OUR WORLD is besieged by many seemingly intractable problems — poverty, hunger, child mortality, environmental degradation, gender inequality and disease. The good news is that world leaders are more focused on these problems than ever before. But the challenge is agreeing on how best to tackle them, and of course, marshalling the resources to do so effectively.

It would be easy to look at these challenges and despair. But struggle against seemingly insurmountable challenges is well known to South Africans. A crucial factor in our fight against apartheid was the dogged determination of the oppressed people together with sustained material, financial and moral support from the international community. The combination of sustained international support and local resolve is a formula that can change harsh realities.

Of all the major challenges facing the world, none is more lethal nor more globally pervasive than the blight and trauma of HIV/Aids. By any measure the world has made tremendous strides in the past five years in addressing the HIV/Aids pandemic. Unprecedented international funding has been committed, nations around the world have mobilised their own efforts and as a result access to Aids treatment is increasing significantly. And we see clear evidence that combining the resources of the developed world with innovative local solutions in the unique cultures of developing countries is making a difference. It is a crying shame, then, that the most significant instrument to fight the HIV/Aids pandemic, the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria — created by developed and developing countries together — is battling to secure the resources it needs to sustain its operations.

Sadly, despite the progress, HIV/Aids infections continue to grow and new epidemics are emerging in countries as yet relatively unaffected.

Finding a cure for this horrific disease is crucial, but until that day arrives, we must continue efforts to increase access to anti-retroviral treatment for those already HIV infected. But most importantly we need to break the deadly cycle of infection. The challenge is to stop people from getting HIV in the first place, and particularly to curtail its spread among young people.

HIV prevention means changing human behaviour, and there is no simple formula for success. Different approaches have had varying degrees of success in different countries. But the key seems to be the degree to which local efforts adapt international experience to the needs and attitudes of local populations. In fact the success stories in the fight against HIV/Aids all combine remarkable local initiative with international support.

For example, in Brazil an aggressive national strategy with strong community involvement and universal access to locally manufactured generic Aids drugs has led to a significant reduction in the number of new HIV infections, well below projections.

In India, the ingenuity of local scientists has provided the worst HIV/Aids-affected nations with access to anti- retroviral drugs at dramatically reduced cost.

In Thailand, targeting the local sex industry and capitalising on that country’s remarkably well-developed primary healthcare system for Aids education and condom distribution produced a dramatic turnaround in the rate of HIV infection.

And in South Africa, where our young people have one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the world, there are promising signs that the largest of our HIV prevention efforts — loveLife — is paying off. LoveLife is a uniquely South African campaign of unprecedented scale, harnessing the hope and optimism of the first generation born free of the shackles of apartheid, while engaging them in face-to-face services in government clinics, schools and community-based programmes nationwide. LoveLife has struck a real chord with our young people. More than 85 per cent of South Africa’s youth report that they are aware of loveLife, and one third have participated in at least one loveLife programme. Most hopeful, though, according to a new, large-scale study published in the past month, young people who participated in loveLife programmes were “ significantly less likely to be HIV infected”.

Other recent national surveys indicate that after years of increases, HIV prevalence among 15 to 19-year-old women is stabilising at levels well below the worst projections. We are at a critical moment in our fight against HIV, and maintaining momentum now is vital.

The Global Fund in its first years of operation has been remarkably — effective at marshalling and disbursing international resources in support of locally developed initiatives aimed at fighting HIV/Aids, TB and malaria. But now, barely three years into its operation, the Global Fund has received only about half of the $7.1 billion it needs from its international donors to fund projects for 2006 and 2007.

The shortfall could hamper its efforts to stimulate and sustain precisely the kind of international partnerships that have the greatest potential for success.

At a time when we are beginning to see signs of progress in the fight against HIV/Aids, the nations of the world should surely be able to agree at least on the need to fully replenish the Global Fund. We call on all nations to contribute their fair share. Failure to do so will undermine the worldwide political leadership on HIV/Aids we have worked so hard to establish and progress in combating the pandemic will stall.

Once the current spirit of global commitment to the fight against HIV/Aids is lost, it will never be restored.

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