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Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2000 4:49 AM
Subject: AIDS Consensus Plan - Part 1


THE AFRICAN CONSENSUS AND PLAN OF ACTION: LEADERSHIP TO OVERCOME HIV/AIDS

A. The Consensus

Preamble
1. Personal leadership
2. Community leadership
3. National leadership
4. Regional leadership
5. International partnership

B. Plan of Action

1. At the national level
2. At the regional and global levels
3. Communications from this Forum

Annexes
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 A. The Consensus

Preamble:

Now is the decisive moment in Africa’s struggle to overcome the
continent-wide threat of HIV/AIDS. Success in overcoming the HIV/AIDS
pandemic demands an exceptional personal, moral, political and social
commitment on the part of every African. Leadership in the family, the
community, the workplace, schools, civil society, government and at an
international level is needed to halt the preventable spread of HIV/AIDS,
and
to provide a decent life for all citizens of Africa. Each and every one of
the leadership acts necessary to prevent HIV/AIDS and to help those living
with HIV/AIDS, without exception, are things we want anyway for a better,
more developed Africa, and must be implemented in full and without delay.

Much has been achieved. Many African communities and several entire nations
have shown that it is possible to contain and reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Success is a reality in many places and is possible across the continent.
The
Africa Development Forum 2000 is a breakthrough. It represents a watershed
in
national leaders’ readiness to address intimate personal beliefs and
behaviour in a public and political manner. It marks an unprecedented
collective commitment to the struggle against HIV/AIDS. With the required
resources and the right leadership at all levels, we will win. Too much time
has been wasted. Too many lives have been lost. Now is the moment.

 1. Personal Leadership.

1.1. Every individual must personally break the silence around the norms and
practices that fuel the HIV/AIDS pandemic. As a citizen, leader, wife,
husband, parent, child, youth, adult, worker, or employer, there are
critical
issues of information, attitudes and behaviour that must be learned and
faced. Every person must be ready to speak openly about sexual relations and
the unequal power relations within sexual relationships.

1.2. Families are the cornerstone of society. Parents have a special
responsibility to educate their children from a very early age about the
realities of HIV/AIDS and to socialise them into personal morality and
social
attitudes that will help contain the pandemic.

1.3. Each person must regard themselves as affected by the HIV/AIDS
pandemic,
and must acknowledge the possibility that they themselves or a loved one may
become infected.

1.4. Every person must confront the reality of denial, stigmatisation and
discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS, and should embrace
people
living with HIV/AIDS as fellow members of their families, communities and
nations.

1.5. People living with HIV/AIDS are human beings in full possession of
their
human rights. They must be valued as a resource in and of themselves, and as
crucial allies in the common struggle to overcome HIV/AIDS. They should not
be used or manipulated in the campaign against HIV/AIDS.

1.6. Each person must take responsibility for avoiding risky sexual
behaviour, for protecting themselves, and for preventing the virus being
transmitted to others. For many this will mean promoting and living lives of
fidelity.

1.7. Youths have a personal responsibility to respond to the challenge of
HIV/AIDS, in their personal lives and by setting examples to their peers.

2. Community Leadership

2.1. The struggle against HIV/AIDS will be won community by community, in
every family, village, township, and settlement across Africa. Authority and
resources to overcome the pandemic must be devolved to the local level.

2.2. At the community level, there should be a common struggle to overcome
HIV/AIDS, with actions and strategies that combine all members and component
parts of the community, resulting in a true local partnership.

2.3. People living with HIV/AIDS stand at the centre of any community
efforts
to overcome the pandemic, and to change attitudes to overcome denial,
stigmatisation and discrimination. Their rights must be respected in full
and
their leadership potential recognised.

2.4. Women and girls must be empowered in their homes, workplaces, schools
and communities, and provided with the cultural, legal and material means of
protection from sexual abuse. Traditional leaders need to be reliable allies
in protecting women from abuse. Perpetrators of sexual and domestic violence
against women and children, must be prosecuted in the courts. Child- and
woman-friendly family courts must be created at scale and supported.

2.5. Men’s responsibilities towards women and girl children must be
emphasised. Men must be a target for educational efforts with a view to
their
being important allies in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

2.6. Children orphaned by AIDS should be both a family and community
responsibility, with the family receiving sufficient support to ensure their
welfare, education and health.

2.7. Governments have a special responsibility to promote social
responsibility among soldiers and other uniformed officers of the state.
They
must take the lead in preventing and punishing sexual crimes by these
servants of the state.

2.8. All people, regardless of their sexual orientation, must have access to
appropriate information about HIV prevention, access to appropriate
treatment
and care, and should be free of stigmatisation, discrimination and fear.

2.9. The accessibility and low price of condoms must be ensured, and people
must be taught about their importance and use. Access for youth and rural
dwellers is especially important.

2.10. Youth comprise over half of Africa’s population, and are leaders of
today and tomorrow. Youth must be clearly recognised and encouraged both as
key participants and as key targets in developing and implementing HIV/AIDS
action plans at all levels. Youth organisations require support and
resources. The youth representatives from throughout Africa played an
important part in the Forum and the Youth Statement is appended as Annex I,
as an integral part of this statement.

2.11. The many different stakeholders in communities each have particular
roles and responsibilities, which often need to be developed more fully, to
make them full allies in the common struggle against HIV/AIDS and the
support
of people living with HIV/AIDS. They include:

People living with HIV/AIDS, whose involvement is essential.

Spiritual leaders, who are among the most influential community members,
provide moral guidance and awareness.

Traditional healers have multiple roles including palliative care, and
contribution to global research efforts in search of a cure.

Health care providers in both their roles as health educators and care
givers, are crucial allies.

Women’s groups are an integral component of the community. Women’s leaders
are educators and role models for women and girls, and can play a key role
in
changing the attitudes of men.

Teachers and educators, including traditional communicators, are pivotal
intermediaries in influencing children and youth and are influential role
models. They must be trained to teach forthrightly about sex and HIV/AIDS
education.

Employers and trade unions have key roles in workplace initiatives to combat
HIV/AIDS, and overcome stigmatisation and discrimination.

Elected representatives and traditional leaders should represent and be
accountable to all their constituents, including PLWAs, and can play an
important role in advocating for their interests and mobilising
community-wide campaigns.

Older people require education and assistance to enable them to provide aid
and care for PLWAs and orphans of PLWAs. Older persons must be used to
provide education consonant with tradition and culture to families,
communities and civic groups.

2.12 Those caring for people living with AIDS need special assistance in
recognition of the special burdens and responsibilities upon them.

2.13 In sum, there is a need for total societal mobilisation at a community
level, creating a robust ‘social immunity’ from the scourge of HIV/AIDS.
This involves a seamless continuity between breaking the silence on stigma,
and providing effective prevention, treatment and care.

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