Zimbabwe Under-Represented At Mexico City AIDS Conference - Activists

As HIV/AIDS experts in Mexico for the 17th International AIDS Conference urged "sustained action” to lower barriers to universal access to treatment and prevention programs, activists in Zimbabwe chafed because they had not been able to send delegates to the meeting.

Experts addressing the conference after Mexican President Felipe Calderon Hinojosa opened it Sunday warned that despite progress, world efforts “are not on course to meet universal access targets, and in fact appear to be slipping away from existing commitments."

For an overview view of the proceedings in Mexico City, reporter Carole Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe turned to VOA correspondent Vincent Makori in Mexico City, who said that while developing countries are in most dire need of treatment, their poor representation at the conference shows it won't be easy to reach anti-AIDS targets.

Zimbabwe is represented by National AIDS Council Executive Director Tapiwa Magure. It remained unclear if Health Minister David Parirenyatwa would attend.

Bernard Mazhindu, president of the Zimbabwe National Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, said Zimbabwean AIDS activists feel left out on issues affecting them.

More reports from VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe...