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May 15, 2000: American Businesses Unite to Fight Spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa

The Chairman of the Corporate Council on Africa, Maurice Tempelsman, announced today the formation of a Corporate Task Force on AIDS in Africa. The role of the task force will be to examine what American corporations operating in Africa can do to better support the fight against AIDS on the African continent.

"The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa threatens to destroy any significant economic gain on the continent and set back the hopes and achievements of Africans for decades. The epidemic will continue to affect any American corporation, large or small, doing business in Africa," said Tempelsman, who also serves as chairman of the International Advisory Committee of the Harvard AIDS Institute.

The task force will be co-chaired by Dr. Donald E. Wilson, Vice President for Medical Affairs and Dean, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, and Mr. Joe Sills, former spokesman for U.N. Secretaries, Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Javier Perez de Cuellar.

"It is becoming clear that private corporations will be asked to play a major role in combating the problem of AIDS in Africa, and the purpose of this task force is to examine and propose various courses of action for American corporations," explained CCA President Stephen Hayes. "The truth is that the corporate sector cannot solve the problem alone, nor can it be expected to fund all approaches to the crisis. But it is also true that some of the most innovative and progressive work on AIDS in Africa, especially as it affects the workplace, is being done or sponsored by American corporations. The American private sector needs to take a leadership role in the fight against AIDS in Africa. This will only happen if corporations themselves define their role and then commit themselves to working with others to combat this crisis."

Dr. Wilson is the first African American dean of a major medical school. He serves as chairman of the Maryland Health Care Commission and was recently named Chair-Elect of the Council of Deans of the Association of American Medical Colleges. Dr. Wilson is a member of the Advisory Committee to the Director of the National Institutes of Health and a Master of the American College of Physicians.

After his tenure as U.N. Spokesman, Mr. Sills served as Director of the U.N.'s office in Washington. Following his recent retirement from the U.N. Secretariat, he continues to work with the U.N. Office on Drug Control and Crime Prevention, and with the U.N. Compensation Commission, which is responsible for payment of compensation to victims of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. He currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Council was founded in 1992 to strengthen and facilitate economic and commercial relations between Africa and the U.S. CCA has 165 U.S. Corporate members, who are engaged in a variety of business ventures across the African continent. It is the only such organization of its kind in America.

Representatives from more than 15 corporations working in Africa will serve on the task force. The first goal of the task force will be to propose a unified business approach to assist U.S. companies, large and small, to positively impact this issue at home and abroad.

MEMBERS, CORPORATE TASK FORCE ON AIDS

Dr. Donald Wilson, Dean, School of Medicine,
University of Maryland (Co-Chair)

Mr. Joe Sills, Consultant to the United Nations (Co-Chair)

Mr. Stephen Hayes, Corporate Council on Africa

Mr. Jim Andrews, The Halliburton Companies

Ms. Cathy Bennett, Pfizer International

Dr. Denise Clement, Ford Motor Company

Dr. David Cornell, New England Medical Center

Ms Lisa Cotter, Burson-Marsteller, Black, Kelly, Scruggs & Healey

Mr. William Irwin, Chevron Corporation

Ambassador Princeton Lyman

Mr. Carl Masters, GoodWorks International

Ms. Suzi Morris, Johns Hopkins International

Mr. Gary Walker, Placer Dome

Ms April Stubbs-Smith, KRA Corporation

Mr. Maurice Tempelsman, Lazare Kaplan International

Mr. Percy Wilson, International Relations Consultants

Mr. Steven Morrison, Center for Strategic and International Studies

STAFF MEMBERS

Dr. David Townsend Faculty, Aspen Institute, Federal Executive Institute,
St. John's College (Coordinator)

Ms. F Amolo Okero (Assistant Coordinator)

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