Rwanda: Country Commended for Reducing HIV/Aids Prevalence

Rwanda and Uganda have been commended for their outstanding results in reducing HIV/Aids. The platitude was made by Hon. Syon' goh, Member of Parliament in Kenya and representative for the NEPAD Contact Group for African Parliamentarians (NCGAP).Syon' goh said this on April 19, in Nairobi, Kenya, when African delegates analysed the HIV/Aids policies of their parliaments by completing score cards on how their parliaments had performed in terms of HIV/Aids legislation, oversight, budget and representation. They also conducted a legislative review on laws relating to orphans and vulnerable children (OVC).
African delegates similarly revised the National Parliamentary Plans of Action (NPPA) for OVC developed at previous regional seminars. A committee of experts was tasked with developing a draft African Parliamentary Plan of Action (APPA) for HIV/Aids based on the 2006 Abuja Call for Action that will be developed further in future regional meetings.

The conference were attended over 30 parliamentarians from the Great Lakes Region, Members of Parliament from Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom, and experts from civil society and international organisations met at the seminar, entitled "Towards Universal Access to HIV/Aids Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support" and organised by AWEPA (European Parliamentarians for Africa).

In his opening remarks, Dr Scholten, AWEPA executive president noted that when speaking about healthcare, "it is important not to forget the promises made in Abuja in 2001 by the African governments."

According to the realese , participants covered three key topics identifying parliamentary actions for HIV/Aids within African Union Legal Instruments, the role of parliamentarians in strengthening HIV/Aids Prevention, and the role of parliamentarians in moving towards universal access to HIV/Aids treatment, care and support. Concrete recommendations and tools to assist MPs in their "daunting task in moving towards universal access to Aids treatment by 2010" , as stated by Mr Munene from the Kenya Human Rights Commission, were brought to the table.

According to the press realese, the seminar was a follow-up to regional seminars on Children and Aids, organised by AWEPA in Nairobi in November 2005, and Cape Town in May 2006.

AWEPA also organised this regional parliamentary seminar in the framework of the parliamentary support programme "Mobilising Parliaments for NEPAD" (MPN). The MPN programme is aimed at facilitating a greater involvement in the NEPAD process for African and European parliaments and has, as one of its priority action areas, "Health and Development".

The (revised) National Parliamentary Plans of Action for OVC will be addressed in national follow-up workshops later this year and in 2008. The draft African Parliamentary Plan of Action will be further discussed in other MPN activities.