WRITTEN QUESTION E-2628/00 by Guido Viceconte (PPE-DE), Antonio Tajani (PPE-DE) and Mario Mantovani (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Community plan to halt the AIDS scourge in Africa.
Date: 2000-08-01
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: AIDS, Africa, EU aid, health aid

C 151 E/12

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

22.5.2001

(2001/C 151 E/014)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2628/00

by Guido Viceconte (PPE-DE), Antonio Tajani (PPE-DE)
and Mario Mantovani (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(1 August 2000)

Subject: Community plan to halt the AIDS scourge in Africa

The 13th International Conference on AIDS, held in Durban, South Africa, has painted an alarming picture
of the future for many African countries. The experts listed a series of grim figures which suggest that the
population will fall substantially in the next decade (by 0,1 % to 0,3 %; without AIDS it would rise by 1 %
to 3 %) and life expectancy slump from 60 to 30 years.

Europe must bring its energies to bear to attempt to halt this scourge, since prevention and anti-viral
treatments are now known to work. Political will is urgently needed in order to undertake a range of
measures to save the people of Africa.

Could the Commission, as a matter of urgency, draw up a Community plan to be implemented
immediately, in collaboration with the drug companies, so that economic aid can be earmarked to launch
an information campaign on AIDS in the African countries and at the same time used to carry out
preventive measures, based for example on vaccination, and operations to promote universally accessible
health care?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(11 October 2000)

The Commission shares the concerns of the Honourable Members about the health crisis in developing
countries, badly aggravated by acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), particularly in Africa.

The Commission has recently adopted a new communication on accelerated action targeted at major
communicable diseases within the context of poverty reduction (1). It sets out the policy framework, which
the Commission will use to improve its response to the increasing spread and growing impact of Human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in the developing world. The commu-
nication proposes a single coherent set of development, trade and research policies to combat these
diseases.

On this basis during the coming months, a plan of action will be prepared following the different lines of
proposed interventions.

To consult on these orientations, the Commission hosted a very successful and well attended high level
international round table on 28 September to discuss the Community(cid:146)s policy and to steer the develop-
ment of a programme of action for the implementation of the communication.

(1) COM(2000) 585 final.

(2001/C 151 E/015)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2652/00

by Monica Frassoni (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(1 September 2000)

Subject: Water management and administration of the related Community funding in Sardinia

At present, Sardinia, which has a population of 1 631 000, has as many as 31 large and medium-sized
reservoirs with a maximum capacity of 1 589 million m3. Final filling permission has been granted up to a
volume of 1 486 million m3, and filling trials have begun at the new dam on the river Tirso, which will
further increase the maximum capacity by approximately 300 million m3. That notwithstanding, Sardinia
has been hit by its second serious water emergency within the space of the last ten years. The bad water
management is plain for all to see. The 42 different managing bodies do not coordinate their operations.