The Taoiseach has pledged to press the European Union to take concerted action to tackle the rapid increase of AIDS in Africa, saying it is the biggest problem facing that continent.
Speaking to reporters last night at the end of a five-day visit to southern Africa, Mr Ahern said the extent of the AIDS crisis was the issue that had struck him most forcefully during his trip. "Africa's biggest problem is the AIDS problem. They are crying out for help," he said.
Mr Ahern said he believed his visit had been helpful towards boosting trade, good bilateral political relations and the profile of Ireland Aid abroad. The greatest assistance Europe could provide Africa, however, was in dealing with AIDS, and he would ask the Irish EU Commissioner, whose responsibilities include public health, to examine whether the EU could take practical measures to deal with the issue.
He said there had been "no concerted campaign to deal with the situation where 10 per cent of the African population is infected".
Everyone he had met in Lesotho and South Africa had mentioned the AIDS issue to him as their first or second priority, yet there had been little discussion at EU level on the issue. "I haven't heard it discussed in any form, and then I come down here and find out that it's the biggest problem."
He said there were powerful medical research interests in Europe, and he believed they could be doing more about the AIDS problem in Africa.
In his own mind he had associated AIDS with "drugs and cities" and it was a shock to go to rural drug-free parts of Lesotho "to see 40 per cent of the people with it, and 50 per cent of those aged 18 to 35. I don't think the world can just sit back and watch the figures get worse," Mr Ahern said.
He would also seek to help South Africa win the implementation of a £4.8 billion trade and aid deal with the EU, currently being blocked by Italy and Greece in a dispute over the branding of alcoholic products.
He expected a new document from the EU on the issue to be given to the South African government shortly, possibly this weekend.
Jamie Smyth adds: In Dublin it has been learned that strategy to support the prevention and to reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS in Africa will be made public by the Department of Foreign Affairs at the end of this month. It is expected to increase substantially the level of Ireland Aid financial support for HIV/AIDS activities.
The plan outlined in An HIV/ AIDS Strategy for the Ireland Aid Programme, a strategy document seen by The Irish Times was developed by the Irish Aid Advisory Committee, in conjunction with African advisers working for Ireland Aid who visited the Republic late last year.
The document notes that sub-Saharan Africa, the main focus of Ireland Aid support, has taken a "disproportionate toll" of the disease. At the end of 1998, 67 per cent of global AIDS cases were estimated to be in the region. The programme will support HIV/AIDS programmes in Ethiopia, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Ghana.
The health adviser to the Department of Foreign Affairs, Dr Vincent O'Neill, said no specific financial package had been agreed for the programme, but it would involve a substantial increase in funding.
The plan sets six key priority areas for Ireland Aid in the next three years. These include significantly increasing the level of support for HIV/AIDS sufferers, contributing to consciousness-raising and developing the capacity of personnel at facilities supported by Ireland Aid.
On a practical level it will involve nominating a focal person at regional or country level to co-ordinate Ireland Aid's response to HIV/AIDS.
There will be increased support at a multilateral level through organisations such as UNAIDS, the World Health Organisation and the EU for activities focusing on HIV/AIDS. The strategy will explore how Ireland Aid can integrate HIV/AIDS programmes into its support for other aspects of its programmes and those of indigenous and international NGOs.
The plan sets out the three strategic goals to which Ireland Aid can contribute as institutional, broad-based and specific responses. It should improve the awareness, responsiveness and effectiveness of Ireland Aid to HIV/ AIDS as a development issue, protect existing social and economic development gains from the adverse effect of HIV/AIDS and support sectoral policies, programmes and activities that impact on the national, community and individual level.