“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion, which stands at the cradle of true art and science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed.” Albert Einstein

Eight top economists met recently in Copenhagen for a working thesis to rank the world’s burning problems, which could be solved by cash infusion. The cost-benefit analysis was applied to seventeen solutions to problems ranging from water and sanitation to world hunger. There was a serious urgency of privatisation as funds are limited. Bjorn Lomborg, director of Danemark’s Environmental Assessment Institute and the event’s manager said that, as it was impossible to do everything, they had to find solutions to the problem that ranks highest.

Lomborg’s committee agreed that plans must be drafted to combat HIV-AIDS, which infects 3.5 million people annually and killed about 3 million in 2003, thereby making cash infusion a financial sense. Anne Mills of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine had submitted a paper to the panel in which she said that $60 billion is needed to promote condom use and distribution of antiretroviral drugs, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. She is also of opinion that it would produce a benefit of $3 trillion in saved health care costs and human productivity.

UNICEF reports have shown that, by year 2010, HIV-AIDS will be responsible for 41% of infant deaths in Kenya and 61% in Botswana. The rate must be quite high for Mauritius as well. Some 3 million people worldwide are yearly infected with the HIV virus that causes AIDS and an estimated 29 million people carry the virus.

<B>Need for an exit strategy</B>

India is the country with the second highest rate of HIV positive people. Sonia Gandhi, leader of the Congress Party, has expressed strong determination to fight this problem, although many people might feel that AIDS is not getting the attention it deserves.

We need an exit strategy, not a dig-a-bigger hole policy to lead a crusade against AIDS. A pledge to reduce the immense dead weight of state bureaucracy is our priority if we do not want AIDS to reach apocalyptic proportions. Therefore, the two keys going forward are: (1) sensitisation of targeted groups and (2) arousing national concern.

Education is important; we have to educate our young adults. It’s only after churning the cream that butter is obtained. Confucius rightly said: “If you are planning ahead for one year, plant a seed, for ten years, a tree, but if you are planning for a hundred years, educate the children.” Very little indeed is being done to fight the AIDS problem in our colleges and community centres. Let’s open our eyes and see beyond our noses what awaits us in the next thirty years. For sure, at first sight, we have an ageing population with its spaghetti-like tangle of problems. And yet, understandably enough, we can keep as aloof as possible from other problems or minimise their consequences.

Globalisation is not just an economic necessity but also a moral imperative leading to greater social justice, freedom and democracy. However, there are threats. The world economy has depended dangerously on the United States for growth. Nevertheless, China and India may either give a boost to the global economy through high demand or bring about destabilisation through huge supplies of labour and products. It’s high time these economic giants invested massively in further research on AIDS and came up with the right vaccine. Manpower is tomorrow’s answer to a wide range of problems. And yet, if man collapses, what is the point of having power?

The countries under the SADC umbrella have to unite their efforts to fight AIDS. 40 % of the 200 million people of SADC countries have no more than one dollar to spend per day. They have to face hunger, water shortage, homelessness, poverty, illiteracy and even human rights violations. There is no place for AIDS in such a society. We cannot continue to live at ease in a world where the balance tilts heavily against Africa.

Africa is waking up. Africa has to rise and Africa will shine. No one thought in the 1980s that a Finnish producer of rubber boots would go on to dominate the market for mobile phones. Where Africa will stand in the next fifty years depends on leaders chosen by free and fair elections. Africa will be what Africans want it to be.

<B>The value of clean relationships</B>

Preachers and philosophers have always highlighted the value of fidelity among couples. Clean relationships provide security for emotional and health issues. It has rightly been said that marriages are made in heaven. Measures can be taken to produce an AIDS-free young generation but measures cannot be taken in the choice of life partners. Can we prevent a Mauritian woman from choosing a partner whom she knows is HIV positive? Can we prevent her from marrying a foreigner infected with AIDS? Whether the bridegroom is a foreigner or of Mauritian nationality or a local resident, it is unthinkable, unjust and inhuman to prevent him from marrying a Mauritian girl.

Now, this is one side of the coin. The other side clearly reflects our attitudes towards preventive measures to combat AIDS. Mauritian women of marriageable age must be fully aware of AIDS problems, about the risks of contamination and the health hazards of being partners of an HIV-AIDS person and, worse still, being pregnant and giving birth to babies infected with the AIDS virus.

It’s high time to join our efforts and find solutions to the AIDS problem before it is too late. We are confident that opposition leader Navin Ramgoolam will not leave any stone unturned when the welfare of his countrymen is concerned. When the next international conference on HIV-AIDS is held in Toronto, we hope Mauritius will play the key role for African countries. The take-home message is that tomorrow’s hope for the world is Africa.