Brazzaville Commitment: African countries task ECA, others on Universal Access to HIV Treatment, Prevention, Care and Support

Brazzaville Commitment: African countries task ECA, others on Universal Access to HIV Treatment, Prevention, Care and Support
By Yinka Adeyemi in Brazzaville, 08 March 2006

Brazzaville, March 8, 2006: About 250 delegates from 53 African countries today ended a three-day consultative meeting in Brazzaville after adopting the “Brazzaville Commitment”, a broad list of 26 action recommendations which, they hoped, would help African countries towards meeting the goal of universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention, care and support. The meeting was organized by the African Union, with the support of UNAIDS, ECA, WHO and DFID.

The delegates represented governments, parliaments, civil society, faith based organizations and the private sector. Eight of the delegations were led by Ministers of Health.

The Brazzaville Commitment calls on the AU, ECA and regional economic communities to establish innovative ways to mobilize resources for AIDS at the sub-regional level and to strengthen the role of the African Development Bank (AfDB) to raise resources and influence allocation for HIV/AIDS.

The Commitment also recommended that the ECA, World Bank, Global Fund, and AfDB urgently support the RECS to set up regional and national bulk purchasing, technology transfer, south-south collaboration and sub-regional production of AIDS-related drugs and commodities, including support in using TRIPS flexibilities.

It calls for accelerated HIV/AIDS research in Africa, including traditional medicines, and the protection of Africa’s indigenous knowledge.

The RECS were also urged to harmonize regulatory procedures for medicines and removing cross-border taxation on essential medicines and commodities.

It also calls for aligning national budgets to national AIDS plans, including balanced allocation between prevention, treatment care and support. The AU is also required to mobilize countries to accelerate the achievement of the target of 15% of national budgets which African heads of state agreed to devote to health.

On human resources and systems, the delegates called on African leaders to massively scale up service delivery systems by enhancing training, retention and better use of Africa’s available human resources and making them responsive and accessible to all communities without sacrificing quality.

The AU would promote and support an audit of legal instruments to verify harmonization of laws and policies with national AIDS goals on stigma, discrimination and gender issues.

The Commitment was formally handed over to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Congo and will be taken to African Heads of State at the forthcoming Special Summit in Abuja, in May, for endorsement.

The Brazzaville Commitment will, thereafter, form the African position on Universal Access at the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS in June 2006.