Global Policy Forum

African leaders signed a joint declaration Friday in Abuja, Nigeria, urging a boost in spending in the fight against AIDS while emphasizing the need for affordable drugs to treat the millions infected on the continent.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, speaking at the end of a two-day African summit on AIDS and related diseases, called the agreement the "end of the beginning and beginning of the end" of HIV's spread in Africa, where 26 million people are infected. "For some time, we seemed to be unsure and uncertain of what to do about HIV/AIDS," Mr. Obasanjo said. "I believe we have come to the end of that uncertainty with the end of this summit. We are clear in our minds of where to go and how to go."

The document calls on the 53 African states to aim at spending 15 percent of their national budgets on health programs, including a significant proportion on AIDS. Extra funds also should be committed to AIDS education, training and research programs, the document says. Most African countries devote about 5 percent to 7 percent of their budgets to health. The declaration gave no timeline for reaching the new spending target.

The document also encouraged African governments to use "appropriate legislation and international trade regulations" to provide affordable, effective AIDS drugs to those infected with the disease. The virus has killed 23 million people worldwide, 17 million in sub-Saharan Africa.

Former President Bill Clinton, who attended the summit in a private capacity, estimated that as many as 100 million people could die in the next decade unless the spread of the disease is stemmed.

Some summit observers said the declaration was significantly watered down from a preliminary version hammered out by African ministers earlier in the week. The final document did not mention a proposal to import and produce controversial generic "copycat" HIV drugs to make treatment affordable to Africans.

"The devil is in the details," said Babar Hashmi, a Pakistani government official who was invited to the summit. "The conference participants had very laudable goals, but let's see how well they will be able to implement them."

The use of generic drugs has been opposed by major pharmaceutical companies that claim the practice infringes on intellectual property rights laws and takes business away from the manufacturers responsible for researching and developing new drugs. Gunther Faber, vice president of GlaxoSmithKline's operations in sub-Saharan Africa, instead urged governments to sign cooperation agreements with the major drug companies.

Six African nations recently signed deals with leading pharmaceutical companies offering cut-price HIV drugs. But even at reduced rates of an estimated $300 a year per patient, the drugs remain out of reach for most in the region, where the price equals many families' entire yearly earnings.

Oxfam, a British charity, also expressed solidarity with African governments bidding to gain access to generic medicines.

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