Dr Fareed Abdullah, Programme Director,
Professor Robert Soudre, Conference Chair and President of the Society for AIDS in Africa;
Professor Ian Sanne, Conference Co-Chair and CEO of Right to Care;
Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers;
Mr Michel Sidibé, the UNAIDS Executive Director;
Ms Deborah von Zinkelnagel, the Global Co-ordinator for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR);
Dr Luis Gomes Sambo, World Health Organisation Regional Director for Africa;
Mr Cyriaque Ako, Representing African Men for Sexual Health and Rights (AMSHR);
His Excellency Mr Festus Mogae, Former President of Botswana and Champion for an HIV-Free Generation;
Dr Christine Kaseba-Sata, our Special Guest from Zambia;
Representatives of the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC);
Representatives of the Development Community;
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen
I would like to thank you all for the words of comfort and condolences on the passing of former President Nelson Mandela.
This conference happens in the midst of the mourning of a legendary figure in the annals of the 20th and 21st century histories of both Africa and the world.
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, a leader, a visionary, a doyen and a sage of the age as well the father of our nation, has died at the ripe age of 95. His legacy will continue to echo justice, peace, democracy, equality, non-racialism and non-sexism across ages.
We who have dedicated our lives to the fight against the HIV are also saddened because in Madiba we had a fearless partner in the fight against this pandemic. We know fully well the positive impact he made on our efforts to fight back this scourge both during and after his term of office. We will miss his larger than life figure, his statesmanship, his common touch, contagious humour and unbending resolve to see through a dream of a better life for all humanity.
ICASA as the largest AIDS conference in Africa attracts the widest cross-section of political leaders, advocacy groups, health-care workers, donors and researchers in the global HIV community.
We therefore look forward to positive exchanges and the sharing of new insights as we edge closure to meeting the universal targets of zero new infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.
Programme Director;
The majority of the delegates here present have been part of the global HIV community for over two decades and have collectively contributed to the significant progress we made in the fight against the pandemic.
The theme for the 16th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa convened in Addis Ababa in 2011, was: "Own, Scale-up, Sustain".
The theme of this year's conference - "Now More Than Ever: Targeting Zero" - is evidence of the progress that has been made across our continent in scaling up treatment and redoubling our efforts to prevent new infections since then.
The 2013 UNAIDS report on the HIV epidemic in Eastern and Southern Africa highlights the fact that AIDS-related deaths continue to decline, as do the annual number of new HIV infections and that more people than ever are receiving life-saving antiretroviral therapy. Many countries have reached the "tipping point" where the number of people starting antiretroviral therapy exceeds the rate of new infections.
Countries across the continent have scaled-up and sustained their responses despite financial hardship. Today, the challenges that confront us are different but no less daunting.
What was once a narrative of despair, stigma and death is now changing into one of hope, the preservation of life, dignity and the overall wellness of all human beings.
These improvements are not only helping us save lives but are also freeing-up resources to develop new insights on the diagnosis and peculiar behaviour of the HIV and the human body's response to it. This progress is also helping us with the emergence of innovations and other avenues for improving the general responsiveness of the global health.
Our success thus far should not lull us into complacency. If anything, the provisioning of treatment is an encouraging step forward, which must spur us on to achieve the universal target of zero new infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.
In this connection, the theme of this conference- "Now More Than Ever: Targeting Zero" -resonates well with international discourse on how we can take forward our fight against the pandemic.
More importantly, the theme affords us the opportunity to discuss and present practical recommendations covering a wide range of issues that pertain to HIV infection- be it in prevention, care, treatment, support, improving the quality of services or identifying innovative solutions to bottlenecks that undermine progress.
One of the key questions we may want to reflect upon is about how we can harness the experience of the last two decades for sustainable, universal and equitable access to health care for all- irrespective of race, gender, class, creed or sexual orientation.
As suggested in the recent multi-stakeholder report on Health in the post-2015 UN Development Agenda:
"The notion of good health is evolving, shifting toward creating and maintaining good health and well-being, rather than only preventing and treating disease. Heath systems must adapt to higher expectations and new demographic, environmental, and (other) health challenges."
In other words, we need to adopt a holistic and sustainable health approach geared towards meeting the specific health needs of people at various stages of life and promoting prevention as the best medicine.
In this regard, it is important that we reinforce the interrelatedness of health and sustainable development.
Investment in good health should be considered as a development imperative in and of itself because it increases the economic productivity of individuals and, consequently, the rate of economic growth.
The global response to the emergence of the HIV pandemic has therefore not only affirmed the centrality of health in the development agenda but more importantly, exposed the social determinants and disconcerting inequalities that continue to undermine our health improvement efforts.
As such our efforts continue to be geared to addressing the developmental needs of communities, while mitigating the impact of ill-health on the poorest and the most vulnerable.
We can state unequivocally that the response to the HIV epidemic has provided important lessons that will stand us in good stead for the road ahead. Key amongst the principles that should underpin our efforts going forward are the following:
- Global solidarity;
- Unity of purpose;
- Capacity to embrace diversity;
- Accountability; and
- Focus on respect for human rights.
If anything the AIDS response has demonstrated that working together across all sectors of society we can achieve much more.
Over the years African countries have received valuable global financial support that has made it possible to accelerate our AIDS response.
Civil society actors have also enabled governments to expand health access to more people, especially in the hinterland of our continent.
In this regard it is important for governments to promote these collaborations across government departments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), organised labour and business so as to leverage our combined HIV prevention efforts.
Programme Director;
As we have said before, we have made huge progress across many of the priorities that have been identified in our development agenda.
Equally, we have acknowledged that governments need to improve systems of delivery in health care, education, water, sanitation and other social services in a continuum of sustainable development.
In order to achieve our goals we need to improve relationships with our social partners with a view to defining a common vision and an approach that builds on the comparative advantage of each stakeholder.
Governments need to determine on the basis of evidence the most effective "best-buy" interventions and all stakeholders need to be pulling in the same direction. This decisiveness and co-ordination are required at both national and regional levels.
We also need better integration and co-ordination across governments, regions and the continent in order to maximise our efficiencies. Accountability, effective governance, strong leadership and co-ordination are essential ingredients for our success in crafting an effective response.
This requires a concerted effort to incorporate the HIV/AIDS response into national development planning and ensuring that development strategies include appropriate actions for aligning AIDS policies and programmes with budgets and medium-term expenditure frameworks.
These financial reporting mechanisms must also include clearly defined targets and outcomes to mainstream HIV/AIDS responses. This will go some distance in addressing the lack of consistency in the synchronisation and implementation of AIDS-related responses that compete with other aspects of national development plans.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
Allow me to conclude by making the observation that the African continent has made sufficient progress in scaling-up access to anti-retroviral therapy.
However, consolidating the gains that we have made will not be enough. A comprehensive, integrated and community-centred approach which seeks to address the social and structural factors that increase vulnerability to ill-health is the key to a sustainable response. Such an approach puts health at the centre of the development agenda once again.
Today is a chance to draw on these successes and to energise us for the next phase of our work as we seek to shift up another gear in the acceleration of our response.
Unless we do so, our continent will miss the opportunity to take advantage of the demographic dividend between now and 2030 that presents the opportunity to rapidly accelerate Africa's economic growth.
This conference takes place at a time when we have the tools necessary to defeat the AIDS and TB epidemics. The challenge is to find innovative and efficient ways to deploy these tools to improve health outcomes to achieve our common vision of Zero new HIV infections.
Whilst tools are a crucial component of our arsenal, it is human interaction that adds depth to our efforts, our ability to embrace others without prejudice, our willingness to walk the extra mile to support the most vulnerable and our common humanity that will endure--- 'let each of us be the change we want to see in the world' as the great Mahatma Gandhi said.
I wish to say to Professor Soudre, I heard your instruction and I will convey your message to President Zuma.
I wish you every success in your deliberations as you put your minds together to help us achieve the goal of overcoming these epidemics.
I thank you.
