AFRICAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE CONFERENCE ON HIV/AIDS

The African Academy of Science held a conference on September, 21^st – 24^th, 2004 at the Le Meridien Abuja. The theme of the conference was “HIV/AIDS Pandemic: Implications for Human Development in Africa”.

The sub-themes were:

The biology of HIV disease and the new system

Human rights issues in the HIV/AIDS epidemic

The impact of HIV/AIDS on manpower and other developmental processes in Africa

The impact on Universities and Research Development

The emergence and extent of resistant tuberculosis, co-infection with HIV/AIDS

The development and use of various vaccine for HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS and fake blood transfusion

Problems of treatment of patients with HIV/AIDS

Observations:

The participants noted the following salient points:

Africa is severely affected by the pandemic of HIV/AIDS infection, with the world’s largest population of 35 million out of the estimated 40 million. 

The toll of the HIV infection (AIDS) predominant among the youth especially women in the age range of 15-45 years creating enormous pressure on health services, social structure and the economy; with concomitant catastrophe of mother-child transmission 

The HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa is a threat to the stability of democratic governance, economic and social progression on the continent 

Africa is least prepared to tackle the problems and find solution due to the following reasons:

 - lack of local scientific capacity to disseminate and manage both preventive and therapeutic strategies

 - inadequate training of manpower for the vast members of health professionals and other role players required for the  
   massive anti-HIV campaign

 - lack of appropriate scientific and requisite infrastructure for basic research into HIV/AIDS to address the following:

   .  vaccine generation
   .  discovering effective local immune stimulants and antiviral agents
   .  identifying and dealing with drug-resistant HIV strains.

 - inadequate public communications/education on the need to change cultural practices that encourage the spread of
   HIV/AIDS

There is serious stigmatization of infected persons

Recommendations

There should be massive investment in science and technology to be coordinated by New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in association with Network of African Science Academies (NASAC).

Regional centers of competence in research should be set up all over Africa to address problems peculiar to the African continent. 

The universities and institutions of higher learning in Africa should be given greater support for manpower development especially in the science-based disciplines. 

The mass media should be encouraged to promote the popularization of science and technology on the continent with the aim of promoting a science culture in Africa. 

The government of the various countries of the continent should address and redress the brain drain of scientific personnel from the continent by putting in place conditions that would enable the best brains to remain and in addition induce those in diaspora to return. 

Governments in Africa should invest heavily on research and development of vaccines on HIV and drugs based on the biodiversity and indigenous knowledge. 

Governments should support the roll-out of the currently used anti-retroviral drugs, until more effective and cheaper drugs are found.