What is the Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa?

The Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance is a UN system-wide initiative, launched in February 2003 by (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan to complement the vital work on transmission and prevention being done by UN and other agencies with a rigorous agenda that charts the way forward on HIV/AIDS and governance in Africa in three crucially interrelated areas:

(a) the implications of sustained human capacity losses for the maintenance of state structures and economic development;

(b) the viability (technical, fiscal and structural) of utilizing anti-retroviral (ARV) medication as an instrument of mitigation; and

(c) in partnership with UN and other agencies, synthesizing best practices in HIV/AIDS and governance in key development areas with a view to formulating policy recommendations.

CHGA is also represents the first occasion on which the continent most affected by HIV/AIDS will lead an effort to examine the epidemic in all its aspects and likely future implications.

The Commission is chaired by the Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Mr. K. Y. Amoako. It has 20 Commissioners who guide the Commission’s work and also serve as goodwill ambassadors or champions of the issue. These include leading ?gures in the development world, academics, and prominent leaders on the issue of HIV/ AIDS.

Research Agenda

Addressing the HIV/AIDS challenge in Africa

Within its two-year life span, CHGA will aim to address some of the key HIV/AIDS challenges facing African Governments. The core mandate of the Commission is rooted in research. CHGA’s research agenda aims to address the systemic HIV/AIDS challenges posed to African governments. Specifically, CHGA’s research objectives endeavor to the following: first, to help African policy makers to fully grasp the nature of the long term development challenges posed by HIV/AIDS to the constitution of their societies; and the ability of these societies to continue functioning normally; second, to assist African policymakers in devising appropriate policies and programmes to help treat the millions of Africans already living with HIV/AIDS; Finally, to assist policymakers in understanding both the fiscal and structural implications of up scaling HIV related medication in resource limited settings. These three objectives neatly lend themselves to three forms of inter-related research components for CHGA:

Secretariat

The Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance for Africa is serviced by a small secretariat, which is based within the Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Secretariat oversees and conducts the core research work and policy advocacy outreach. In this context, it is also responsible for the coordination of partner research institutions.

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