Today's Date:

On the eve of the United Nations Special Session on HIV/AIDS, I wanted to tell you about France's cooperation effort in the fight against this disease. It also gives me the opportunity to present to you a brochure just published by the DGCID (International Cooperation and Development Directorate-General).

Kofi Annan's initiative two months ago gave the impression that the war against AIDS had just been declared, but France has been waging it for a very long time.

Her cooperation in this sphere between 1987 and 1997 was the subject of an external assessment carried out by the CREDES (Centre de Recherche d'Etude et de Documentation en Economie de la Santé) [Health economics research and documentation centre].

This assessment identifies some deficiencies: absence of rigorous mechanisms for programme planning, absence of a clear strategy known to all players and lack of overall coherence. Happily, it also reveals an openness to new ideas and readiness to adapt programmes, which have led to the gradual extension of the fight against AIDS.

In the light of this assessment and following the reform of France's cooperation machinery, the DGCID has drawn up a strategy described in the brochure published today.

Motivated by the value we place on solidarity, France intends, through her cooperation in the health sphere, to contribute to eliminating poverty and reducing inequality. Ours is a three-pronged comprehensive and integrated approach to treatment and care:

- 1. This mobilization against AIDS falls within the framework of a broader programme to combat communicable diseases. The morbidity and mortality rates associated with these diseases impose an extremely heavy burden on the economies and societies of the countries involved. AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria kill five million people every year.

- 2. Improving care systems necessitates supporting national public health policies, the organization of treatment and care networks at grassroots level, and development of human resources and the policy on the manufacture of and trade in medicines.

- 3. Thirdly, France provides financial support for treatment and care systems. In our cooperation programmes we endeavour to ensure the viability of these systems by seeking a balance, always difficult to achieve, between external aid, national budgets, contribution of local people and establishment of solidarity mechanisms./.