by Djibril Diallo, PhD.Lon.
Senior Advisor to the Executive Director
UNAIDS (the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS)

Africa faces the greatest challenges in trying to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), agreed on by all 192 countries that are Member States of the United Nations, which aim for the elimination of extreme poverty and its causes.

At the mid-point last year in the global effort to attain the MDGs by 2015, many African countries are not on track but have made progress. The proportion of people in sub-Saharan Africa living in extreme poverty fell from 56 per cent in 1990 to 50 per cent in 2005. The region’s total net enrolment ratio in primary education has increased from 58 per cent in 2000 to 71 per cent in 2006, a major achievement.

The MDGs are an ambitious blueprint with eight goals, including

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development

Around the world, the United Nations, governments, organizations big and small, and communities are working to attain the MDGs. The efforts of All for Africa have great potential to boost this international campaign.  

Combating AIDS in Africa

Africa is the region hardest hit by HIV/AIDS, which undermines progress toward the other goals. Women now account for almost 60 per cent of those with the disease in the region.

Nonetheless, due to the increasing availability of anti-retroviral drugs, the seemingly inexorable increase in the number of deaths from AIDS each year has leveled off. Access to antiretroviral therapy rose by 42 per cent in 2007 alone — an unprecedented scaling up.

The new Executive Director of UNAIDS, Mr. Michael Sidibe of Mali, has set the top priority of helping countries attain universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010. To reach this target will require mobilization of resources, political will, and public support.

Organizations such as All for Africa can be a part of this effort by including HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention as an integral part of its projects, including steps to end the stigma against people living with the disease. Awareness and prevention are becoming part of “business as usual” for business, schools, organizations, and government agencies. This in turn will bolster efforts to provide treatment, care and support for people living with HIV. Combating AIDS is an investment brings tremendous economic and social returns, and I am proud to be working with UNAIDS to promote universal access.

We must reach out to young people, who are the most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. School and workplace prevention are a foundation for such efforts. However, in my experience, culture and sports, which are “universal languages” are vital avenues for reaching millions of people with life-saving messages.

For example, soccer star Emmanuel Adebayor from Togo has just been named as Goodwill Ambassador for UNAIDS. A star for the Arsenal team in the U.K. and “African Footballer of the Year,” he will use his popularity to raise awareness about the epidemic, including the importance of preventing new infections among young people.

Popular music stars, such as Baba Maal of Senegal, are also using their talents to warn their audiences about the risks posed by the epidemic. For the upcoming World Festival of Black Arts, hosted by Senegal on December 1 to 14, plans are underway for a panel on the role of art and culture in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

These initiatives are all bringing us closer to reversing the epidemic, achieving the MDGs, and putting African development on a fast track.