Sidelining Debate on Aids is Big Mistake, Says Un Chief

The head of the United Nations Aids programme has accused earth summit planners of sidelining the most important issue affecting Africa's development: HIV.

Peter Piot said yesterday that Aids was not even on the conference agenda until a few months ago and, even now, it is being treated as tangential to the summit's focus on sustainable development.

"In many parts of the world we can forget about sustainable development if this Aids epidemic is not brought under control," he said. "If people are not alive, if people are not healthy - the people who are supposed to bring us sustainable development - then it won't happen. Aids is a major crisis of human resources."

The issue is of greatest concern in Africa, where more than 30 million people are infected with HIV: nearly 75% of those carrying the virus worldwide. In South Africa about six million people are expected to die of the disease in the next decade.

Yet, according to Mr Piot, initially there was no intention to discuss Aids at the summit.

"It was as if 'Oh, we forgot'," he said. "Finance people and trade people set the agenda ... I've always been shocked by their questions. It's not bad will but they are naive. I have to make the case again and again that Aids is not just health, it is affecting economies."

The UN Aids report to the conference paints a devastating picture of the disease's impact on development. It says HIV strips societies of teachers and other skilled workers and ravages farming communities, with profound consequences. Life expectancy has plunged in many countries.

The UN Aids director has blamed the sidelining of the disease on erroneous western perceptions and the hesitation of African leaders to admit that it is the most serious problem confronting their countries.

He believes the new recovery plan for Africa, Nepad, shows similar ambivalence. "At this summit I hear more and more talk about Aids but when I read the resolutions it's not there, just as with Nepad, a key historic document for Africa's development. When I look at that document, Aids is just not there."

He added: "[African leaders] still see Aids as separate, as something for the minister of health to deal with, not fundamental to Africa's survival."

Mr Piot said the struggle to beat Aids requires a greater financial and political commitment by the west and for Africa to put more resources into education and treatment.