Voices on World AIDS Day

The European Union, in a message on December 1, World AIDS Day, called for harder work in responding to HIV-AIDS.

The EU said it was urging a further strengthening "of the response to HIV-AIDS, at national and international levels, by all partners, private, public, civil society and international organisations taking into account the need for a broader participation by all stakeholders in partner countries".

"The forthcoming World AIDS Conference in Vienna in 2010 will be an important opportunity in our common endeavour to achieve this aim," the EU said.

The EU said that HIV-AIDS continued to pose a threat to development and the lives, health and well-being of individuals, in particular of women and children.

"There is therefore a need to integrate HIV/AIDS and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) into policies and programmes, at local, regional and international levels.

"The promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women in particular to be able to say no to unsafe sex and protect themselves from infections is crucial," the EU said.

There was an overall need for support in strengthening health systems, including local, public, private and community-based health services, and for long-term effective initiatives to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care by 2010 and the health-related Millennium Development Goal targets by 2015.

A media statement by the Global Fund quoted Carla Bruni-Sarkozy as welcoming the success of the Fund in helping to extend treatment for HIV to millions of people, and she renewed a call to eliminate the transmission of HIV from mothers to their children by 2015.

In a series of media interviews scheduled to run on World AIDS Day, Bruni-Sarkozy also said that her role as the Global Fund’s ambassador for the protection of mothers and children against AIDS made it possible to raise the profile of the Global Fund and its work.

"It’s about talking about and letting the world know that a woman who is expecting a child can make sure that this child can have a healthy life," Bruni-Sarkozy told the BBC.
Bruni-Sarkozy agreed on World AIDS Day 2008 to become an ambassador for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, "giving a voice on the global stage for the many mothers and children infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS and drawing attention to the need to give pregnant women and their children the means to prevent HIV infection and to fight the disease," the media statement said.

Eric Goosby, the United States global AIDS co-ordinator, said that World AIDS Day was "an occasion to reflect on how far we have come in the fight against this epidemic, but also to remind ourselves of the important work we have yet to do in preventing and treating HIV".

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said that the 2012 International AIDS Conference will be held in Washington, DC.

"This momentous event is made possible by the (Obama) administration’s recent lifting of the entry ban for HIV-positive travellers to the US," Goosby said.

The full removal of the ban takes effect on January 4 2010.

Goosby said that the entry ban was originally put into effect in 1987 "when there was little information on how HIV is spread", and it was then codified by the US congress.

"Even after scientists had long proved that HIV/AIDS was not spread through casual contact with a person living with HIV, the entry ban remained in place. Only a handful of countries worldwide prohibit HIV-positive travellers from crossing their borders, and the US has been the only Western country to uphold this discriminatory policy," Goosby said.

Last year, the US congress repealed the law mandating the travel ban, and the Obama administration was able to remove the remaining regulatory barriers.

Hosting the International AIDS Conference in the United States is an important opportunity for the US, Goosby said.

The event draws scientists, policy makers, program officials, HIV-positive individuals and others from all over the world. As the largest conference of its type, the International AIDS Conference attracts more than 25 000 participants.

"Welcoming conference attendees to our nation’s capital will allow America to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to ending the HIV pandemic both in the US and around the world," Goosby said.

He said that by 2012, the US would have a National HIV/AIDS Strategy in place for the first time.

"We expect to have made new strides by then to better co-ordinate HIV prevention and care services across the US government, as well as to reduce HIV/AIDS disparities," he said.

In Bulgaria, local news agency Focus said that the Ministry of Health and the government’s anti-AIDS programme had arranged anonymous testing for AIDS in several cities and towns.

In the capital city, Sofia, a mobile team from the AIDS National Laboratory was to be in front of Sofia University, and a team would be outside the Medical University from 11am to 4pm.

On December 1, Bulgarian singer Kotseto Kalki was holding an Anti AIDS karaoke party in Fans club in the capital.

In Blagoevgrad, students from the South West University, American University and pupils were scheduled to hold a procession forming a red ribbon - the symbol of AIDS awareness.

In Bourgas, an official opening of an exhibition of photos and reading of essays devoted to December 1 was scheduled to be held at the Youth Culture Centre.

More information on HIV:

http://www.who.int/topics/hiv_aids/en/

http://www.worldaidsday.org/factsandstats/the-basics.aspx

http://aidsspace.org/home.php