African countries should allocate sufficient funds and implement appropriate policies to achieve the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, which include targets to reduce HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, advocates said last week, Inter Press Service reports. Representatives from 143 member organizations of the African Civil Society Coalition on HIV/AIDS and Allies at the summit of African Union health ministers in Johannesburg, South Africa, urged African governments to set aside 15% of their national budgets for health care, as well as engage civil society and ministers to mobilize resources to combat TB. Countries also should aim during the next 10 years to bridge the funding gap for TB control of almost $11 billion, the coalition said. "We cannot meet the MDGs at this pace," Regis Mtutu of the Treatment Action Campaign said, adding, "We need to double up our efforts through some extraordinary work, particularly in the areas of HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria." The coalition presented a petition with the recommendations to the A.U. commission for health (Nduru, Inter Press Service, 3/12).