The African Union Special Summit on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has kicked off in Abuja, capital of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

 

　　The theme of the summit is on "Ownership, Accountability and Sustainability of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Response in Africa: Past, Present and the Future".

 

　　CRI's Xie Zhao has the details:

 

　　HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria are called the "Three Main Killers" in Africa.

 

　　Babatunde Osotimehin, is a representative of Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations.

 

　　He says the Summit can provide a tipping point in Africa's progress on health.

 

　　"My call is for a new leadership, and particularly includes investment and funding and international assistance to assist Africa to achieve its goals by itself. This summit can provide a tipping point in Africa's progress on health."

 

　　However, the key contributor to causes of the three diseases is poverty, which has not been eliminated.

 

　　According to U.N statistics, more than 45-percent of Africans are still living below the extreme poverty line.

 

　　They earn less than 1.25 U.S dollars a day.

 

　　UN statistics suggest poverty has led to a serious imbalance of medical resources as well as an unstable society and low education level.

 

　　Meanwhile, rampant infectious diseases have seriously hampered African development.

 

　　African Union has emphasized that the three diseases posed a direct threat to economic development as well as peace and stability in African countries.

 

　　Dlamini Zuma, is Chairperson of the African Union Commission.

 

　　She says she believes that the African continent has the ability to complete it's health-care systems and ease poverty.

 

　　She believes this could win the final battle against the three diseases.

 

　　"Everyone knows that ending HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria is not going to be easy, not going to be quick, and not going to be cheap. It is a huge investment. I'm confident that this summit makes efforts to help eliminating these diseases."

 

　　The Special Summit has been organized by the African Union in collaboration with the Government of Nigeria, the UN Agencies and other development partners.

 

　　For CRI, I'm Xie Zhao.