wfn.org | HIV/AIDS, Africa's greatest challenge

[FRANK.IMHOFF@ecunet.org]

King of Swaziland visits Ecumenical Center in Geneva

GENEVA, 28 June 2000 (LWI) - The "greatest challenge" facing the developing
countries in Africa is the HIV/AIDS crisis, according to the King of
Swaziland, H.M. Mswati III, who addressed staff while visiting the
Ecumenical Center here. Unless urgent action is taken, up to 20 percent of
the population of these African countries will die from AIDS-related
illnesses, he said.

King Mswati III is attending the UN General Assembly Special Session,
taking place in Geneva this week, which is following up on the
implementation of the commitments made during the World Summit for Social
Development in Copenhagen in 1995. Pointing to the HIV/AIDS crisis, the
king said that any success of development policies and any efforts made to
bring improvement to the lives of the African peoples were threatened and
jeopardized by the effects of the crisis.  According to UN statistics
presented in Geneva yesterday, in 1999, approximately 2.8 million people
died of the disease worldwide. The number of HIV-positive people and those
suffering from AIDS is estimated at more than 34 million.

During his speech, Mswati III thanked the Lutheran World Federation (LWF)
for its many years of supporting the Kingdom of Swaziland in the fields of
assistance to refugees, health, and education.

In his address on the occasion of the King's visit, the general secretary
of the Lutheran World Federation, Dr. Ishmael Noko, underlined that the LWF
"continues actively to support the integrated rural development activities
in Swaziland of the Lutheran Development Service of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Southern Africa."

Noko offered LWF support for a delegation of people nominated by the
Government of Swaziland in consultation with the churches "to undertake a
study trip to centers of HIV/AIDS treatment and support in Uganda. Uganda
is one of those countries where relative success has been experienced in
controlling rates of infection and in providing basic levels of social
support to AIDS-affected communities."

Referring to the UN Special Session taking place in Geneva, Noko stated
that the promise of people-centered development made at the first World
Social Summit in Copenhagen in 1995 had not been lived up to. The
commitment of the UN member states to eradicate poverty by a target date to
be specified by each country in its national context was one example he
mentioned. According to Noko, "this grand vision has been replaced by more
limited objectives - calling for the reduction of the proportion of people
living in extreme poverty by one half by the year 2015."

In this context, Noko recalled the promise of the leading industrialized
nations to spend 0.7 percent of their gross national product on official
development assistance (ODA). "However, the continuing decline in ODA as a
proportion of GNP will only be effectively addressed by concrete action to
fulfill this commitment," he said.

King Mswati III pointed out that "there has been a disappointing failure on
the part of the developed world, to honor the commitments we all made in
Copenhagen five years ago, as well as a negative focus on words, not
action." The king said he hopes "that the result of this special summit
will be a new, more committed approach from members, towards a set of
actions that truly address the considerable challenges we face." He
underlined this as especially important in view of the fact that "the gap
between rich and poor is widening, measured against any social standard."

King Mswati III has reigned over the Kingdom of Swaziland since 1986.  The
kingdom has some one million inhabitants of which about 78 percent are
Christian.

(The LWF is a global communion of 128 member churches in 70 countries
representing 59 million of the world's 63 million Lutherans. Its highest
decision making body is the Assembly, held every six or seven years.
Between Assemblies, the LWF is governed by a 49-member Council which meets
annually, and its Executive Committee. The LWF secretariat is located in
Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted, material
presented does not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its
various units. Where the dateline of an article contains the notation
(LWI), the material may be freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]

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Lutheran World Information
Assistant Editor, English: Pauline Mumia
E-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/