The Gambia is one of two countries in the entire African continent that have made good of their 2001 Abuja Declaration promise - to allocate 15% of its national budget to improve its health sector - so as to help curb the spread of HIV and AIDS epidemic in Africa, an official of a global organization involved in fighting AIDS, said last Monday.

 "It is only Gambia and Botswana who have referred 15% of their national budget towards their health sector to help fight HIV/AIDS as was promised in Abuja in 2001," said Wasai Jacob Nanjakululu, head of Oxfam's global AIDS program. Oxfam International is a confederation of 13 organizations that work directly with communities around the globe for the improvement of poor people's lives and livelihood.

The 15% is an annual allocation towards health in the respective African countries and is to be used for medical treatment of Malaria, Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Some countries, though, he said, are progressively moving towards the 15% national budget allocation.

Nanjakululu, speaking to this reporter by phone from South Africa, explained that as part of the problems being encountered in Africa in the fight against HIV/AIDS is the lack of awareness of many people that they are living with HIV & AIDS. "About 90% of people living with HIV & AIDS do not know they are infected and by the time they are aware, it is too late. And they tend to go underground instead of acquiring medical attention," he lamented. "How do you fight a problem that you don't know existed in the first place," he queried.

At a recently concluded summit in Nairobi, Wasai Jacob Nanjakululu explained that radical approaches were suggested to help determine - at an early stage - if someone has HIV and AIDS. Of these recommendations, health providers are to be allowed to initiate HIV testing to anyone who goes to their clinic for treatment of any sort - whether it is for Malaria or any other sickness. This way, he said, people's HIV status can be determined as early as possible, thus the provision of a better treatment.

It has been 30 years since HIV/AIDS came into being and eight years since the 2001 Abuja Declaration, pledged by African governments, but according to Nanjakululu, up to 90% of resources directed to the fight against HIV & AIDS come from external project donors. These external project funds, he said, cannot be used to hire local staff. Therefore, the promised 15% by African governments is to be used to hire health personnel that will attend to patients.

If the 15% is not given, then there will not be enough resources to push the project that has been funded by the external donors. For instance, Nanjakululu cited, drugs are expiring and remaining in medical stores because the infrastructure that is supposed to be used to move these drugs around the country is not there and the 15% should be used in part to help with proper infrastructures.

In April of 2001, African Leaders meeting in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, declared AIDS as a 'State of Emergency' on the continent, and promised to make the fight against it a higher priority in their respective national development planning. The leaders also commited themselves to take all necessary measures in ensuring the availability of needed resources, and to guarantee that these resources are efficiently and effectively utilized. More importantly, they pledged to set aside 15% of their annual budget to the improvement of their respective health sectors.

Ironically, in a 2006 Abuja gathering of African leaders, to review the aforementioned declaration, concern was raised about the lack of commitment of governments towards the 2001 pledge as Nigeria, Burundi and Ethiopia defaulted badly in their promise - setting aside only four, three and two percents respectively, of their national budget to the health sector.

Since it came to light in the early 1980s, the origin of HIV & AIDS has remained an enigma to many. The disease cannot be cured but with continued antiretroviral treatment, its advancement in the body can creep to a halt. 33 million people lived with HIV by the end of 2007, two thirds of which are in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a WHO and UNAIDS estimate. In that same year, 2.0 million died of the virus including 270,000 children whilst 2.7 million became newly infected.