Press Release No. IFAD/40/01

Rome, 1 December 2001 –On the occasion of the World Aids Day, Lennart Båge, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) reiterated that “although HIV/AIDS is certainly a medical problem, it also has important socio-economic dimensions, which cannot be addressed through medical interventions alone. A multisectoral and development-based approach is also essential to halt the spread of HIV. IFAD’s comparative advantage lies in its ability to reach rural areas and help poor rural women and men to attain sustainable livelihoods – including access to assets, technology and markets. We must also help them to avoid high-risk situations, reduce their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, and mitigate its impact once it has taken hold in their households and communities.”

The President further added that “the socio-economic and medical dynamics of HIV/AIDS require a highly coordinated response from different institutions that have traditionally not worked together. In reorienting IFAD’s ongoing programmes/portfolio to integrate HIV/AIDS concerns, IFAD will need to establish partnerships with other actors based on their areas of competence. As a first step, we have already entered into a partnership with the Secretariat of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in order to facilitate access by IFAD and its borrowing partners to technical backstopping and information on HIV/AIDS.”

In relation to HIV/AIDS, IFAD’s experience in the area of microfinance serves as one form of social safety net support. In a programme in Uganda, implemented in collaboration with the Belgian Survival Fund, IFAD is providing support through a local non-governmental organization, the Uganda Women’s Effort to Save Orphans (UWESO). Orphans and their foster families are being assisted in small-scale business initiatives and in vocational training. A pilot replication of this programme is being developed in Tanzania, using grant financing from the Japanese Government. Other IFAD programmes in Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Swaziland and the United Republic of Tanzania are investing in strengthening local prevention capacities.

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IFAD is a specialised agency of the United Nations with the specific mandate of combating hunger and poverty in the most disadvantaged regions of the world. Since 1978 IFAD has financed 584 projects in 114 recipient countries and in the West Bank and Gaza for a total commitment of approximately USD 7.2 billion in loans and grants. Through these projects, about 250 million rural people have had a chance to move out of poverty. IFAD makes the greater part of its resources available to low-income countries on very favourable terms, with up to 40 years for repayment and including a grace period of up to ten years and a service charge of 0.75% per year.