COMESA fights HIV/AIDS with rest of world

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is joining hands with the rest of the world in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa, home to two million of the world's population living with HIV/AIDS, according to a press release issued Thursday.

The pandemic has been progressively eroding the region's economic and social structures and blocking development in its key sectors, said the release.

The COMESA loses one percent of per capita income growth per year and 2.6 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) is grabbed by the devastating grip of the epidemic, according to the release.

The agricultural sector has been the hardest hit by the epidemic resulting in labor loses and a diversion of resources, it said.

The mobility in agricultural trade, particularly along the region's transport corridors, has accelerated the spread of HIV/AIDS. This has negatively affected cross-border trading activities resulting in major trade loses, the release said.

The COMESA is holding discussions with an organization on possible cooperation to mitigate the spread of HIV /AIDS in the region particularly along the transport corridors.

It said that the first phase of the project will include border points in Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo where cross-border trade is the most active.