African Aids Commission Meets in Washington Ahead of Final Report

Addis Ababa, 17 October 2005 (ECA) - One of Africa's leading initiatives against HIV/AIDS, the Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa (CHGA), holds its final meeting in Washington, D.C., this week at the end of its two-year mandate.

The Commission's brief is to advise African governments on how to strengthen their effectiveness against the pandemic, which is having a profound, structural impact on the continent's capacity to meet its development challenges.

CHGA's Commissioners, all individuals prominent in the fight against AIDS, will review the draft of their final report on Thursday October 21 at the Woodrow Wilson Center and meet with Washington's policy community, Friday, for an interactive session on the report's key messages.

In its two-year life, CHGA - in collaboration with civil society organizations, clinical practitioners, research institutes and development agencies - has driven research on the pandemic's major impacts on African governments, economies and the provision of services.

The Commission's report will offer policy advice and action points on how to reinforce prevention efforts; strengthen health systems and treatment; protect vulnerable groups, including women, young girls and orphans, more effectively; and achieve more sustainable and coordinated funding, among other challenges.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan established CHGA in 2003 under the leadership of then Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, K.Y. Amoako, who chairs the Commission.

Its work is guided by twenty individuals prominent in the fight against AIDS, who serve as Commissioners, including Joy Phumaphi, assistant director general of the World Health Organisation, Peter Piot, head of UNAIDS, leading South African researcher Alan Whiteside and Richard Feachem, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. CHGA's Patrons are former Zambia President Kenneth Kaunda and former Prime Minister of Mozambique, Pascoal Mocumbi.

ADVISORY

CHGA will meet at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., at One, Woodrow Wilson Plaza, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washington, DC 20004-3027. Interested media should email Fabian Assegid, email: fassegid@uneca.org or Yinka Adeyemi, email: yadeyemi@uneca.org or contact Mike Jobbins at the Woodrow Wilson Center on 202-691-4158.

More information about CHGA and a full list of Commissioners can be found at http://www.uneca.org/chga/

Issued by the ECA Communication Team

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