Press Release

December 5th 2008

Champions Call for Accountability from African Leaders (ICASA Conference) ...

DAKAR, Senegal – African leaders should live up to commitments on HIV and AIDS, including the promise to spend 15 percent of their national budgets on health, according to two members of the Champions for an HIV-Free Generation.

The Champions, Professor Miriam Were of Kenya and supermodel Liya Kebede of Ethiopia, called for stepped-up leadership in the response to the HIV and AIDS epidemic during a panel discussion at the 15th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA) in Dakar on Thursday.

The panel, entitled “African Leadership and Reinvigorating Prevention,” was chaired by Dr. Debrewerk Zewdie, director of the Global HIV/AIDS Program at the World Bank. It was part of a special series of leadership sessions at ICASA.  

Professor Were emphasized that good governance and accountability remained an important goal for leadership on the African continent. Commitments made, including promises under the Abuja Declaration calling for 15 percent of national budgets to be spent on health programs, should now be delivered.

Both Were and Kebede said part of their role as Champions was to provide peer support to African heads of state and other leaders to provide more visionary and evidence-based solutions to the AIDS epidemic.  With a focus on proven HIV prevention practices, the Champions speak freely and independently about the issues that need to be discussed, both publically and behind the scenes.

They emphasized that global responses should also reflect the evidence and burden of the HIV and AIDS epidemic in Africa through mobilization of the international community and its resources.
“The Champions will advocate for the world not to abandon Africa so that together we will win this war against HIV,” Were said.

Asked how a supermodel and acknowledged celebrity would play a role in the Champions effort, Kebede responded that she planned to Champions issues around child and maternal health.

“As a woman and a mother, I can speak to issues of importance to mothers and children, and being a Champion allows me to speak to these issues at the highest levels,” she said.

His Excellency, Mr. Festus G. Mogae, the former president of Botswana, launched the Champions for an HIV-Free Generation in August, during the 17th International AIDS Conference in Mexico City.  Led by Mogae as the chairperson, the founding members include H.E. Dr. Kenneth D. Kaunda, first president of the Republic of Zambia; H.E. Joaquim A. Chissano, former president of the Republic of Mozambique and chairperson of the Africa Forum; H.E. Benjamin William Mkapa, former president of the United Republic of Tanzania; His Grace Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus (South Africa) and Nobel Laureate; Justice Edwin Cameron, South Africa Supreme Court of Appeals; Professor Were, chairperson of the Kenya National AIDS Control Council; and Kebede, maternal and child health advocate,  WHO Goodwill Ambassador and international supermodel.

The Champions initiative is sponsored by the World Bank, U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), UNAIDS, WHO, UNICEF, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Global Fund. Collaborating partners include Africa Forum and the African Broadcast Media Partnership Against HIV/AIDS. The Champions is assisted by a small secretariat based in Gaborone, Botswana.