Viewpoint

Surprises about AIDS

After the war in Iraq: before a new world order?



  

AIDS – The threatening disaster, D+C 2003:2

Saviour Bush?

I concur with your concern on HIV/AIDS in your Editorial „A disaster of global scale“. You say Kofi Annan puts the annual sum required at US$ 7-10 billion to fight against HIV/AIDS. In the present war against Iraq US President George W. Bush estimates the budget requirement at US$ 75 billion! If the US President is committed to welfare of the humanity, he can earmark a sizeable budget to save the planet from this deadly disease, in which event he will go down in the history as the greatest saviour of humanity.

Prof. A. Jagadeesh, Nellore, India


AIDS – the threatening catastrophe, D+C 2003:2

Surprises about AIDS

It came as a surprise to readers with an interest in development policy to see D+C refer to AIDS as "a threatening disaster" – especially since the other development journal of the former DSE, 'Agriculture and Rural Development', carried a report in a special issue back at the beginning of 2002 (1/2002) describing AIDS as a "globalisation catastrophe" But there were even more surprises in store for readers of the D+C AIDS issue. Social marketing of condoms is the state?of?the?art tool in the international HIV/AIDS prevention toolkit and one of German development cooperation's principal contributions to the HIV/AIDS prevention effort. Since Mr Elliesen's article is confined to describing the scope for improvement of a project in India and as the issue contains no other information about this important form of German Financial Cooperation (FC), we take the liberty here of adding a few belated notes. German FC has been involved in HIV/AIDS social marketing projects for ten years and is now engaged in 21 countries worldwide with a total budget volume of around 220 million euros. Coupling public information with improved access to condoms, this type of programme has stood the test of time: thanks to selective incorporation and consolidation of free-market structures in the health sector making for cost-effective implementation of programmes, it has had a demonstrable development policy impact. Sexual behaviour is starting to change, something which can clearly be seen from the rapid rise in condom sales figures. This is a first measurable success – because the most effective means of combating AIDS is and will remain the avoidance of HIV infection. German Financial Cooperation KfW has broken new ground and found new partners in the fight against AIDS, notably in Islamic countries such as Pakistan and Indonesia and in West Africa. In the field of HIV prevention, FC works increasingly with private institutions and NGOs, which have good access to the people at risk. The proceeds from the sale of condoms flow back into programme funding. As a result, programme implementation costs can be increasingly reduced. At a time when the United Nations reports that, in the 53 countries worst hit by AIDS, the pandemic will claim 53 million lives by the end of the decade and 278 million by 2050, we welcome the fact that D+C is now turning its attention to the HIV/AIDS issue.

Dr. Claudia Radeke, Dr. Wolfgang Bichmann, KfW, Frankfurt/Main


Interview with Erich Stather, D+C 2003:3, P. 119

BMZ restructuring necessary?

After reports of considerable upset at the Federal Environment Ministry (BMZ), the interview with State Secretary Erich Stather was welcome. It is commendable that the ministry intends to devote more attention to globalisation issues and assign greater importance to multilateral development cooperation. The question is: does the organisational structure of the ministry need to be changed to achieve that goal? In the forty and more years since the ministry was formed and under the twelve ministers and seven state secretaries who have headed it to date, staff committed to and motivated by BMZ's fascinating mission – like the writer of this letter – have had more than one taste of downtime spent waiting for the implementation of restructuring and remodelling plans by incoming new management and the restoration of a salutary working climate.

The most important part of BMZ's mission has always been to coordinate bilateral and multilateral cooperation and the assistance provided by non-governmental organisations with the development policies of partner countries to ensure that, wherever possible, good results are achieved for the recipient population. In the past, the knowledge of partner countries needed to do that could not always be acquired by the regional divisions because they lacked the personnel or even at times lacked the funds to cover travelling expenses. The detailing of development staff to German embassies has been helpful but BMZ's role as political leader has paled in the face of the dominance of major implementing organisations like KfW and GTZ, which have a permanent personnel presence in many partner countries.

It is certainly not a mistake to dovetail the Africa divisions with multilateral cooperation. If the role of the relevant head of directorate is also strengthened, it might happen again that the BMZ director for Subsaharan Africa is appointed to the UN secretary?general's high-level advisory board on Africa.

Dr. Rainer Barthelt, Bonn