As the 1st of December is being observed as World AIDS day, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged for stronger global efforts in fighting HIV/AIDS, including ensuring universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support, after significant progress has been made over the past three decades. He said in his message, “Our common goal is clear: universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. We must also work to make the AIDS response sustainable…Three decades into this crisis, let us set our sights on achieving the ‘three zeros’ - zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. On this World AIDS Day, let us pledge to work together to realize this vision for all of the world’s people.”
He continued, “Fewer people are becoming infected with HIV. Millions of people have gained access to HIV treatment. More women are now able to prevent their babies from becoming infected with HIV… Travel restrictions for people living with HIV are being lifted by many countries, as stigma gives way - still too slowly - to compassion and recognition of human rights.” He urged for a stronger commitment to the cause that enabled the world to reach the first part of Millennium Development Goal 6 - halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV. “We must continue to chart a new and bold path ahead,” Ban said.
Michel Sidibe, the executive director of the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), added in the same vein that the number of new HIV infections and deaths have been reduced by nearly 20 percent, but added that some 30 million people had lost their lives to AIDS-related illnesses over the past three decades, while an estimated 10 million people are currently awaiting treatment. “Our hard-won gains are fragile - so our commitment to the AIDS response must remain strong… With your commitment and that of UNAIDS and the UN family, we are changing the course of the AIDS epidemic. I have called for the virtual elimination of mother-to-child transmission by 2015,” he said adding that an “AIDS-free generation is possible in our lifetime.”
UNAIDS took the lead on World AIDS Day campaigning from its creation until 2004. From 2004 onwards the World AIDS Campaign’s Global Steering Committee began selecting a theme for World AIDS Day in consultation with civil society, organizations and government agencies involved in the AIDS response. In the last UNAIDS report released last week an estimated 2.6 million people became newly infected with HIV, nearly 20 percent fewer than the 3.1 million people infected in 1999. In 2009, 1.8 million people died from AIDS-related illnesses, nearly one-fifth lower than the 2.1 million people who died in 2004. According to the report, from 2001 to 2009, the rate of new HIV infections stabilized or decreased by more than 25 percent in at least 56 countries around the world, including 34 countries in sub- Saharan Africa.
Margaret Chan, the director-general of the UN World Health Organization (WHO), spoke of protection of the human rights of those living with HIV/AIDS and urged all sectors to combat discrimination against those infected. She said, “Working with people living with HIV is critical for an effective HIV response and Member States need to be mindful of the commitments made in the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS to promote better legal and social environments for people to access HIV testing, prevention and treatment… Ensuring the rights of people living with HIV is good public health practice, by improving the health and well-being of those affected and by making prevention efforts more effective… A wide range of countries have enacted legislation to prevent discrimination against people living with HIV. However, in many cases, there is poor enforcements of such laws and stigmatization of people living with HIV and most-at-risk populations persist.”
India
In Mumbai, India 150 children with HIV/AIDS gathered at Azad Maidan to launch a children’s charter. The action was started by Chirag, a community health initiative and research action group started by the College of Social Work, Nirmala Niketan. The charter will be submitted to the state government to ensure support, care and basic rights of children with HIV/AIDS Dr Anitha Chettiar, director, Chirag, Nirmala Niketan said.
United States
President Barack Obama on Wednesday said “tremendous progress” has been made in the fight against AIDS and expressed hope of eradicating the disease. He said, “At a time when so many men and women are living with HIV and AIDS every day, let’s also recommit ourselves to build on the tremendous progress we’ve made both in preventing and treating the disease and ending the stigma and discrimination that too often surround it.”
The Empire State Building was among about 80 iconic landmarks in a dozen countries turning red at night to mark World AIDS Day. The operation is led by (RED), a group founded by rock singer Bono, to drum up support for a campaign to end mother-to-child transmission of the deadly HIV virus by 2015.
The Obama administration has set forth a comprehensive National HIV-AIDS Strategy that sets targets for the United States. Federal funds for the research reached 2.8 billion dollars in 2009. In addition, the United States helped provide life-saving anti-retroviral treatment for 3.2 million men, women and children worldwide through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) this year, up by three-quarters of a million people in 2009, according to the State Department.
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