AIDS – a plea to “save Africa”

[14 September 2007 - 10h35]

“AIDS on African Soil” [SIDA en terre d’Afrique] is a book which, from the outset, plunges the reader into the terrible reality of infection with HIV – this “disease of mass destruction”. But most importantly, it conveys for the first time the voice of the African political élite through its author, Urbain Olanguena Awono, Minister of Public Health for Cameroon.

An acknowledged expert on development policy, he is also engaged in the battle to inform his peers…via this book, of course, but also through a network of “health” journalists he has set up in Cameroon.

“We must break with taboos and do away with certain social and cultural factors likely to encourage fresh infections”, he states quite categorically in this book, where issues about the culture and traditions of Africa are also uncompromisingly addressed. The sole aim being “to reverse the course of the epidemic”. An objective that also relies on “action by the international community”, particularly with regard to “universal access to prevention and treatment”.

“Making good the damage done thus far is impossible”, he reasons. But “overcoming current and future challenges is still possible”. As Professor Michel Kazatchkine points out in his preface, “it is in this spirit that the book should be read and the necessary break with the past considered”. Le SIDA en terre d’Afrique, l’audace des ruptures [AIDS on African Soil – Daring to Change for the Future], Urbain Olanguena Awono, Editions Privat, 183 pages, 15 euros.

>> Cet article est aussi disponible en français

© 1996-2012 Destination Santé SAS - All Rights Reserved. No information contained on this server can be reproduced or retransmitted without prior written consent of Destination Santé. Offenders will be prosecuted in consideration of articles L 122-4 and L 335-3 of the Code of Intellectual Property, allowing up to two years' imprisonment and a 150,000 euros fine.