Allow me to start with a personal note: every time I meet a colleague from Africa in the UN building, I see in his eyes a silent question: "Are you doing the best you can for our continent?" I must confess that for us at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) it is not an easy question to answer. And I am sure that many colleagues in this room share the same feeling that we could - and should - do more for Africa.
This is easier to say than do. In a year like this, when over the last 10 months alone hundreds of thousands of people were killed and tens of millions affected by the tsunami tragedy, the hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Stan, and now the horrific scenes from Pakistan and India, one may lose sight of Africa. It may not be a daily front page story.
Yet, for us it remains a priority. Some 30% of our Global Appeal for 2005 is for Africa. Of the CHF 60 million sought, CHF 53 million (or 88%) is directed to health care, disaster management and building the capacity of our member Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies in Africa.
Last year, during the 6th Pan-African Conference held in Algiers the Red Cross / Red Crescent Movement identified our four major goals: scaling up HIV/AIDS response, Health Initiative 2010 (ARCHI 2010), addressing food security and building local capacity.
These are at the centre of a large part of our debates today, as thoroughly analysed in the reports of the Secretary-General. We are also encouraged by the latest initiatives of the G8, EU and the Government of the United Kingdom in finding new ways to better assist Africa.
We are encouraged to see that the creation of a culture of prevention and the improvement of community health as preconditions for sustainable development are important parts of the UN future strategy.
We fully support this approach. Yet we believe that Africa must drive its own development; that the commitment of countries in need is essential to our common search for success in this continent.
In this context we believe that the communities themselves, the most vulnerable in Africa, must be included in the development platforms of their countries, especially in the fields of public health and disaster preparedness.
Looking back to our collective commitment from Ouagadougou in 1999, we are glad to inform you today that in the past five years we have been able to decrease the child mortality in Africa as a result of the Measles Partnership; that the Abuja Roll Back Malaria target for long lasting insecticidal nets (LLIN) coverage for Togo was accomplished in one week when 805,000 nets were distributed to the people in need; and that the number of polio-endemic countries is steadily decreasing with possible polio eradication by 2008.
Learning from the Polio and Measles partnerships, Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies from Ghana, Zambia, Togo and Niger, with funding from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM) and Canada are preparing to distribute 2.26 millions mosquito nets in Niger in December. This will secure protection of every child under 5 in Niger - a total of 3.5 million children. Maybe it's a modest, but yet another example of good partnership with WHO, UNICEF and others.
A joint polio and measles appeal brought capacity and results. During the last five years more than 30 of our African Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies provided social mobilisation support to polio National Immunisation Days (NIDs) with approximately CHF 1 million annually per National Society.
The same appeal enabled more than 35 of our African National Red Cross / Red Crescent Societies to support measles campaigns in their countries and to participate in the Africa Measles Initiative Partnership. In this field, American Red Cross plays a major role in being one of our most dynamic and active supporters.
More efforts, human and financial resources are invested in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Anti-stigma campaigns, peer education, home-based care and partnerships with PLWHA are only part of the job being done by our staff and volunteers. However, we know that much more is needed from all of us. This battle is far from over.
We are concerned that humanitarian emergencies linked to natural and man-made disasters such as food insecurity, population movement and cholera continue to destabilise West and Central Africa. Both political will and the resources to deal with them are not there.
No matter how many tonnes of medicines and mosquito nets we distribute, we know that it is not enough, unless we invest in people and in local capacity. This is one of the reasons we are expanding our volunteer networks, as they are part of the local communities. Developing regional response teams is part of the same logic, which will lead to integrating local staff and volunteers into international response teams.
Both volunteers and the most vulnerable are involved as partners in planning, implementing and evaluating prevention, emergency and health activities. The sick and the starving sometimes know best what kind of help they need.
Our global long-term partnerships in water/sanitation have benefited 2.5 million beneficiaries. By 2015 we plan to reach 5 million. And more than 6 million people have benefited from emergency assistance during the past 10 years. A big part of this job was done by our volunteers.
We also see this process as more than just feeding the hungry and curing the sick. Investing in the people of Africa is another step to eradicate poverty, to build peace and stability. As part of these efforts, right now, the IFRC Secretary-General together with senior executives from 12 National Red Cross / Red Crescent Societies is working in the field with the Sudanese Red Crescent colleagues trying to find solutions to some of the most urgent humanitarian challenges in Sudan.
We know well that no matter how big our network is, we cannot help Africa without working together with our partners. So in March this year we reached an agreement with MSF Belgium and WFP to jointly assist People living with HIV/AIDS in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including people receiving antiretroviral treatment. Similar cooperation formulas are to be applied between the IFRC and 8 major UN agencies working in Southern Africa.
To conclude Mr. President, let me mention some specific challenges which we face. Very often, it is increasingly difficult to recruit qualified technical experts to deploy during emergencies in the continent, especially French speaking delegates.
With the dramatically increased number of natural disasters in South Asia, the Caribbean and the US Gulf, many of our best experts are being pulled away from Africa. It is not a secret that despite broad agreement that Africa must remain a focus and a priority, both human and financial resources go elsewhere. There were no Tsunamis Earthquakes in West and Central Africa thank goodness, but the number of people suffering there is no less impressive, unpleasantly disturbing…
This brings me back to where I started: the silent question in the eyes of our fellow African colleagues. Are we doing the best we can for this continent? The answer is still mixed…
There is an old African saying, that a boy becomes a man after he kills a lion. Translating this into today's African reality, it seems that we all have a lot of lions to deal with, before maturity is reached and the future of Africa secured.