Nigeria: African Presidents Discuss Threat Of HIV And Aids-Us President Bill Clinton Visits Villagers

Record ID: 4282

  • Title: Nigeria: African Presidents Discuss Threat Of HIV And Aids-Us President Bill Clinton Visits Villagers
  • Date: 27th April 2001
  • Summary: Africa's Presidents have been speaking out about the problem of HIV/AIDS with increasing openness at a two-day summit on the epidemic in the Nigerian capital, convened to address what has become the number one killer in Africa. Traditionally, AIDS has carried a stigma in Africa, with leaders and people unwilling to address issues of sexual behaviour. That approach has got to change, said Ghana's Former President Jerry Rawlings, who has increasingly become an AIDS campaigner since leaving office this year after nearly two decades in power. "If we can exercise that (restraint in sexual behaviour) We will be on the path to a revolutionary transformation on this continent" Ghana's new President, John Kafuor said the summit was helping to break down a culture of silence on AIDS. "Initially this thing looked like a stigma for decent people to want to talk about and we have come away from that point and more and more people are opening up," President Kafuor said. Laurent Gbagbo, President of the Ivory Coast, acknowledged the extent of HIV infection in his West African state: "It is more serious than we thought, it is around 10% HIV positive in Ivory Coast", he said. Head of UNICEF, Carol Bellamy said even two years ago it was unthinkable that African leaders would attend a summit on AIDS. "I think there has been a dramatic shift at the top leadership in Africa on HIV/AIDS," she told the conference. AIDS threatens to slash the continent's potential for economic growth. It has claimed 18. 8 million lives worldwide since the epidemic started. Africa is hardest hit by the disease, home to more than 70 percent of the world's 36 million people infected by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Meanwhile, former US President Bill Clinton, who attended the opening day of the AIDS summit, spent a day visiting the traditional leaders and people of Sabon Gari village, 45 kilometres east of the Nigerian capital Abuja. Clinton proved hugely popular with the Nigerian people, who gathered in large crowds to catch a glimpse of him. It is Clinton's first visit to Africa after leaving the Oval Office, but his second visit to Nigeria. Last August he promised Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo he would come back. WARNING:LOCAL MUSIC LICENCES MAY APPLY. Copyright laws covering the composition, arrangement and/or performance of music differ from country to country, and even from state to state within some countries. These range from limiting the law to specific circumstances - e. g. 'performances given by professionals to a paying audience' - to total coverage that encompasses everything from a professional performance to the most amateur rendition - e. g. 'spectators at sports events'. If in doubt we recommend that either the section containing 'Music' is deleted or that the sound level is turned down and covered with commentary.
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  • Location: NIGERIA ABUJA
  • Reuters ID: LDL0012FF0PI7
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
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  • Copyright Holder: Reuters Archive
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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