Treatment Acceleration Program

Sixth Regional Advisory Panel meeting

Nairobi 6-7 December 2007

Opening Remarks by Thokozile Ruvzidzo, OIC, African Center for Gender and Social Development

Honorable Minister of Health;

Distinguished Delegates,

Ladies and Gentlemen:

On behalf of UN Secretary General and Executive Secretary of ECA, I would like to thank the Government and people of Kenya for their hospitality since we arrived here and the Governments of Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Mozambique for their support since we started the TAP programme. I am also grateful for the partnership of the World Bank, the World Health Organization and all our implementing partners whose work has provided us the opportunity to catalogue success stories and lessons learned

As you will recall, about four years ago when TAP was conceived, HIV/AIDS was the biggest challenge in Africa. Today, HIV/AIDS remains one of Africa's biggest challenges. We know that the pandemic has reversed decades of economic development and political stability in Africa and we must not allow complacency or HIV/AIDS fatigue to slow down our determination in fighting this pandemic.

Distinguished Delegates,

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Over the years, we have engaged in this fight together, struggling towards our goal of universal access to treatment, prevention care and support. We have registered many successes. We now have better clarity on how to increase voluntary counseling and testing exponentially. We now know more about preventing mother to child transmission and how to extend home care and ART to many who need them.

But we still face significant challenges. We still need to learn more about what makes some people adhere to treatment while others fall aside, even if they are willing. We need to know what it would take to extend quality free HIV treatment to everyone who needs it and the social cost of doing business as usual

This is why the objective of this meeting is to highlight lessons learned from previous HIV/AIDS treatment efforts in TAP countries as well as practical lessons learned in non- TAP countries.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Over the next few days, we will listen to presentations on diverse range of issues, including HIV prevention, treatment of AIDS, Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission and models of Public Private Partnerships in scaling up treatment. As we embrace lessons and learn from each other's mistakes, let us keep at the back of our minds, that the ultimate legacy of TAP is for us to find a way to keep spreading its lessons beyond the three pilot countries. ECA stands ready to assist all our member States in the pursuit of this noble objective.

This is why at the ECA, we have strengthened our HIV and AIDS programmes and partnerships to further enhance our learning agenda. Our HIV/AIDS Learning Group has been expanded and, in collaboration with UNAIDS and the African Union Commission, we are embarking on operational research in many key areas, including long-term treatment financing, social determinants of adherence and the development of an accountability index to monitor various HIV/AIDS commitments.

So, as we look to the future, and prepare for the end of these TAP pilot projects, I would like to re-assure you all that ECA will continue to fulfill its role as your technical partner, putting its vast convening powers at your disposal, in our collective response to HIV and AIDS in the years ahead.

I thank you for your attention.