African Union Summit Begins In Abuja

President Goodluck Jonathan will on Monday play host to heads of states and governments from the African Union at the Abuja +12 special summit on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and other related infectious diseases.



Some of the AU heads of state and government arrived Nigeria on Sunday ahead of today’s meeting though ministers and other delegates from the union have been holding technical sessions over the weekend.

The theme of the summit is “Ownership, accountability and sustainability of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria response in Africa: Past Present and the Future”.

In 2001, the African Union organized a summit of its heads of state and government on HIV/AIDS which culminated in the Abuja declaration of commitment on HIV/AIDS by which African leaders among others things, pledged to allocate 15 percent of their annual budgets to the improvement of the health sector.

12 years on, today’s summit will be taking stock and assessing the extent to which these commitments and targets have been achieved in order to chart a way forward.