FRANCE looks doomed to fail in an attempt to gather 42 heads of state in Paris next week for a high-level summit on AIDS. The meeting on 1 December, World AIDS Day, is intended to agree a political 鈥渁ction agenda鈥� for tackling the global AIDS epidemic with money to support it. But with little more than a week to go, only the prime ministers of France and Canada have confirmed that they will attend.
The French government, which organised the summit with the support of the WHO and UNESCO, has billed it as a 鈥渢urning point in the fight against AIDS鈥�. It is expected to result in a final declaration calling for measures to reduce the risks of infection with HIV such as the promotion of 鈥渃ulturally acceptable鈥� contraceptives and a safe blood supply. It will also call for an end to discrimination against people with HIV and AIDS, such as travel bans.
The draft declaration has been agreed, even by countries such as the US and Japan whose national legislation restricts the entry of HIV-positive people. But few countries have shown as much enthusiasm for the summit as France.
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Privately, some commentators have claimed that the meeting is a public relations exercise for the French government, which badly needs to improve its image on AIDS after the blood scandal, and to promote the role of French scientists in AIDS research.