At UN, Archbishop Makgoba urges G20 to boost spending on combatting HIV/Aids among children

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba has called on the G20 group of nations to boost their spending on combatting HIV and Aids among the world's children.

Speaking on the sidelines of United Nations meetings in New York, he said the coronavirus and war in Europe had taken attention away from the plight of children infected by HIV and Aids.

“Right now, the main focus in relations between the world's most powerful nations on the one hand, and the countries of Africa on the other, is on that which is negative: on military interventions, on the export of weapons and mercenaries to Africa, and on the economic exploitation of our raw materials,” he said.

“If the economic powers of the world wish to improve their image in Africa, they could do no better than boosting their aid in the health arena. Specifically, the United States should reauthorize PEPFAR, and their European and Asian counterparts in the G20 group should follow their example.”

PEPFAR is the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, an initiative launched in 2003. Since then, the American government has spent $100 billion on its global HIV/AIDS response. The US Congress currently faces a vote on whether to continue the programme.

Excerpts from Archbishop Makgoba's address on Thursday follow:

“In an era when world attention has been distracted by Covid, and then by war in Europe, keeping a focus on ending the scourge of HIV/Aids is of critical importance. Especially tragic is the way in which the coronavirus pandemic and international tensions have taken attention away from the plight of children in this health crisis...

“Right now, the main focus in relations between the world's most powerful nations on the one hand, and the countries of Africa on the other, is on that which is negative: on military interventions, on the export of weapons and mercenaries to Africa, and on the economic exploitation of our raw materials.

“When President George W Bush introduced PEPFAR, with bipartisan support in Congress, he promoted the image of Americans as caring and compassionate people, people who saved millions of lives in Africa. No American programme has saved more lives of mothers and babies than PEPFAR. There is nothing more pro-life than PEPFAR.

“But that image of the United States now threatens to be replaced by one in which you present yourselves as primarily a military power, only interested in Africa as a battleground in your fight against international terrorism.

“But you and your partners in the G20 nations in Europe and Asia can turn this around. If the economic powers of the world wish to improve their image in Africa, they could do no better than boosting their aid in the health arena. Specifically, the United States should reauthorize PEPFAR, and their European and Asian counterparts in the G20 group should follow their example.”

The full text of the address can be found here:
https://archbishop.anglicanchurchsa.org/2023/09/prioritizing-children-in-hiv-response.html

(This is the text of a news release issued by the church.)

Read more here:

The path that ends AIDS by 2030 will boost progress towards achieving many other Sustainable Development Goals

UNAIDS, the Governments of Botswana and the United States of America, together with the European Commission have joined global partners to urge world leaders to get on the path that ends AIDS. This, they say, will also accelerate progress to reach many other of the Sustainable Development Goals. [UNAIDS photo]