WRITTEN QUESTION P-2576/00 by Elly Plooij-van Gorsel (ELDR) to the Commission. AIDS prevention and treatment in South Africa.
Date: 2000-07-25
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: AIDS, EU aid, South Africa, development aid, disease prevention, health policy, medical research, scientific cooperation

18.4.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 113 E/123

newspaper on charges of (cid:145)treason(cid:146) linked to the fact that the three journalists had long been criticising the
Turkish occupying forces. Their arrest has been unanimously condemned by political circles in the
Republic of Cyprus and by the Writers(cid:146) Union in Cyprus.

What are the Commission(cid:146)s views on the above events, and does it consider that the fundamental freedom
of expression has been violated?

Will it seek explanations from Turkey and the Denktash regime with regard to the arrest of the three
Turkish Cypriot journalists?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(19 September 2000)

The Honourable Member is referred to the Commission(cid:146)s answers to Written Questions P-1802/00 from
Mrs Giannakou-Koutsikou (1) and P-2670/00 from Mr Alavanos (2).

(1) OJ C 72 E, 6.3.2001, p. 121.
(2) OJ C 103 E, 3.4.2001, p. 208.

(2001/C 113 E/126)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2576/00

by Elly Plooij-van Gorsel (ELDR) to the Commission

Subject: AIDS prevention and treatment in South Africa

(25 July 2000)

South Africa has the highest incidence of AIDS in the world. According to the UN, it has the largest
absolute number of people infected with HIV. Moreover, the taboo on AIDS makes it difficult to prevent
new infections occurring and to tackle the consequences of AIDS. It is reported that instead of seeking
ways of combating the epidemic, the South African Government is looking for explanations. For this
purpose President Mbeki has set up an AIDS panel which includes a small dissident group of scientists
who do not believe that there is any link between HIV and AIDS. This week the panel decided to carry out
further research, inter alia with the aim of checking the reliability of the HIV test. American and European
scientists regard this as a major disaster.

1.
Is the Commission aware of the declaration issued by a group of 5000 scientists just before the AIDS
conference in Durban stating that the HIV virus unquestionably causes AIDS and that policies should be
based on this fact?

2.
Does the Commission agree that AIDS prevention and treatment ought to be assigned high priority
in South Africa, since if policy remains unchanged, it is likely that half of those now aged 15 will not
reach the age of 25, which will be not only a human tragedy but an economic catastrophe as well?

3.
Does the Commission agree that the economic development of South Africa will stand or fall by an
effective approach to the AIDS problem and that such an approach is therefore a precondition for the
successful provision of European development aid?

If so, then, bearing in mind that South Africa is the largest recipient of EU development aid, will the

4.
Commission bring pressure to bear on the South African Government to fulfil this precondition?

5. Will the Commission use the agreement on scientific cooperation between the Community and
South Africa to ensure that EU funding of South African research is put to good use?

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Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.4.2001

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(18 September 2000)

The Commission was actively involved in the preparation of the thirteenth international acquired immune
deficiency syndrome (AIDS) Conference in Durban. A total of 94 participants from developing countries
were sponsored by the Commission in order to attend and present their scientific papers. The Durban
declaration, drafted by a coalition of over 250 scientists and signed by over 5000, was indeed issued one
week before the conference took place and reaffirmed the evidence that AIDS is caused by human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 or HIV-2. The Commission supports this position.

The Commission agrees that AIDS/HIV prevention and treatment ought to be given a high priority in
South Africa. AIDS treatment regimes are very complex and require an effective health system backup. The
Commission takes the position that limited resources should remain focused on the further strengthening
of in-country health systems, and on HIV/AIDS prevention for the many, rather than provision of non-
curative treatment for the few. To this effect, support to strengthening the health sector in South Africa
in addition to the ongoing Community health sector support
has been foreseen for 2000-2002,
programmes in the country.

Apart from HIV/AIDS, the country faces many other development constraints. In the area of social
development, the lack of basic infrastructure, high unemployment, the high level of crime, and poor
education levels all need to be tackled. South Africa(cid:146)s economic constraints can be summarised as slow
growth, declining employment and low enterprise investment.
In addition there is a range of good
governance constraints. The development of South Africa will stand or fall by an effective approach not
only to AIDS but to all other factors devastating growth and prosperity.

The Commission is currently developing an initiative to support accelerated action against the three
impact on poverty (tuberculosis, malaria, HIV/AIDS).
communicable diseases that have the greatest
A communication will be presented to Council and Parliament in September 2000. The broad areas for
proposed action will be to maximise access to existing proven and effective interventions; to address
accessibility and affordability issues related to key pharmaceutical products; and to increase investment in
research and development of new generations of drugs and vaccines against the three diseases. An effective
response will require innovation, new partnerships and a co-ordinated response from the international
community.

Community funds should not only be allocated to the fight against HIV/AIDS but also to the fight against
tuberculosis and malaria for instance. HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis are increasingly inter-related (cid:129) tubercu-
losis rates in South Africa and elsewhere can be expected to rise further in the absence of effective action
against HIV/AIDS. All major communicable diseases contribute disproportionately to maintaining popula-
tions in poverty, all affect young adults in their productive years and have enormous social costs and
existing preventive or curative interventions remain under-used. With around € 125 million of grant aid
annually, the development cooperation programme with South Africa is indeed one of the largest aid
programmes run by the Community. For its implementation, the Commission is engaged in a comprehen-
sive policy dialogue with the South African government, focussing on the main sectors of Community
assistance. In each of these sectors, the Commission(cid:146)s main objective is to respect and support South
Africa(cid:146)s own policy choices rather than imposing preconditions. At the same time, the Commission
endeavours to ensure that the policies it supports are sustainable, subjected to democratic control, and will
contribute to a reduction of poverty.

Since its entry into force, the Community-South Africa agreement on science and technology is used to
support joint research in priority areas. Between 1996 and 1999, South African research teams have
submitted 235 projects to the international cooperation programme available under the agreement, of
which 49 have already received funding under the fourth framework programme. For the fifth framework
programme now under way, the interest of South African researchers seems to be even stronger. At the
last meeting of the joint committee on science and technology in Pretoria in July 2000, the two sides
agreed on new priority areas for future collaborative research, including the prevention and treatment of
poverty-related diseases.