UN Envoy Details AIDS Fight in Africa

Stephen Lewis, special UN envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, said Monday the fight by Kenya, Rwanda and Nigeria raised hope the AIDS pandemic could be defeated. "We've all heard of the alleged crippling constraints -- from the tatters of the health infrastructure, to the absence of human resources, to bureaucracy that doesn't work," he said. "There is a lot of truth about those constraints but I want to say for one that it is cruel and reckless distortion of reality to assume that the constraints must inhibit all intervention." Lewis added, "There is tremendous progress which can now be made in the face of the obstacles -- and indeed the entire continent can re-embrace survival and flourish if we overcome the obstacles."

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