G8 Should Do More to Fight HIV/AIDS, Improve Development in Africa, Opinion Piece Says

Although there have been "encouraging developments" in Africa over the past few years, "problems remain," and the "scourge of HIV/AIDS is sweeping the continent," British Prime Minister Tony Blair writes in an opinion piece in Toronto's Globe and Mail. "No continent, no matter how prosperous, could tackle such problems on its own," Blair says, adding that Africa, "despite the resilience and talents of its people, is both poor and, uniquely, getting poorer." Therefore, the United Kingdom has made Africa, along with climate change, one of two "priorities" during its chairmanship of the Group of Eight industrialized nations, Blair says. G8 nations and the developed world "need to play our part in tackling HIV and AIDS, working together to respond effectively and moving forward on research on vaccines and microbicides," according to Blair. "All G8 members have significant engagements in Africa," he says, adding, "We recognize the potential benefit of developing prosperous African trading partners" and the "threat to global security that results from a failure to address poverty." Blair concludes, "It is my view that ... we have not done enough. We cannot carry on as we are. We must act now and follow through" (Blair, Globe and Mail, 2/26).

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