
This is just one example and everybody knows that out
of 38 million HIV/AIDS cases 70% are in sub-Saharan
Africa. So one can imagine what the current HIV/AIDS
rates
                   COMBATING HIV/AIDS      
Combating Hiv/ids manace does not needs resources to
reduce poverty, which promotes its spread by
prostitution for money. Some tips to help in awareness
campaigns 

1.	Civil society initiative through CBOS & grassroot
bodies like women groups or community service
organizations.
2.	Dissemination media like church gatherings ,chiefs
,meeting  (barazas) schools & institutions etc.
3.	Daily clips or regular awareness messages on media
tvs ,radios.
4.	A musicians to be sensitized to promote HIV
awareness to the public & particularly their audience
each time they are performing .
5.	HIV aids awareness leaflets & stickers be printed
in to local & vernacular languages.
6.	HIV + people be encouraged to be educators.
7.	Train indigenous elders who call aids a disease of
bad omen to understand & accept that aids is real
.Then they can now be awareness campaigners.       

8) Establish HIV/AIDS awareness centres with all basic
facilities for education like Tv and videos, HIV/AIDS
video cassettes, e-mail/ internet facilities,
fax,telephone for ease for communication and
photocopying machines to produce leaflets. it is
unfortunate that Africa lacks even such very basic
facilities which one would get in rural dwellings in
developed world.If  
theWHO and PHM who would like to help Africa out of
the current mess, then we need to be serious and
redesign our approach to issues and be more practical
than putting alot of proposals in paper.
  The proposal I have given above is very modest in
terms of cost but very effective in results
but, the donors may not approve it because it is
differnt from their way of thinking and reasoning
it is unfortunate but since PHA(PHM) in Bangladesh
2000 december the parademic only hit headlines in
South Africa briefly during the death of Nkosi and
then everybody went silent.Although communication is
expensive in africa .We africans should keep the issue
alive
    it is my contribution/response to the WHo civil
society initiative and i expect more from WHO and PHM.
    HIV/AIDs is spreading in sub saharan africans at
alarming rate and if the trnd continues that way then
compounde with poverty and perpetual endless conflicts
and wars, the population of sub saharan africa will
start declining rapidly .I fully agree with urban
Johnson  paper dated 24-3-2002 on the same topic if we
really want to get the right direction which way to go
,then we must read his article between the lnes .Also
WHO/WHA/PHM must consider HIV/AIDS an international
disaster & give it the size of attention equal to iys
MAGNITUDE!!
    I fully agree wih Johnssons views that HIV/AIDS
has not been given the attention it requires.If the
world community really cares & would like to save
African`s population from being wiped out by this
deadly ‘MONSTER’ then the WHA is the right forum.there
will not be a second chance to save AFRICA!
     WHO/WHA/PHM should come out from GENEVA with
simple & specific ways to tackle the disease through
grassroot organisations,CBOS,NGOs,churches etc.
     The WHO/WHA/PHM should lobby the international
community the same way they did in Kossovo,Bosnia,Iraq
War & Afghanistan considered as a ‘WAR’ against
humanity .If war is declaired against the disease then
the whole world`s attention will be focused on it & a
solution will be found.ALL AFRICAN GOVERNMENTS
,POLITICIANS & SPIRITUAL LEADERS  TAKE UP ARMS AND
FIGHT THIS WAR IMMEDIATELY .SHED OFF SHYNESS AND
STIGMA ASSOCIATED WITH HIV/AIDS and History will
remember you as grat saviours of the African continent
.African leaders must demilitarise the entire
continent NOW!

                                           by:     
MALACHI  O.  ORONDO.

CHRISTIAN DEVELOPMENT ORGANISATION .

Delegate  PHA  Bangladesh 2000.

E-mail : oromal at yahoo.com  

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