UNAIDS says Africa must rely less on foreign aid for HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention programs

Jan 31 2012

Speaking on Saturday at the African Union Summit, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe said huge advances in HIV treatment and prevention have been made over the past decade in Africa, "[b]ut these gains 'are not sustainable,' ... because they are heavily dependent on foreign aid," the Zimbabwean reports (1/30). "An estimated two-thirds of AIDS expenditures in Africa come from international funding sources, according to a new UNAIDS issues brief titled "AIDS dependency crisis: sourcing African solutions" (.pdf), Xinhua writes (1/29).

"Sidibe said that financing a sustainable response to the HIV epidemic in Africa will require home-grown and innovative solutions that meet the needs of the African people," according to a UNAIDS press release (1/28). "UNAIDS believes that Africa can negotiate a new 'shared ownership-shared responsibility' agenda with international partners," as the amount of foreign aid going toward fighting HIV/AIDS is falling and unpredictable, the Zimbabwean notes (1/30).