U.N. reaffirms commitment to goals for HIV prevention and treatment
By, The China Post, May 23, 2007
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he believes progress is possible to halt and begin to reverse the spread of AIDS globally by 2015 _ despite a rising rate of infection that means 12,000 people are diagnosed with the HIV virus daily.
"Make no mistake: in some way or another, we all live with HIV. We are all affected by it. We all need to take responsibility for the response," he told a General Assembly session reviewing the U.N. response to the epidemic Monday.
Last year, U.N. member states renewed pledges and set a new global goal to have universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010. One of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals agreed to by world leaders at a summit in September 2000 calls for halting and starting to reverse the spread of HIV by 2015.
Monday's session was organized to review the goals' progress.
"In the course of a quarter of a century, HIV has infected 65 million people, and killed 25 million," Ban said. "Today, 40 million people are living with HIV. Almost half of them are women. More women _ including married women _ are living with HIV than ever before."
According to U.N. statistics, there were 2 million people receiving treatment in 2006, representing 28 percent of the estimated 7.1 million people in need, an increase of 700,000 from 2005.
But the report showed that the rate of infection continues to increase.
An estimated $18 billion (13.4 billion) is needed in 2007 and $22 billion (16.4 billion) in 2008 to achieve universal access to prevention and treatment programs in low- and middle-income countries, according to the United Nations.
Ban said ensuring access to treatment, prevention, care and support is "critical" to achieving the goal of halting and reversing the AIDS epidemic _ and this means tackling diseases associated with HIV especially tuberculosis, investing in vaccines and microbicides to prevent and treat the virus and ensuring full funding.
"It means mustering the political will to address the factors that drive the epidemic _ including gender inequality, stigma and discrimination," he said.
Ban stressed that fighting AIDS will remain a U.N. priority and that he will make every effort to mobilize funding.
"If we have learned one lesson beyond any other in the past 25 years, it is surely this: only when we work together with unity of purpose can we defeat AIDS _ unity among governments, the private sector and civil society," the secretary-general said.
General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa spoke not only of the growing number of women living with the disease, an estimated 17 million worldwide, but the devastating impact on their lives.
"Many women would rather not get the treatment they need to save their lives, or stop their children from contracting HIV/AIDS because they do not want, or do not know how to cope with the fear and stigma of HIV/AIDS," she said.
On Monday, the secretary-general appointed Elizabeth Mataka, the executive director of the Zambia National AIDS Network, as his special AIDS envoy for Africa. He also renewed appointments for Dr. Nafis Sadik as the U.N. AIDS envoy for Asia, Lars Kallings as the envoy for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and Sir George Alleyne for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Source: http://www.chinapost.com.tw/latestnews/2007522/46307.htm
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he believes progress is possible to halt and begin to reverse the spread of AIDS globally by 2015 _ despite a rising rate of infection that means 12,000 people are diagnosed with the HIV virus daily.
"Make no mistake: in some way or another, we all live with HIV. We are all affected by it. We all need to take responsibility for the response," he told a General Assembly session reviewing the U.N. response to the epidemic Monday.
Last year, U.N. member states renewed pledges and set a new global goal to have universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010. One of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals agreed to by world leaders at a summit in September 2000 calls for halting and starting to reverse the spread of HIV by 2015.
Monday's session was organized to review the goals' progress.
"In the course of a quarter of a century, HIV has infected 65 million people, and killed 25 million," Ban said. "Today, 40 million people are living with HIV. Almost half of them are women. More women _ including married women _ are living with HIV than ever before."
According to U.N. statistics, there were 2 million people receiving treatment in 2006, representing 28 percent of the estimated 7.1 million people in need, an increase of 700,000 from 2005.
But the report showed that the rate of infection continues to increase.
An estimated $18 billion (13.4 billion) is needed in 2007 and $22 billion (16.4 billion) in 2008 to achieve universal access to prevention and treatment programs in low- and middle-income countries, according to the United Nations.
Ban said ensuring access to treatment, prevention, care and support is "critical" to achieving the goal of halting and reversing the AIDS epidemic _ and this means tackling diseases associated with HIV especially tuberculosis, investing in vaccines and microbicides to prevent and treat the virus and ensuring full funding.
"It means mustering the political will to address the factors that drive the epidemic _ including gender inequality, stigma and discrimination," he said.
Ban stressed that fighting AIDS will remain a U.N. priority and that he will make every effort to mobilize funding.
"If we have learned one lesson beyond any other in the past 25 years, it is surely this: only when we work together with unity of purpose can we defeat AIDS _ unity among governments, the private sector and civil society," the secretary-general said.
General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa spoke not only of the growing number of women living with the disease, an estimated 17 million worldwide, but the devastating impact on their lives.
"Many women would rather not get the treatment they need to save their lives, or stop their children from contracting HIV/AIDS because they do not want, or do not know how to cope with the fear and stigma of HIV/AIDS," she said.
On Monday, the secretary-general appointed Elizabeth Mataka, the executive director of the Zambia National AIDS Network, as his special AIDS envoy for Africa. He also renewed appointments for Dr. Nafis Sadik as the U.N. AIDS envoy for Asia, Lars Kallings as the envoy for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and Sir George Alleyne for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Source: http://www.chinapost.com.tw/latestnews/2007522/46307.htm
posted by AIDS-Care-Watch at 11:11 am
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