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CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Japan provides US $630,000 to fight HIV/AIDS

NAIROBI, 2 November (IRIN) - The Government of the Central African
Republic (CAR) and Japanese NGO Amis d'Afrique (Friends of Africa) signed
a letter of agreement on Wednesday for a US $630,000 grant in support of
reinforcing HIV/AIDS responses in communities in the CAR, the World Bank
announced from Bangui.

The grant will finance activities in the fight against HIV/AIDS in local
communities by reinforcing a number of ongoing interventions undertaken by
Amis d'Afrique. The grant, has four components: medical care and
treatment; home-based care and family support; information, education and
communication and prevention in schools and youth centers; and
capacity-building with evaluation and monitoring.

"The grant supports an innovative approach of contracting NGOs and other
community groups in the delivery of HIV/AIDS interventions in the CAR,"
the World Bank reported. "Amis d'Afrique, the grant implementing agency,
established in 1993 to assist in the fight against HIV/AIDS, has been
building capacity at the local level," it continued. "In addition, the
agency will contract other NGOs to deliver information, education and
communication programmes in the schools or to train traditional healers in
HIV/AIDS care and support in order to reach a wider segment of the
country."

The World Bank Vice-President for the Africa Region, Callisto Madavo, said
the grant "provides an opportunity for meaningful partnership among the
government, the World Bank, Amis d'Afrique and the civil society in the
common goal of mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS on the economy and
curbing the epidemic in the country".

Director-General and President of Amis d'Afrique Mizuko Tokunaga said he
was "grateful that our activity can be expanded by working together with
the World Bank project" in light of the increasing number of HIV/AIDS
patients.

The World Bank estimates that annual per capita growth in half the
countries of sub-Saharan Africa is falling by 0.5 percent to 1.2 percent
as a direct result of AIDS and that by 2010, per capita GDP in some of the
hardest hit countries may drop by as much as 8 percent. Annual basic care
and treatment for a person with AIDS (without antiretroviral drugs) can
cost as much as two to three times per capita GDP in the poorest
countries.

Today, 36 million people live with HIV/AIDS, more than 95 percent of them
in developing countries. Over 21 million people have so far died, three
million of them in 2000 alone. AIDS is now the leading cause of death in
sub-Saharan Africa.

[ENDS]

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[This item is delivered in the "africa-english" service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post
this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial
sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2001