Recently African leaders at the end of the three-day African Union summit on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in Abuja, Nigeria, pledged to work toward providing universal treatment access for people living with the diseases on the continent, AFP/Today Online reports…

As welcome this is…and as much as it makes for good headlines – compared to simple anti-biotic drugs, anti-helminthics (deworming drugs) to treat children – in the light of the recent report from UNICEF on child health – why restrict the pledge to treatment for only OVP (CABA) – it would make more sense to go after conditions that can be treated, the greatest good for the greatest number and at the same time free resources for AIDS.

Meanwhile just ahead of the soon to be held UNGASS, a survey /evaluation has found that many African nations are getting a failing grade in the fight against AIDS.

“JOHANNESBURG, 23 May (PLUSNEWS) - African countries have failed to meet prevention targets agreed upon in 2001 at the United Nations General Assembly’s Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS), according to a statement issued recently by over 80 representatives of African civil society. “

The statement noted that no African country has met the UNGASS goals of reducing HIV prevalence amongst young people by 25 percent or ensuring 90 percent access to HIV/AIDS information and education. These failures are likely to come under scrutiny as government representatives converge on New York at the end of this month to review progress on their 2001 commitments to combating HIV and AIDS.

Prevention was supposed to be the cornerstone in the fight against AIDS. It is 25 years after HIV/AIDS was first discovered, and it seems depressingly the message has not yet got through. The recent debate on ABC, and now the emphasis on Abstinence as the preferred method for prevention attests to this fact. Depressing, because after 25 years the same old tired arguments are being trotted out, in denial of what is actually taking place.

SO we hear from Kenya’s first lady asking “why should kids use condoms.”, we hear We hear Uganda’s first lady promoting abstinence only. Kenya once had the highest birth rate in the world, and was leading in teenage pregnancies – abstinence is not working. Uganda once the poster child for success against the fight in AIDS, has announced an increase in new cases. Now the govt is staking the future on drugs. Prevention it seems has been abandoned or taken a back seat. So what next for the future, it’s anyone’s guess.