The Commonwealth in Action
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Health
Fighting against HIV/AIDS
The overwhelming health issue for the Commonwealth is the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
HIV/AIDS - facts and figures:
- HIV/AIDS was first identified in early 1980s
- Number of people identified with virus since then: 40 million
- Number of people infected each day: 16,000
- Number of deaths: more than 11 million
Effects on the Commonwealth
The nine most heavily affected countries are in the Commonwealth. They are in Sub-Saharan Africa. In some of these countries 30 percent of the people are infected with the virus. The effects are catastrophic:
When violent conflict breaks out, then the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) meets. This group is made up of eight Commonwealth foreign ministers. They decide what should be done.
- the disease has cut as much as 26 years from average life expectancy in some countries
- over 30 percent of children born to HIV-infected mothers, are themselves infected
- AIDS kills men and women in the prime of their working lives
- there are millions of orphans whose parents have died of HIV/AIDS
At their meeting in Durban in 1999, the Commonwealth Heads of Government declared HIV/AIDS a Commonwealth emergency.
The Commonwealth Secretary-General takes every opportunity to speak out about the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS, and urges the international community to give assistance to the countries most affected.
The Commonwealth Secretariat makes sure that examples of good practice in the care and support of men and women affected by HIV/AIDS are shared between affected countries. Girls and women are particularly badly affected by HIV/AIDS. Because of their inferior status they lack the knowledge and the confidence to protect themselves from the sexual behaviour which spreads the disease. The Commonwealth's work on gender equality seeks to correct this imbalance.
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