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Lifeball
2003 - AIDS awareness - Austria Good Evening Vienna. It is my very great pleasure and privilege, both as a Director of the Elton John AIDS Foundation and a close friend of Elton and David, to be with you tonight to share with you how much your support really matters to both Life Ball and the Elton John AIDS Foundation. There is a terrible potential for 50 million people around the world to die, possibly within the next few years unless they are treated immediately with the life saving drugs that are now available. Why has no effective plan been started to stop this immense horror from happening? We are told AIDS is not a death sentence, which we hear over and over again, and yet it is most emphatically a death sentence to those 50 million people infected. Most of them in countries, which are neither rich nor have the appropriate health care. In China, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria and Russia the number of AIDS cases is predicted to double by 2010 with an added total of 50-75 million infected in these countries alone. AIDS is often referred to a new 'Black Plague', which swept through Europe during the Middle Ages with the most devastating effects. AIDS is the new plague of the 21st Century. Most of the 50 million people dieing do not have the time for Governments and drug companies to battle endlessly over patent rights and who should give the green light to many countries to start manufacturing generic versions of life saving drugs. By far the worst affected continent is Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa has over 29 million people living with HIV and AIDS, which accounts presently for half the total number of people in the world. 10 million young people aged between 15 and 24 and almost three million children under 15 are living with the HIV virus in Africa. In 17 years from now it is predicted by the Red Cross that up to 5% of the world's population could be infected, this is more than any other disease ever in the history of mankind. As a direct result of your support in 2002 we raised almost one million Euro. This year we will exceed this amount which I am sure makes us all equally proud and enables both organizations to continue helping the millions of men, women and children living with HIV and AIDS. The funding from Life Ball and the Elton John AIDS Foundation will enable our vital work to continue. Empowering people at grass roots level to help themselves both now and in the future. AIDS can be prevented and with the willingness of local Government and local voluntary organizations we can prove prevalence rates can drop. In the case of Uganda, HIV prevalence fell by over 3% in two years to December 2001 as a direct result of local support. Access to adequate care and treatment should be a right and not a privilege. The cost of anti-retroviral therapy must continue to fall and Governments in both the developing world and donor countries must create sustainable funding streams to provide treatment whilst strengthening the healthcare infrastructure in these countries. Life expectancy in four South African countries has already dropped to less than 40 years, it is projected that 50% of all South African new mothers could die because of HIV and the mortality rates amongst 15-34 year olds will soon be 17 times higher because of AIDS. The world cannot stand by as HIV/AIDS sweeps through these countries and many others. We cannot turn a blind eye to an epidemic that continues to expand in some of the most populous regions and countries of the world. As we now enter the third decade of the AIDS epidemic the evidence of its impact in undeniable. Wherever the epidemic has spread unchecked it is now robbing countries of their resources and capacities upon which human securities and development depend. For 29 African countries, the labour force is likely to shrink by between 10% and 30% because of the impact of HIV and AIDS over the next decade Teachers and education administrators in high-prevalence countries are dying of AIDS in alarming numbers. The Central African Republic sustained such high loses among teachers that 100 educational institutions were closed by the late 1990's. In Zambia more than four teachers a day die of AIDS - a total of 1300 teachers for the year. We all need in our own ways to continue lobbying decision makers, I am proud that Elton made an impassioned plea to the US Senate Hearings last year with which he was successful in helping to persuade the US Government to release further, much needed, international funding. I am proud to be associated both with the work that
Life Ball and the Elton John AIDS Foundation undertakes, with our
help we funded a range of programmes in Africa by: · Providing educational material to teachers and guardians in communities in looking after its orphans in Uganda, South Africa and Tanzania. · Developing prevention campaigns amongst young people in Zambia, South Africa and Kenya. · Providing vital in and out patient at a Hospice in Soweto South Africa. · Caring for children through running a daycare project for HIV + mothers in the township of Khayelitsha, South Africa. And expanding services for orphans and destitute mothers. With the ongoing partnership of Life Ball and the Elton John AIDS Foundation and your continued support we are able to award grants to some of these programmes year on year. Your commitment is vital in enabling these programmes to continue and to impact on the lives of these communities at risk. Thank you Vienna, what a wonderful city, in a wonderful country and tonight what a wonderful audience. Have a great evening. My love and best wishes to you all. Neil Tennant |
