Symposium on African HIV/Aids Pandemic Opens in DC September 17
The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia
September 12, 2002
The Third Annual African Women's and Children's Health Symposium on multi-sectoral approach to assistance for African women and children battling the effects of the growing HIV/Aids epidemic in Africa opens at the World Bank Building in Washington, DC September 17. At least 13 million African children are said to be orphaned due to Aids.
The one-day symposium, organized by the U.S.-based Opportunities Industrialization Centers (OIC) International, in collaboration with the World Bank Group-IMF Africa Club, and the Constituency for Africa, is aimed at providing general public awareness of the African perspectives about the impact of HIV/Aids on African women and children. The symposium will also seek to educate Americans about preventive efforts being undertaken by Africans and the NGO Community to save the over 12 million African children currently orphaned due to AIDS.
The symposium will be held on the theme, “The Third Annual African Women’s and Children’s Health Symposium: The HIV/AIDS Pandemic in the Context of a Multi-Sectoral Development Assistance Approach”, and will also seek to draw more public attention to current state of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic and other infectious diseases in Africa with focus on the plight of women and children.
Participants are scheduled to deliver papers on various health issues, and will include representatives from the U.S House of Representatives, the U.S. Congressional Rural Caucus, the U.S National Black Caucus, U.S Department of Health and Human Services, the North America Division of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the US Agency for International Development, the African Republics of Angola, South Africa, Mauritius, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Bank Group, the African Development Foundation, OIC International, among others.
The symposium will be preceded by a press conference and a panel discussion on the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa and efforts at preventions on September 16, symposium organizers said in a press release Wednesday.