young women are the hardest hit group in south aica. >> we would like to find some time of technology that could last sixo 12 months. >> hope and cape town think that the injection could be a great help but it may not be available for a number of years. in the meantime, more ardent issues remain. due to the covid pandemic, the number of new infections and newborns is on the rise. a worrying trend after all the hard work to stop the spread of the virus. courts joining us tonight from geneva is tim martin know, he is the executive director here. it is good to have you on the program. on this world aids day, how concerned are you that the coronavirus pandemic is eroding all of the progress made in the fight against hiv-aids? >> thank you for having me on the program. tim: it is important that we recognize the urgency of responding to the covid-19 pandemic. i think it is a responsibility for all organizations to step up and do what they can. we believe the aids response has a lot to contribute to the covid-19 response in apying some of the lessons we have learned from our work ove the las

. >> reporter: the aica centers for disease control and pr dention and its director, john nkengasong,are working with a global initiative known as covax to ensure tha countries like the d.r.c. get access to the cod-19 vaccines, and are not left behind. but an internal ine stigation by ogram's own promoters reportedly indicates it's struggling from a lack of funds and faces a high risk of failure without access to es forle years. but as the richer nations reserve more doses than they n-ed of the u.s. and europ made vaccines, africa may have little choice than to turn to the russian or chinese vaccines. >> africa c.d.c. is watching over all vaccines that are being trailed, we are analing the results and only the most effective and efficacious vaccines will be allowed to be used on the continent of africa. >> reporter: but it may be years before any of the vaccines are available for many africans. and though some afrin countries are already preparing to supply coolerthe covid- 19 vaccines across the continent. a recent study conducted by the world health organization found that only 40%