*EPF505 07/12/2002
Barcelona AIDS Conference Closes with Calls for Leadership
(Mandela, Clinton promise to help build support for AIDS fight) (1020)

By Charlene Porter
Washington File Staff Writer

Barcelona -- Two former national leaders, both described as champions in building global recognition of the severity of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, closed the XIV International AIDS Conference July 12 with messages of hope and challenges for the future. Former South African President Nelson Mandela and former U.S. President Bill Clinton promised to use their stature and influence to build greater support for action against HIV/AIDS and to raise money for expanded treatment, prevention and education efforts.

"AIDS is a war against humanity," Mandela said in a speech at the closing ceremony. Mandela's appearance was a reminder of the XIII International AIDS Conference held in Durban, South Africa, when he first dedicated his influence and his almost iconic status to the struggle against the disease.

In the two years since that meeting, Mandela said, "We are told that six million more people have died as a result of HIV/AIDS." He likened the epidemic to a war that requires complete mobilization.

Mandela called on all public and private institutions to do more to help raise money against the disease and to provide more readily available access to treatment and testing for all people without regard to their country or their ability to pay.

Clinton, who now serves with Mandela as co-chair of the International AIDS Trust (IAT), was more specific in his call for the developed world to increase its contributions to help provide expanded treatment. "Every nation should decide on its share of the $10 billion and pay it," said Clinton, sharing the stage with Mandela at the closing ceremony. The United Nations has estimated that $10 billion annually is the amount necessary to cover the global costs of the epidemic. Identifying a source for those funds has been a constant topic of debate and discussion in the course of the July 7-12 AIDS meeting.

Clinton, the first leader of a developed nation to recognize the epidemic as an international security crisis, offered another specific idea for action. He suggested that all developing nation governments in need of support for drugs and treatment follow the example set by a handful of nations that have negotiated agreements for discount drugs with pharmaceutical companies. Clinton advised developing nation governments, once they have a specific plan at an identified cost, to appeal to donor governments for the full cost of the plan.

Clinton also made a personal promise to the gathering of AIDS specialists and activists. "I will do all I can to get more money, more action and more understanding" focused on the epidemic, Clinton said, and he invited the crowd to hold him accountable to that promise.

The Barcelona meeting has become the first in the history of international conferences sponsored by the International AIDS Society (IAS) to include a significant number of national leaders. Four heads of state made appearances at this Mediterranean conference, and, in addition to Clinton and Mandela, three other former heads of state attended.

National leaders shared a stage July 11 in what was billed as an "unprecedented" gathering of world leaders from nations affected by HIV/AIDS. The IAT and the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) organized a "Strategic Dialogue among World Leaders." Those organizations said the Barcelona meeting was the first occasion when so many national leaders had ever assembled for an IAS AIDS conference.

"Leadership saves lives," according to IAT President Sandra Thurman as she introduced the high-ranking officials.

As the first speaker on the panel, Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio bluntly assessed world leadership in response to the epidemic, reflecting the sense of urgency that has pervaded this meeting. "We have wasted a lot of time in the past, we must act immediately," he said.

Rwanda President Paul Kagame also emphasized urgency, calling on donor nations to produce the aid they have promised to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. "Let's do away with the rhetoric," he said.

The thousands of AIDS specialists who gathered for this meeting have been calling on national leaders to use their stature to talk openly about the disease, promote prevention and help end the stigma and discrimination that exacerbate the suffering of people living with HIV and AIDS. Ali Hassan Mwinyi, the former president of Tanzania, called upon the leaders to rise to that challenge. "As leaders," he said, "we are duty-bound to fight denial, stigma and discrimination."

Former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell picked up on the same theme, urging world leaders to focus on the human rights issues that surround the epidemic, especially considering issues of discrimination and access to treatment for traditionally disenfranchised groups such as women and homosexuals.

The other members of the panel were St. Kitts Prime Minister Denzil Douglas, Mozambiquan Prime Minister Pascoal Mocumbi and former Indian Prime Minister I.K. Gujral.

Clinton received the most enthusiastic response when the panel convened before the Barcelona audience, and his remarks were sympathetic and supportive. "I know a lot of you are worn down," he said, in recognition of the many delegates to this conference who have dedicated the last two decades to the fight against the epidemic.

"You shouldn't be discouraged," Clinton said, pointing out that a number of prominent political figures have opened their eyes to the severity of the epidemic in recent years, and committed themselves to action. "We've got to keep going," he said, expressing hope that mapping the human genome will lead to biological breakthroughs on discovery of a vaccine.

Many of the some 15,000 delegates who attended the meeting may carry away feelings of hope and solidarity after sharing a week with like-minded colleagues in Barcelona. For some attendees here, however, those feelings are always tempered by the stark realities of the epidemic. At a closing press conference, Shaun Mellors, a member of the organizing committee for the conference, said that since the meeting began July 7, 48,000 people have died of AIDS. Mellors, a South African AIDS activist, is also HIV positive.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

Return to Public File Main Page

Return to Public Table of Contents