Important. But at the same time, there ought to be no need whatsoever for there to be such books. The ultimate objective of the Memory Books programme has to be a contribution towards the task of ensuring that one day they will be no longer necessary. Nobody should have to die early from Aids. The search for vaccines and cures must all the time be intensified, and existing antiretroviral (ARV) drugs have to be made accessible to all. Nobody should need to write memory books in future.

But millions of these memory books still do need to be written. And it goes without saying that everybody should have the right to do so and receive help where they need it. No orphaned child, whether they live in a village north of Kampala or in some village in China or India, should find themselves growing to adulthood knowing nothing about their parents.

Apart from the fact that they died of Aids.

How many people today in a country like Sweden, my country, know what a terrible disease Aids is? Have we forgotten already the pictures and descriptions produced ten and fifteen years ago when it was not at all sure whether we would be able to control the epidemic? Those who have the disease know, their relatives know and the carers who look after them know. But for most other people Aids is a disease that makes you very thin and fade away, possibly gives you black patches on your face, which leads to the collapse of your immune defence, which leads to persistent infections and eventually perhaps fatal pneumonia. All this is correct. But the fact is that Aids often also involves extreme pain, difficult to alleviate, or very difficult to eliminate altogether.

In Sweden, highly qualified and devoted care is available for as long as it is needed. About ten years ago so-called anti-retroviral drugs began to appear. It was possible to get to grips with HIV, because ARVs delay the onset of Aids. People infected could start to hope that they might be able to live a long life even so. But in a poor country in Africa, where medical care is already primitive? They have to cope with a constant lack of resources, everything from clean sheets to the most advanced medication. And in such countries, the squeeze on what care and assistance may be made available is all the time increasing. What are the prospects there?