ZIMBABWE: More AIDS action urged during Abuja summit

JOHANNESBURG, 2 May 2006 (PlusNews) - Zimbabwean authorities at the Abuja Summit on Universal Access to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria Treatment being held this week in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, say there is a need for more action and less talk.

Doctor Tapuwa Magure, executive director of Zimbabwe's National AIDS Council, said it was vital for African heads of state to honour any declaration that might come out of the gathering.

"This is the only sure way in which we can extend the framework [adopted during previous Abuja summits] for scaling up existing strategies and initiatives, for addressing national and community-level goals," he told the Herald, a Zimbabwean newspaper.

African governments are yet to meet most of the targets agreed during the earlier summits, while accessing anti-AIDS treatment was still a pipe dream for most of the continent.