ABOUT US$57 million from Bill Gates Fund is set up to slow down the spread of HIV/Aids in Africa, the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) Director, Fama Hane-Ba has said.
The money, according to the Director, will benefit four African countries, Tanzania, Botswana, Uganda and Ghana. Set up by the wife of renowned Microsoft boss, the fund aims at strengthening efforts in slowing down the spread of HIV/AIDS in the continent.
She has said here that the funds would pass through the traditional channel to assist in efforts to contain the spread of the scourge for five years.
It was not immediately established how much each country would receive, but she said Tanzania would receive US$16.5 million from the Fund.
Activities to slow down the HIV/AIDS spread would include service delivery, advocacy and policy formulation, and behavior and communication changes. To be provided is quality reproductive health services to youths to enable them informed and make decisions when it comes to sexual affairs.
She said emphasis would be placed on information and education for behavioral changes among the youth because this remained one of the important measures in slowing down the spread of HIV/AIDS. "WHO studies have shown that adolescents delay sexual activities or opt to abstain when they are given reproductive health education," she said.
Already an agency to manage the fund has been established, she said. Formed by the UNFPA and two non-governmental organizations, PATH and Pathfinder, the agency is known as African Youth Alliance (AYA).
At the just ended Abuja Summit, African leaders were challenged to pull their socks and allocate more resources to HIV/AIDS activities, donor countries were asked to honor their pledge to contribute 0.7 percent of their GDP towards the developing countries for the purpose.
Since poverty was seen as underlying factor for the increasing spread and health to HIV/AIDS, debt creditors were asked to cancel Africa's external debts enabled her to concentrate in improving education and health infrastructures.
The African leaders supported the establishment of the Global AIDS Fund announced by UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan and expressed optimism that it will equally support HIV/AIDS activities in Africa where 70 percent of the world's 36 million people with HIV/AIDS live. The summit was held between April 24 and 27, this year.
