AFRO-NETS> Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - 26 Apr 2000

[Cecilia Snyder <csnyder@pcdc.org>]

Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - 26 Apr 2000
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U.S. FOUNDATIONS TO INVEST $100 MILLION IN HIGHER EDUCATION 

Hoping to "expand the pool of Africans equipped to cope with the con-
tinent's many pressures," such as the AIDS epidemic, four major U.S. 
philanthropic foundations Monday announced a joint US$ 100 million, 
five-year effort to "help reform and revitalize higher education in 
select African countries," including Uganda, Tanzania and Mozambique, 
the Washington Post reports. The Partnership to Strengthen African 
Universities, sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation, John D. and 
Catherine T. MacArthur, Rockefeller and Ford foundations, will aid 
about a dozen universities across the African continent that "already 
have shown creative promise in their efforts to reform and expand." 
Among the initial grant recipients will be Makerere University of 
Uganda, where Ugandan scientists and their colleagues from the Johns 
Hopkins School of Medicine last year discovered an "inexpensive but 
effective" treatment to prevent maternal-fetal HIV transmission. Mac-
Arthur Foundation President Jonathan Fanton said that the philan-
thropic institutions "are only facilitating change, not deciding 
changes themselves." He added, "Ultimately, the successful develop-
ment of Africa will be planned and led by people who live there" 
(Duke, Washington Post, 4/25). 

UNITED NATIONS: ANNAN'S AFRICA VISIT WILL ADDRESS AIDS EDUCATION

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan yesterday embarked on a 
week-long visit to five West African countries to promote education 
in the battles against AIDS and poverty. Before meeting with the 
leaders of Senegal, Gambia, Gabon, the Central African Republic and 
Cameroon, Annan is expected to participate in the World Education Fo-
rum, which will address the link between AIDS and education in Af-
rica. Annan will also launch the U.N.'s initiative on education for 
girls, who in some countries are excluded from the education system 
more often than their male counterparts. UNICEF Director Carol 
Bellamy noted that educated girls are more likely to understand 
health messages and rear fewer, healthier children than uneducated 
girls. Annan earlier this month challenged international leaders to 
meet his goals for halting the spread of AIDS by 2015 (Agence France- 
Presse , 4/23).

--
Cecilia Snyder
mailto:csnyder@pcdc.org

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