06/16/09

GLOBAL:  UN General Assembly Meets on Global Response to AIDS

At a UN General Assembly plenary meeting on Tuesday to discuss progress against HIV/AIDS, senior UN officials urged member states not to falter in their commitments to achieve universal prevention, treatment, care, and support by next year. The goals were adopted by the General Assembly in 2006.

"As a result of this ongoing [financial] crisis, I fear that many governments are resigned to reducing programs and diminished expectations," said Miguel D'Escoto, the assembly's president. "Inevitably, people are questioning the feasibility of visionary global aims during a time of economic crisis," he said. "But it is precisely when times are difficult that our true values and the sincerity of our commitments are most clearly evident."

"Even as we see signs of cutbacks in AIDS funding in many countries, we must remind governments and the international community that the world has the resources to mount the kind of AIDS response to which we have committed," D'Escoto said. "If we allow cuts now, we will face increased costs and great human suffering in the future."

Meeting the universal targets would require $25 billion per annum within two years, according to a report by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. However, about two-thirds of HIV-positive pregnant women receive no services to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission. New infections have continued to outpace the growth of treatment programs, and the reach of HIV prevention services remains inadequate, the report said.

"The economic crisis should not be an excuse to abandon commitments, it should be an impetus to make the right investments that will yield benefits for generations to come," Ban said.

In addition, Ban called on nations to revise their laws to ensure compliance with the human rights principles that are the basis of an effective response to AIDS. UNAIDS reports that 84 countries have such laws on their books.

Source: Xinhua News Agency; Courtesy of the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention