AIDS fight targets Asia, Africa

Australian PM John Howard (R) greets Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi

COOLUM, Australia (CNN) -- The Australian Government has set aside more than $50 million (Aust. $100 million) to help combat HIV/AIDS in the Asia Pacific region over the next five years.

Prime Minister John Howard told media at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting Sunday the money was part of a $100 million-plus Australian commitment to global AIDS programs.

Howard said Australia was a world leader in dealing with HIV/AIDS.

The $50 million will be targeted specifically at Commonwealth countries in the Asia Pacific region, including India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

Support will be provided for a range of prevention and care strategies, community support, and clinical and medical services, Howard said.

Australia would also, if requested, help Asia-Pacific countries conduct trials and research on new AIDS treatments and draft legislation aimed at securing affordable AIDS drugs.

African pledge

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Howard also announced a further $6 million over the next four years to help African member countries reduce infection rates and the impact of AIDS.

Part of this money would be used for scholarships to train African workers in strategies to reduce AIDS.

With African nations comprising 17 of the Commonwealths 54 countries, the issue of AIDS was to have been very high on the agenda for last years cancelled CHOGM planned for Brisbane last year.

But at Coolum the issue has been overtaken to a degree by the fight against terrorism in the post-September 11 environment.

The erosion of democracy in Zimbabwe and the issue of what actions, if any, to take against that nation has also distracted the CHOGM agenda from the AIDS question.

Emphasis

Queen Elizabeth with (L to R) Howard, Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon and South African President Thabo Mbeki

It is estimated that more than 28 million people in Africa have HIV/AIDS and of the 3 million AIDS death last year, 2.3 million of those occurred in Africa.

Because of this weighting, Commonwealth countries make up less than 30 percent of the worlds population, but more than 60 percent of the global AIDS caseload.

Earlier Sunday, Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon released the Para55 Commonwealth report on HIV/AIDS.

The report calls for a more coordinated and cooperative approach to dealing with AIDS within the Commonwealth.

The report says that the success rate within the on dealing with AIDS currently varied greatly from country to country.

The reality is that if every Commonwealth country was able to match the efforts of the best Commonwealth country the global burden of HIV would be halved, it says.