Project no.1 (disease)

Scientists say they have confirmed the effectiveness of anti-retroviral drugs in combating AIDS in Africa -- contradicting the argument that the continent lacks the medical infrastructure to properly administer the drugs. Two studies, one carried out in Senegal and the other in the Ivory Coast, have been presented to an international conference on AIDS which recently took place in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Both show that anti-retroviral drugs dramatically increase patients' survival rates. At present, the treatment is generally so expensive that it is only available to a handful of the millions of Africans who need it. (Meanwhile Stephen Lewis, the UN Secretary General's special envoy, has stressed the gravity of the AIDS problem the continent faces. He told the conference twice as many people die from the disease in Africa every day thean were killed in the September the 11th attacks in America.

Project no.2 (poverty)

European Union and African leaders have agreed to cooperate closely on an African initiative to help eradicate poverty. The plan, called the New African Initiative and put forward by African nations, was welcomed at a meeting in Brussels in December 2001. It aims to end conflicts and overcome epidemics such as AIDS and malaria in Africa by 2015, and seeks to promote democracy and trade and to tackle corruption. The EU chairman of the meeting, Guy Verhofstadt, said that despite the world economic slowdown the 15 EU member countries wanted to increase aid to Africa, but no firm commitments were made by the leaders. (The meeting was attended by presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria who together came up with initiative and Frederick Chiluba of Zambia.)