28.06.2000
King of Swaziland says HIV/AIDS is Africa's greatest challenge
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 was attending the UN General Assembly Special Session, that took place in Geneva from 26 to 30 June 2000. It was 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, 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 support to 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 LWF, 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 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 According to Noko, "this grand vision has been replaced by more limited objectives - calling for the reduction of the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by one half by the year 2015."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 (GNP) 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.
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