Aids toll ‘would kill Irish population in 18 months’

THE annual world death rate from Aids would wipe out the Irish population in a year and a half, a senior UN official warned yesterday.

Peter Piot, the director of UNAIDS, the UN’s Aids programme, said the spread of Aids had led to an unprecedented crisis.

“Last year, three million people died from Aids. That would mean that, in one and a half years, the population of Ireland would disappear,” Dr Piot said.

The 55-year-old Belgian scientist, who was speaking after the World Food Program’s global meeting in Dublin yesterday, described the spread of Aids as a threat to the entire world.

“If an entire continent is destabilised, then that will affect us all. It’s not just a matter of solidarity with those who have less than we have but also a matter of enlightened self-interest. It is about migration, markets and the stability of the world,” he said.

There are 40 million people living with Aids, mainly in Africa, and the virus has created 14 million orphans. In some countries such as Swaziland, where the infection rate is 40%, more than 20% of children have lost both their parents.

Dr Piot said that even though the West had sat back and watched while Aids devastated Africa, there was a greater awareness of the threat.

Spending to combat Aids has increased from €200 million in 1996 to €4.7 billion this year.

UNAIDS is guiding the anti-Aids work of nine international bodies including the UNICEF, the World Food Program and the World Bank.

Dr Piot said U2’s lead singer Bono had been a great advocate in the fight against Aids.

“Through his voice, not only with the public at large, but also through his access to world leaders, he has given an enormous push to awareness about Aids,” said Dr Piot.

Through the World Food Programme, UNAIDS is providing food to 21 of the 25 countries with the highest infection rates. Dr Piot said food was the first thing he had been asked for when he met a group of infected women in Malawi.

With anti-retroviral drugs only available to 5% of infected people, the provision of quality food helps them to live longer.

Dr Piot praised the Government for organising an EU conference in February on HIV/AIDS infection in Eastern Europe, which he said was a major worry.

He said he was optimistic that the Aids epidemic could be controlled.

“The secret is strong leadership from the president, the church and the community. In Uganda, the infection rate was 30% in the 1990s but only 6% now.”