Meeting on mobilising HIV prevention fund

A meeting aiming to mobilise support for more funding to fight HIV and AIDS in southern Africa began yesterday.

The European Commission has organised the event, which is being attended by leading international donors as well as health experts.

Ulf Jakobsson, a spokesman for the European Commission in Malawi, said that the two-day meeting intends to "compare and assess country-specific activities in the fight against HIV and AIDS, seek the best practices and success".

He told the AFP before the closed-door event: "The meeting will focus on HIV prevention from mother to child, human resources for health and the mobilisation of regional funding for HIV and AIDS."

The Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Southern African Development Community and UNAIDS are all represented at the gathering.

Malawi has been chosen to host the event, and the region has been described as "the epicentre" of the AIDS pandemic, with approximately one third of the total number of people living with AIDS being based in southern Africa.

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